My manager is driving me crazy

[Ava]

He's a nice guy once you leave work behind and sit to talk to him person to person over a cup of coffee.

He's operating under a very inefficient system and he has no say over it. I know he would change things around if he could, but he doesn't have the necessary pull to do it.

He has problems controlling his anxiety, and he kind of loses it under stress.

Today he found me browsing the internet. He had prohibited the whole team to talk on the phone, text or surf the web while on the job.

He said that he'll give a written warning to anyone if he found them doing any of those things. He saw me on the internet, he didn't say anything but was all over me for the rest of the day. I occasionally surf the net when I finish one task and before starting another. It gives me a little break. He had never seen me do it until today.

He gets caught up in the small stuff and he micromanages people to death.

Sometimes he says things that really upset me. The other day we were cleaning some old files and he pointed out errors done by people who no longer work here. And he always says the same thing; "people do a sloppy job and then hide it. You don't find the errors until after they leave. They are all the same".

He calls me to his office several times a day. And he always starts by saying; don't worry, you haven't done anything wrong. And I always answer him that no, I wasn't thinking he's calling me to the office about anything negative. Because I don't. But he's always expecting the worst reaction from you, and sometimes reads things that aren't there.

He suddenly appears behind you, in a sneaky way, and it's very startling. He approaches you quickly and looks in your monitor to see if you are in the internet. He does this several times a day. He comes into your space talking about something he needs from you and you have to leave everything and jump to fulfill his needs.

Sometimes I feel like giving him my notice and just walk away. I am counting the days till vacation time. I'll start looking for another job the same day I come back from vacation.

[Shooby]

If u are not supposed to be on the internet then I would not be using the internet at work. I never use my work computer for non work. I just don't.

[Shooby]

I would be very careful about that. I have seen people fired for that .

As for an anxious boss , just work with him the best u can.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 1:34:32 GMT -5 Shooby said:

If u are not supposed to be on the internet then I would not be using the internet at work. I never use my work computer for non work. I just don't..

I understand, Shobby. I don't surf the net for hours. I enter two or three minutes to see something, and then keep working.

Today I was checking the weather channel because we're supposed to get some serious snow tomorrow. That takes me all of two or three minutes.

But it's not just that. He's very difficult to deal with in general. And he's a micromanager.

The worst part is that he's a really good person, but a very tough boss to work for.

[Ava]

I do the best I can, and he's happy with my performance.

But I've been working for him for 8 months and I'm getting very tired of it. I get along well with him, but it's vey draining.

[Shooby]

I know. I wasn't implying that u were in for hours. But some employers have a real thing about that so beware. And they can pull up the history at anytime to check. Just don't make yourself vulnerable if that is an issue.
As for micromanaging controllers , I have dealt with my share. Abd there one job where I had to deal with that and I finally had enoughand quit at the end of a work day. I had never done that until that job.
So keep your eyes out for a new job or maybe transfer to a different dept?

[msventoux]

Just because he hadn't seen you do it doesn't mean he doesn't know you've been doing it.  The IT department can easily track how users are using their computers and track their browsing history. 

We often work insane hours at my job and my supervisors are pretty hands off since my office produces a ton of work, but at most I'll browse our local newspapers occasionally.  I take care of personal stuff at home or on my phone.  I figure it's their equipment and anything I do on it I really don't have any expectation of privacy. 

[bobosensei]

As much slack as your manager has given you around your vacation and school you should make sure you are doing what you need to in order to keep him happy.  Did you ever consider that maybe he got in trouble for being so flexible with you?  Sounds like to me from some of what he is saying that he is expecting you to quit soon. Employees usually start giving off signs, and deciding that you don't care about long term damage to your career ie requesting lots of time off and then still taking a long vacation is a definite sign.  So maybe he is trying in a round about way to ask if you are going to quit or is letting you know not to let your quality of work slip.

Be careful, did you read those threads about people getting fired before the holidays.  You might come back from your vacation or find out right before you leave that you no longer have a job.  Managers sometimes start acting strange when they know they have to fire someone.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 1:50:18 GMT -5 msventoux said:

Just because he hadn't seen you do it doesn't mean he doesn't know you've been doing it.  The IT department can easily track how users are using their computers and track their browsing history. 

