I was controller for a privately held company in Houston. The company had 300 employees and the owner had all mail routed over his desk which he would distribute. He read it all. We had an office in Nigeria that we got evicted from because the rent was not paid on time because the notice was still on his desk when he left for vacation.
To get around his madness I would give the PO Box of our direct deposit address to certain clients and vendors. The bank would deliver that mail to me the next day by courier with the bank deposits. I would have been fired on the spot if he ever found out I had discovered a work around to his "mail control".
No one would deliver him bad news. He approved a budget for a building in Louisiana. Unfortunately, when all the money had been spent the concrete driveway was 5 feet shy of the highway. So you have this multimillion dollar building with 5 feet of dirt and mud you had to drive over to get the building. No one would go to him and ask for the money to finish the drive. He used to brag all his projects never went over budget!! Obviously he never visited the building.
Last updated August 20 2008: 4:45 PM ET
