Is My Boss a Bully Quiz
Questions: 15 · 10 minutes
1. When a project succeeds or fails, how does your boss allocate credit and responsibility?
They recognize contributions and address mistakes according to the evidence.
They sometimes minimize my contribution or emphasize my errors more than others’.
They repeatedly take credit for my work while assigning me blame for decisions they made.
They fabricate serious misconduct, alter evidence, or coerce me to accept responsibility under threat.
2. When your boss is frustrated with you, what happens most often?
They explain the concern directly and allow me to respond.
They become curt or impatient in ways that make the conversation uncomfortable.
They shout, swear at me, or repeatedly use personal put-downs.
They corner me, make a threatening gesture, or explicitly threaten harm or punishment outside a fair process.
3. If you ask for help, clarification, or a formal review of your boss’s decision, what usually happens?
I can ask without being personally punished, even if the answer is no.
My boss treats the request as disloyal or becomes less approachable.
They block support, damage my opportunities, or repeatedly punish me for seeking review.
They threaten severe consequences, force me to withdraw the request, or interfere with my access to emergency or legal support.
4. What happens when you cannot answer a non-urgent work message outside your agreed hours?
My boss accepts the boundary or discusses genuine on-call expectations in advance.
They apply subtle pressure or make disapproving comments later.
They repeatedly demand immediate availability and punish or shame me when I do not respond.
They use threats, stalking-like contact, or coercion that makes me fear consequences beyond a normal work dispute.
5. When your boss contacts you privately about performance, which description fits best?
The message identifies expectations and gives me a reasonable chance to respond.
The wording is unnecessarily harsh or contemptuous, though it does not contain a direct threat.
The message contains repeated personal attacks or says I am worthless or incapable.
The message threatens harm, blackmail, or severe retaliation if I do not comply or stay silent.
6. During a team meeting, how does your boss usually respond when they identify a mistake in your work?
They describe the specific issue without attacking me personally.
They use a noticeably dismissive tone, but keep the criticism focused on the task.
They mock my competence or embarrass me in front of the group.
They use degrading insults or threaten my job or safety while criticizing me.
7. How does your boss talk about you to colleagues or clients?
Their comments remain professional, including when they discuss problems.
They sometimes make cutting jokes about my habits or performance.
They repeatedly spread humiliating stories or invite others to laugh at me.
They use slurs, degrading labels, or threatening claims intended to make others fear or target me.
8. You raise a reasonable concern about workload, conduct, pay, or safety. How does your boss respond?
They hear the concern and explain what can or cannot change.
They become colder or less cooperative afterward.
They retaliate through undesirable shifts, lost opportunities, exclusion, or repeated hostile treatment.
They threaten dismissal, violence, blacklisting, immigration consequences, or another severe reprisal for raising it.
9. Your boss assigns an urgent project. What combination of time, information, and resources do they provide?
The expectations are demanding but achievable with the resources available.
Some important details arrive late, creating avoidable pressure.
They repeatedly withhold essential information or set deadlines that appear designed to make me fail.
They demand dangerous, illegal, or seriously exploitative work and threaten punishment if I refuse.
10. Suppose you disagree with your boss about how to complete a task. How are you treated?
They discuss the disagreement and make the final decision without belittling me.
They brush off my view with sarcasm or an eye-roll.
They ridicule me or portray the disagreement as proof that I am incompetent.
They threaten my livelihood, immigration status, reputation, or physical safety to force agreement.
11. How does your boss monitor your work compared with colleagues doing similar jobs?
The level of oversight reflects the task, my experience, or a clearly explained standard.
They check my work more often than seems necessary without explaining why.
They single me out for relentless checking, trivial corrections, or demands to account for nearly every minute.
They use invasive or coercive monitoring, or threaten me if I question monitoring that appears unlawful or dangerous.
12. How are workload and job duties assigned to you?
Changes have a work-related reason and are communicated clearly.
I receive an uneven share of undesirable tasks without much explanation.
I am repeatedly overloaded, stripped of meaningful duties, or given degrading tasks to undermine me.
I am forced toward unsafe or exploitative work, with threats attached to refusal or requests for protection.
13. After you follow your boss’s written instructions, they say you did the task incorrectly. What typically follows?
They acknowledge the earlier instruction and help resolve the mismatch.
They avoid acknowledging that their direction was unclear.
They repeatedly change the instructions and then blame me for following the previous version.
They falsify the record or threaten severe retaliation to force me to accept blame for their directions.
14. How are you included in meetings, messages, or decisions needed for your role?
I receive the access and information reasonably required to do my job.
I am occasionally left out in a way that causes inconvenience.
My boss repeatedly excludes me from essential communication and then criticizes me for not knowing it.
My boss deliberately cuts off essential access or support to force me out, conceal danger, or punish me for speaking up.
15. How does your boss influence your relationships with coworkers?
They allow normal professional contact and address team conflicts fairly.
They discourage some contact or create mild tension without clearly targeting me.
They tell colleagues to avoid me, invite them to report trivial behavior, or turn the group against me.
They organize threats, harassment, or a coercive campaign by colleagues or peers to frighten or force me out.