We often work insane hours at my job and my supervisors are pretty hands off since my office produces a ton of work, but at most I'll browse our local newspapers occasionally.  I take care of personal stuff at home or on my phone.  I figure it's their equipment and anything I do on it I really don't have any expectation of privacy. 

I understand, and I really don't expect privacy. I don't stay on the internet for hours, I just go in, check the weather and get out, or check if a teacher posted a test result, get out.

But the internet is not the big issue. It's the way he micromanages, interrupts anything you are doing, jumps from behind and startles you, that sort of thing. I've been dealing with all this for months and I understand it's just the way he is. But after months of putting up with that it's starting to drain me.

He's under stress, but he also works himself into a frenzy most of the time. Then, on the other hand, I am under stress trying to finish my semester at school. I am tired, and maybe not as willing to go with the flow as I am when fully rested.

If it were just the internet, I wouldn't complain. I would not enter the net at all. But it's everything else he does. He's a nice person but a very difficult manager. The people who have left the team since I've been there did it with a sense of relief of not having to work in that department anymore. And I'm starting to see their point. People work there for around a year and then get promoted or move on to other companies. When I come back from vacation, I'll have 10 months in, and I'll start looking for other opportunities.

I plan to take him out for lunch when I finally get a new job. He took me out for lunch when I started working in his department, he does that for every new employee. I want to take him out to a nice restaurant.

He's good guy and he tries, but working under him is really bad.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 2:11:26 GMT -5 bobosensei said:

As much slack as your manager has given you around your vacation and school you should make sure you are doing what you need to in order to keep him happy.  Did you ever consider that maybe he got in trouble for being so flexible with you?  Sounds like to me from some of what he is saying that he is expecting you to quit soon. Employees usually start giving off signs, and deciding that you don't care about long term damage to your career ie requesting lots of time off and then still taking a long vacation is a definite sign.  So maybe he is trying in a round about way to ask if you are going to quit or is letting you know not to let your quality of work slip.

Be careful, did you read those threads about people getting fired before the holidays.  You might come back from your vacation or find out right before you leave that you no longer have a job.  Managers sometimes start acting strange when they know they have to fire someone.

No, he's always been like this.

On the other hand, I think I'm starting to show signs that I plan to leave. The job itself takes a little while to learn but once you know how to do it, it quickly turns into something very monotonous. I'm pretty sure most, if not all, his employees start showing signs of wanting something else after 7-9 months.  I would never quit though, I plan to give him plenty of time to look for a replacement.

He's not in any trouble for giving me time off. I know because his manager is cool with me taking days off for school.

Long vacations are in my blood and I've done that for years to any and all managers I've worked for.

If he fires me, which I doubt, I have enough in the emergency fund to survive it. Doesn't worry me at all.

[Shooby]

Some people just don't make good bosses.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 2:23:57 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Some people just don't make good bosses.

I know. And believe me, he tries. Sometimes I feel guilty because I compare him with my previous manager and he cannot hold a candle to that manager. I shouldn't compare them.

[Deleted]

You wanted to move after you finish your MBA anyway ... isn't it better to just stay put until you finish (June?) Monotonous might not be such a bad thing while you finish your last class and write your thesis, and any new job is going to be stressful for different reasons, as well as give you less vacation time. Plus I remember you have a really short commute in this job. 

I'd just bite the bullet and change jobs (and / or states) after I finished my MBA. 

[andi9899]

I feel for you. I was horribly micromanaged at my last job. But if you only have a few months before you would have looked for another job anyway, I'd try and stick it out. And trust me, it could be much worse. The stories I could tell you!

[andi9899]

Immediate termination is pretty harsh. Glad I've never worked at a place like that.

[Deleted]

Ava, be very grateful you have a job and are able to work.  I know I sound like an "oldster", which I am.  When I was working, it was for a real asshat.  It wasn't just my feelings, everyone thought that.  Now that I am unable to work, I miss it so very much; if I could go back, I'd even be grateful for the asshat!!!

[andi9899]

Nov 26, 2014 2:26:28 GMT -5 Ava said:

Nov 26, 2014 2:23:57 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Some people just don't make good bosses.

I know. And believe me, he tries. Sometimes I feel guilty because I compare him with my previous manager and he cannot hold a candle to that manager. I shouldn't compare them.

Have you tried talking to him about it? You'd have to package it nicely, but it can't hurt.

[gooddecisions]

If he's made it clear that you shouldn't be on the internet, then don't be on the internet. It doesn't matter if it's for 2 minutes. You can look up the weather or your grades at home and find a new way to breath between tasks.

