Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge, who was known for his meanness, has been voted the world’s worst fictional boss in a recent survey of office workers.
Meryl Streep’s portrayal of the chilling New York fashion editor Miranda Priestly, in The Devil Wears Prada, came a close second, with 22 per cent voting her the nastiest fictional boss.
Scrooge and Streep beat off competition from Star Wars’ Darth Vader, who came in third place, despite torturing and mentally abusing his staff.
David Brent, of The Office, proved popular with 77.8 per cent of workers voting him the world’s best fictional boss.
Peter Mooney, head of consultancy at Employment Law Advisory Services (ELAS), which carried out the survey, said: “It is somewhat surprising that Scrooge is considered a worse boss than the psychopathic Darth Vader. Obviously, Scrooge’s managerial style could do with a little help but at least his only crimes were underpaying Bob Cratchit and not turning the heating on in the office.
“David Brent is probably the best of a bad bunch but I don’t think I would want him to be my manager. I think this survey shows that the portrayal of management techniques in the media is pretty damning. Thankfully, in my experience this is not always the case in real life.”
A total of 250 small and medium-sized businesses were surveyed.
One Response
Scrooge, the worst of fictional bosses or the best?
How sad that Scrooge, who learned his lesson and changed his ways, is still seen as the world’s worst fictional boss. So much for the hard work of the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.
If I recall correctly, Scrooge became a caring employer who spread Christmas cheer by giving a turkey to his staff (which he may not have declared to the Inland Revenue) took an interest in their dependents welfare (Little Tim) and donated large sums to charity – a model employer.
It seems that it doesn’t pay to turn over a new leaf – bah humbug to all who failed to appreciate his efforts!