(TL;DR – Current boss sucks. Just told her I intend to leave for a boss that doesn't suck.)
I've worked for micro-managers before. She makes them look like Snoop Dogg relaxing in a hammock on a beach smoking a joint. Buckle up, everyone! I'm about to crack open the floodgates.
If you're not sitting at your desk when she walks by (say, for, going to the bathroom or doing actual non-desk related work) she'll call your cell phone and demand to know where you are. She also demands to be CC'd on every email, then complains/brags about how many emails she gets and how swamped she is. Stuff goes smoother when she's not involved, however, so we leave her out as much as possible.
She's the quintessential middle-manager who refuses to let us work from home while sick or with COVID because she needs to justify her job, then works from home herself when sick. She's almost 60 and refuses to learn new software; in fact she once spent an entire week coming up with a list of 60+ gripes (instead of, you know, actually helping with the work) about a new, vastly-superior upgrade the company is rolling out, just to let Corporate know she wasn't happy about it. On conference calls, you can hear people from other branches (who've never met her) groan when she starts talking.
Other managers say to me consolingly “Man, I don't know how you deal with her,” like I'm living with lyme disease or anal fissures. They continually fight with (and have even yelled at) her because she's continually trying to manage their crap too. They've even had to bring in senior management to tell her to play with her own toys.
She nitpicks at every detail of the work we do, writing amazingly long, detailed emails (including screenshots!) on how to accomplish simple tasks–the work equivalent of explaining to an adult that your socks go on before your shoes. She still explains to me how to do crap I've done hundreds of times more than her. She habitually uses ridiculous amounts of question marks and exclamation points in emails (Where is the RJF file??????). We make fun of this by using at least a hundred each time we email each other (Thanks, Mike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). This is the only way I stay sane.
She continually inserts herself into issues that don't concern her and have already been solved, causing new issues and problems to be solved. She's so strict on enforcing rules that she'll invent imaginary ones. Even the CEO has told her to dial it back. She rarely takes time off, but when she does she continually texts us to assure herself we haven't burned the place down. In fact, answering her feverish check-ins often takes more time than actually doing the work.
(Just about done. Bear with me here.)
She actually wrote up my co-worker for taking a personal call in the bathroom once (while she takes them in her office continually). She threw another co-worker under the bus by reporting a major security incident for a harmless, minor act. New hires in our department last only a few months (and it's only a 6-person department); one said she was the most insulting person he'd ever worked for.
When I tried to bring all this up to her, her response was “Oh, well the thing about me is that I'm not a hoverer.” This astounding display of self-delusion showed me there's no use trying to reason with her, and now I just smile and nod. And you better believe I'm typing this on company time, just 20 feet away from her.
I stay because the job pays well (in my manager's defense, she does go to bat for her subordinates and isn't a bad person, just a bad manager) and I have 5 human beings who depend on me. HR/senior management know about her but don't do anything because…I'm actually not sure why.
ANYWAYS, I just informed this woman that I intend to leave her department for a better position with a manager who is a friend and a cool person. The best part? It came during a one-on-one meeting meant to cover the additional duties I'd be taking on because another person in the department is leaving.
Oh, Reddit! The feeling! You know the end of Shawshank Redemption, where Andy climbs out of the sewer pipe into the rain and lifts his arms into heaven, a free and redeemed man? That's me. That's how I feel right now.
Yeah. That's the one.