You won't feel jumpy about him coming up from behind if you're doing your work (and in a lot of cases computers are to a wall, so it's really hard not to come up from behind). I worked at a big bank processing loans for a year, and I never was on their internet at work. The applications I had up were all the applications to do my job. I never felt jumpy when people came up behind me because I had nothing to hide. If my boss needed something right away, of course they got the priority over my stack of papers. Especially in November which is generally when they are thinking about how much bonus to give out.

I would be irritated if I had employees working for me with the attitude that comes across on this post. I don't blame him for being frustrated at sloppy work and he should show his current employees the sloppy work so they do better. I remember 12 years ago somebody pulled out a drawer of loans and not one had been properly deeded or recorded. So it was basically 1000s of unsecured loans because of sloppy, incompetent employees. If he  shows you sloppy work, ask what the mistakes were and assure him you're following procedures and doing the work accurately.

[flamingo]

As a manager, I would super irritated if I had told my employees of our internet policy and they were blatantly violating it. My cousin got fired for this exact thing. They were sent an email reminder on Friday about the internet policy, Monday morning he violated the policy, and by Monday afternoon he was fired. If you can't do your job under the rules that are clearly set out for you, you certainly can (and should) be disciplined for it. If you were complaining that the expectations weren't clear or that the rules changed at his whim, then I'd be on your side. But so far, based on the facts as you've stated them, I think you are complaining over nothing. You come across as having quite an attitude about having to work at all.

Also, as a manager, I probably come across as a micromanager, though that's not my intent. I give my employees tasks to do, with the understand that they will keep me informed along the way. For example, I regularly ask that they email a large subset of our customers with certain information. If they don't respond to me in a timely manner (a day or two after the request goes out) with at least a quick "hey I sent that email, no responses yet" or something along those lines, I follow up and ask. If their response is lackluster or gives me the impression they haven't done it yet, I will continue to follow up until it is done. If I've given the task and I think based on past history that the email won't go out in a form I would approve of, I make them send me a draft before it goes out, so I can approve it. I supervise people with Master's degrees. I am sure this comes across as micromanaging. But, I have a department to run and it happens to be a very critical department to the organization as a whole. I'd probably feel like I had to micromanage less if we had an internet policy like your place of employment does. More time would be spent on work, and less checking the weather online, which would result in few mistakes and more efficiency.

[flamingo]

Nov 26, 2014 13:46:38 GMT -5 @tbird said:

Nov 26, 2014 13:40:25 GMT -5 flamingo said:

As a manager, I would super irritated if I had told my employees of our internet policy and they were blatantly violating it. My cousin got fired for this exact thing. They were sent an email reminder on Friday about the internet policy, Monday morning he violated the policy, and by Monday afternoon he was fired. 

 ^{was it porn?}

Hahahahaha. Knowing this cousin, I wouldn't have been surprised if it was! From my understanding (which of course I heard 2nd/3rd/4th hand through family), it was "just the regular internet!" (said with lots of righteousness!). My guess is it was Facebook; shortly before he was fired, he even "checked in" there. It was a small doctor's office-cell phones/smart phones were fine to use anytime, just no internet for non-company business. I also think that my cousin has a lot of attitude about working and how he feels that because he has a bachelor's degree he should have a better job, make more money, etc. So I'm sure that didn't help the situation. I think they were probably looking for a reason to get rid of him and this was an easy way out for them.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 2:52:00 GMT -5 @debthaven2 said:

You wanted to move after you finish your MBA anyway ... isn't it better to just stay put until you finish (June?) Monotonous might not be such a bad thing while you finish your last class and write your thesis, and any new job is going to be stressful for different reasons, as well as give you less vacation time. Plus I remember you have a really short commute in this job. 

I'd just bite the bullet and change jobs (and / or states) after I finished my MBA. 

Yes, I'm going to start looking in January but not for this area. I am going to start looking long distance for a job. I graduate in May. So I think starting to look in January is not too bad. Long distance job search is not as easy as going for something local and I expect to take a while to land a job.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 12:20:20 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

I feel for you. I was horribly micromanaged at my last job. But if you only have a few months before you would have looked for another job anyway, I'd try and stick it out. And trust me, it could be much worse. The stories I could tell you!

