Asshole Boss of the Year?

There is always a lot competition for this title. But (courtesy of Gawker and a tip from Scott), Vadim Ponorovsky, who owns the restaurant Paradou in Manhattan, appears to have won the prize.  Here is the email he sent to his staff, which was forwarded to Gawker:

To All,

Please read this email carefully. This is the last time we will be discussing this.

This weekend, saturday and sunday we had 451 customers. Guess how many emails we collected? 60? 80? 40? No. None of those. We, or more acurately you, collected 2 emails. Thats less than half of one percent. 2 fucking emails.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU ASSHOLES?!?!?! How many times do we have to tell you how important it is that you collect emails. Everytime we have a slow night and you make no money and you sit there bitching about how you make no money, remember its because youre fucking lazy motherfuckers. YOU SHOULD ALL BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY!!!!! ALL OF YOU, INCLUDING THE HOSTS!!!!

Let me guess, youre probably sitting there saying "Vadim is such a fucking asshole. How dare he speak to me like this. I dont need this." Youre right, you dont, so why dont you get the fuck out. Any and all of you.

Youre probably sitting there saying "How dare he speak to me like this. How dare he not have respect for me". Youre right there also. I have absolutely no respect for any of you. Why? Because every fucking day, all of you continue to show that you have absolutely no respect for me or Alex. So if you dont respect us enough to do the little that we ask you to do, then GET THE FUCK OUT YOU FUCKING LAZY DISRESPECTFUL ASSHOLES!!!!!

Effective immediately, any server or host who fails to collect at least 20 emails per week, will be fined $100. Anyone failing to collect at least 20 emails for two weeks in a month will be fired immediately. No matter what. No matter who you are.

You dont want to do your job, you dont want to do what we ask, you dont belong at Paradou. Go find another place to work.

How dare you disrespect Alex and me this way. How dare you completely ignore what we ask of you time after time after time.

I am sick of all this shit, you bunch of fucking children. This is what I have to deal with at 6AM?!?!? I wouldnt tolerate this from my 13 year old, and Im sure as shit not going to tolerate it from any of you assholes.

You give no respect, you get 10 times back.

If you can top that, let me know.

P.S. There are all sorts of subsequent actions here, from a defense by the owner (with more F words and a claim that he practicing Reagonomics) and apparently there are death threats against him.  See here, here, and here.

Comments

[Ellie]

This guy (who has made the news today)surely deserves an honourable mention:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/23/andy-coulson-now-bullying-payout?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

What most distresses me here is his position in what is highly likely to become our next government. Bleugh.

[Randy]

And his customers are just e-mail addresses. I won't be risking eating at that place. I wouldn't even want them as a customer of mine.

[Britty]

Ponorovsky needs two things: a tranquilizer and an editor.

It's always wonderfully helpful when an Asshole Boss puts himself in contention for the title "Asshole Boss of the Year" with vividly presented written evidence of his qualifications.

[Christine Livingston]

I've come across some complete dickhead bosses in my time, but this is one of the biggest!

Holy shit!

I just feel for the guys on the receiving end of this.

[PerGynt]

At least he has a coherent policy about collecting emails.

[Bill Bennett]

Well the boss is certainly an asshole (or as we say in this part of the world arsehole).

But my guess is this bad attitude must flow though to all aspects of the business.

I certainly wouldn't be happy eating at a place where I'm pestered for an email address - that's the kind of behaviour you get from shonkey spam operations.

And I wonder, is it possible to put a dollar value on the harm done by this publicity?

[Mark Graban]

I can only guess that he's going to start getting a bunch of fake email addresses from his staff.

[Margo Rose @HRMargo twitter]

Wow. This post really makes a cogent and important point. Why is it some "bosses" think their opinion is relevant? Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. I respond to leaders who lead with compassion, sound ideals, and a vision that moves the organization forward. Your examples floored me. I'm not surprised easily, so please consider this a huge compliment.

Sincerely,

@HRMargo twitter, http://HRMargo.com