Yes, it's not easy. I put up with it all right most of the time, but yesterday he was specially tough.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 12:28:04 GMT -5 CCL said:

Nov 26, 2014 2:18:03 GMT -5 Ava said:

I understand, and I really don't expect privacy. I don't stay on the internet for hours, I just go in, check the weather and get out, or check if a teacher posted a test result, get out.

But the internet is not the big issue. It's the way he micromanages, interrupts anything you are doing, jumps from behind and startles you, that sort of thing. I've been dealing with all this for months and I understand it's just the way he is. But after months of putting up with that it's starting to drain me.

He's under stress, but he also works himself into a frenzy most of the time. Then, on the other hand, I am under stress trying to finish my semester at school. I am tired, and maybe not as willing to go with the flow as I am when fully rested.

If it were just the internet, I wouldn't complain. I would not enter the net at all. But it's everything else he does. He's a nice person but a very difficult manager. The people who have left the team since I've been there did it with a sense of relief of not having to work in that department anymore. And I'm starting to see their point. People work there for around a year and then get promoted or move on to other companies. When I come back from vacation, I'll have 10 months in, and I'll start looking for other opportunities.

I plan to take him out for lunch when I finally get a new job. He took me out for lunch when I started working in his department, he does that for every new employee. I want to take him out to a nice restaurant.

He's good guy and he tries, but working under him is really bad.

In my experience, once you leave a job, the boss is pretty much done with you. He may not be interested in having lunch with you. Not a big issue either way, just don't be surprised if that's what happens.
FWIW, many places I work, if you are found on the Internet or in possession of a cell phone (even if it's turned off) it's immediate termination. Some places are very strict on this issue. Maybe his bosses are on his butt about it?

Well, I plan to take him out to lunch on my last week at work. And I disagree with the notion that managers are done with you once you leave. I make a conscious effort to keep in touch with my former co workers and manager. We've kept in touch and I plan to visit him before I leave on vacation. He invited me to drop by. Of course, if my current manager decides to toss me aside after I leave, fine with me. He's not family or friend, after all.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 12:38:52 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Nov 26, 2014 2:26:28 GMT -5 Ava said:

I know. And believe me, he tries. Sometimes I feel guilty because I compare him with my previous manager and he cannot hold a candle to that manager. I shouldn't compare them.

Have you tried talking to him about it? You'd have to package it nicely, but it can't hurt.

No, I haven't. I'm pretty sure he doesn't realize how annoying he is and believe, I don't want to be the one to make him aware of it.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 12:43:54 GMT -5 gooddecisions said:

If he's made it clear that you shouldn't be on the internet, then don't be on the internet. It doesn't matter if it's for 2 minutes. You can look up the weather or your grades at home and find a new way to breath between tasks.

You won't feel jumpy about him coming up from behind if you're doing your work (and in a lot of cases computers are to a wall, so it's really hard not to come up from behind). I worked at a big bank processing loans for a year, and I never was on their internet at work. The applications I had up were all the applications to do my job. I never felt jumpy when people came up behind me because I had nothing to hide. If my boss needed something right away, of course they got the priority over my stack of papers. Especially in November which is generally when they are thinking about how much bonus to give out.

I would be irritated if I had employees working for me with the attitude that comes across on this post. I don't blame him for being frustrated at sloppy work and he should show his current employees the sloppy work so they do better. I remember 12 years ago somebody pulled out a drawer of loans and not one had been properly deeded or recorded. So it was basically 1000s of unsecured loans because of sloppy, incompetent employees. If he  shows you sloppy work, ask what the mistakes were and assure him you're following procedures and doing the work accurately.

I don't feel jumpy because of the internet. Some days I don't even go once to the web, but he still starts me and makes me jumpy. It's the way he comes over very silently and starts talking to you really loud once he's right behind you. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, it just makes me jump.

He points out errors others did, he calls you over to look at them and laughs. He also makes negative comments about current workers. A manager should never do that.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 13:40:25 GMT -5 flamingo said:

As a manager, I would super irritated if I had told my employees of our internet policy and they were blatantly violating it. My cousin got fired for this exact thing. They were sent an email reminder on Friday about the internet policy, Monday morning he violated the policy, and by Monday afternoon he was fired. If you can't do your job under the rules that are clearly set out for you, you certainly can (and should) be disciplined for it. If you were complaining that the expectations weren't clear or that the rules changed at his whim, then I'd be on your side. But so far, based on the facts as you've stated them, I think you are complaining over nothing. You come across as having quite an attitude about having to work at all.

Also, as a manager, I probably come across as a micromanager, though that's not my intent. I give my employees tasks to do, with the understand that they will keep me informed along the way. For example, I regularly ask that they email a large subset of our customers with certain information. If they don't respond to me in a timely manner (a day or two after the request goes out) with at least a quick "hey I sent that email, no responses yet" or something along those lines, I follow up and ask. If their response is lackluster or gives me the impression they haven't done it yet, I will continue to follow up until it is done. If I've given the task and I think based on past history that the email won't go out in a form I would approve of, I make them send me a draft before it goes out, so I can approve it. I supervise people with Master's degrees. I am sure this comes across as micromanaging. But, I have a department to run and it happens to be a very critical department to the organization as a whole. I'd probably feel like I had to micromanage less if we had an internet policy like your place of employment does. More time would be spent on work, and less checking the weather online, which would result in few mistakes and more efficiency.

Micromanaging is a sin in my view. I can put up with many things but that drives me crazy. Train me and let me do my thing after I know how to do it.

If he decides to be ridiculously strict about the internet policy, cell-phone usage, etc. he'll have no employees left. He actually came up with that rule a few months ago because someone was on the internet all day and falling behind on his tasks. So instead of facing the guy, he came up with that rule.

[CarolinaKat]

Nov 26, 2014 14:11:12 GMT -5 Ava said:

Nov 26, 2014 12:43:54 GMT -5 gooddecisions said:

If he's made it clear that you shouldn't be on the internet, then don't be on the internet. It doesn't matter if it's for 2 minutes. You can look up the weather or your grades at home and find a new way to breath between tasks.

You won't feel jumpy about him coming up from behind if you're doing your work (and in a lot of cases computers are to a wall, so it's really hard not to come up from behind). I worked at a big bank processing loans for a year, and I never was on their internet at work. The applications I had up were all the applications to do my job. I never felt jumpy when people came up behind me because I had nothing to hide. If my boss needed something right away, of course they got the priority over my stack of papers. Especially in November which is generally when they are thinking about how much bonus to give out.

I would be irritated if I had employees working for me with the attitude that comes across on this post. I don't blame him for being frustrated at sloppy work and he should show his current employees the sloppy work so they do better. I remember 12 years ago somebody pulled out a drawer of loans and not one had been properly deeded or recorded. So it was basically 1000s of unsecured loans because of sloppy, incompetent employees. If he  shows you sloppy work, ask what the mistakes were and assure him you're following procedures and doing the work accurately.

I don't feel jumpy because of the internet. Some days I don't even go once to the web, but he still starts me and makes me jumpy. It's the way he comes over very silently and starts talking to you really loud once he's right behind you. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, it just makes me jump.

He points out errors others did, he calls you over to look at them and laughs. He also makes negative comments about current workers. A manager should never do that.

I've had people sneak up on me at work several times. I usually have my headphones in. Screaming taught them not to sneak up on me. I wouldn't recommend that though. 

You can get a little mirror and clip to your monitor. I have a coworker with one, she uses it to tell if someone has walked into her cube. She spends a lot of time with noise-cancelling headphones on, so wouldn't know you were there otherwise.

[tskeeter]

Nov 26, 2014 12:28:04 GMT -5 CCL said:

Nov 26, 2014 2:18:03 GMT -5 Ava said:

I understand, and I really don't expect privacy. I don't stay on the internet for hours, I just go in, check the weather and get out, or check if a teacher posted a test result, get out.

But the internet is not the big issue. It's the way he micromanages, interrupts anything you are doing, jumps from behind and startles you, that sort of thing. I've been dealing with all this for months and I understand it's just the way he is. But after months of putting up with that it's starting to drain me.

He's under stress, but he also works himself into a frenzy most of the time. Then, on the other hand, I am under stress trying to finish my semester at school. I am tired, and maybe not as willing to go with the flow as I am when fully rested.

If it were just the internet, I wouldn't complain. I would not enter the net at all. But it's everything else he does. He's a nice person but a very difficult manager. The people who have left the team since I've been there did it with a sense of relief of not having to work in that department anymore. And I'm starting to see their point. People work there for around a year and then get promoted or move on to other companies. When I come back from vacation, I'll have 10 months in, and I'll start looking for other opportunities.

I plan to take him out for lunch when I finally get a new job. He took me out for lunch when I started working in his department, he does that for every new employee. I want to take him out to a nice restaurant.

He's good guy and he tries, but working under him is really bad.

In my experience, once you leave a job, the boss is pretty much done with you. He may not be interested in having lunch with you. Not a big issue either way, just don't be surprised if that's what happens.
FWIW, many places I work, if you are found on the Internet or in possession of a cell phone (even if it's turned off) it's immediate termination. Some places are very strict on this issue. Maybe his bosses are on his butt about it?

Cheesecakelady, I think you are wrong that bosses have no futher use for you once you are gone.  I worked for a company that brought most of the talent in the finance function up through the ranks.  That meant that I had a lot of folks who would work for me for a year or two and them get promoted to bigger and better jobs.  I'd really enjoy having lunch with any of those folks.  One of the things that I feel good about is that I helped make sure that one of my former staff members got a fully company paid MBA at one of the top business schools in the country.  When she applied for the program, her current boss called looking for some help with his recommendation.  (It seemed like he was struggling a bit with how to proceed.)  My feedback was that of all the people I had go through my departments, she was the most talented, most capable, and most motivated person I had ever worked with.  And that if there was anyone in finance that the company should be helping advance their education and career with the company, that young woman was the person we should be focused on.  I'm sure that young woman never knew that I provided strongly supportive feedback that helped her current boss put forward the strongest possible recommendation.  If someone asked me about her today, I'd still go out of my way to get them to understand that she is a superstar that I would expect to excell at every opportunity.  

    

[hoops902]

::He suddenly appears behind you, in a sneaky way, and it's very startling. He approaches you quickly and looks in your monitor to see if you are in the internet. He does this several times a day. He comes into your space talking about something he needs from you and you have to leave everything and jump to fulfill his needs.

Sometimes I feel like giving him my notice and just walk away. I am counting the days till vacation time. I'll start looking for another job the same day I come back from vacation.::

So he sneaks up on you to determine if you break the company rules...and you do.  How else is he going to find that out? lol  If he walked around talking loudly to himself "I better go see if people are on the internet now, here i come!" everyone could just close the windows. 

You're breaking the rules, and you're annoyed that he is able to catch you doing it.  Seems like the obvious answer is not "my manager should stop catching me breaking the rules", but "I should stop breaking the rules". 

It sounds like a lot of the things you don't like he has had to implement specifically because you and your coworkers refuse to follow the rules.  I'm sure it's annoying to you and your coworkers.

[Ava]

Nov 26, 2014 16:28:12 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

::He suddenly appears behind you, in a sneaky way, and it's very startling. He approaches you quickly and looks in your monitor to see if you are in the internet. He does this several times a day. He comes into your space talking about something he needs from you and you have to leave everything and jump to fulfill his needs.

Sometimes I feel like giving him my notice and just walk away. I am counting the days till vacation time. I'll start looking for another job the same day I come back from vacation.::

So he sneaks up on you to determine if you break the company rules...and you do.  How else is he going to find that out? lol  If he walked around talking loudly to himself "I better go see if people are on the internet now, here i come!" everyone could just close the windows. 

You're breaking the rules, and you're annoyed that he is able to catch you doing it.  Seems like the obvious answer is not "my manager should stop catching me breaking the rules", but "I should stop breaking the rules". 

It sounds like a lot of the things you don't like he has had to implement specifically because you and your coworkers refuse to follow the rules.  I'm sure it's annoying to you and your coworkers.

The only rule I'm breaking is accessing the internet a couple of minutes some days. I don't see it as a big deal.

He has seen me once in 8 months. I don't know if he's caught my co workers doing it or not, I never asked them . I know they use the internet and their cell phones sporadically, because I see them.

He's a difficult person to work with. I generally shrug it off and keep going. Yesterday I was very tired and he got at me. Yes, I fantasize about leaving that job because it's not a good one. The only good thing about it is the short commute.

I don't know any human being who follows all the rules 100% of the time. My life would be extremely boring if I did. And this particular manager would have zero employees if he actually expected people to follow all the rules all of the time.

I am tired of working for him. I am looking forward to the moment I can finally leave.

Are you seriously telling me you are ok with a manager who's always suspicious, who claims he doesn't have enough time and then wastes hours every day sneaking around people