History Main / PointyHairedBoss

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': The manager of [[BurgerFool Burger World]] has to deal with Beavis and Butt-Head's shenanigans -- constantly goofing off at work, harassing customers and delaying/withdrawing their orders, having no standards of sanitation when dealing with the food, etc. And yet, he [[UltimateJobSecurity never even bothers to fire them for any of this]] or keep them in line, instead just telling them to get back to work.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'': Woody Johnson started a forest fire to impress a higher-up, siphons park funds for his birthday party, keeps a bear cub as a pet after one of his workers ran over and accidentally shot the cub's parents, signs permits indiscriminately (and often under the influence), keeps a bunch of grossly incompetent employers around (even though Ethel is said to be the only one who actually does her job and can be trusted with responsibilities and he can't fire Denzel, since there's a high chance he'll sue for racial discrimination), etc. Really, it's a long list.

* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': Pops is the boss at the park, but he's incompetent, childish, clueless, and very naive. However, unlike most examples of this trope, he's a BenevolentBoss. He's an incredibly sweet man, and always has a kind word for everyone. Everyone at the park really likes him, even though he's an oddball. Benson is the opposite, frequently threatening to fire Mordecai and Rigby over unfair or mundane reasons.

* ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'': Chief Randall Crawford specializes in cutting corners, resulting in an unkept working environment, sets up a prohibition just to spite his wife (who is also the mayor of Paradise), gets distracted during most of his cases, and fails to keep his dysfunctional workers in line.

* In ''WebComic/{{Lackadaisy}},'' ProfessionalKiller Mordecai Heller was once one half of a pair of enforcers at the Lackadaisy gang, but defected to a new position as TheDragon at the much larger Marigold gang. His new boss has him managing a pair of minions of his own, [[OverzealousUnderlings overkill-happy]] bandits the Savoys. He is depicted as being near-universally ''terrible'' at reining them in, with NoSocialSkills to judge when they'll steamroll him, or otherwise ignore his orders, a fact they readily {{Exploit|ed}} to do anything from hazing him to ''scarring'' him. Mordecai himself has begun to realize the position he's in, and {{Exploit|ed}}s his genuine inability to control the Savoys to play "Good cop" while blackmailing an informant.

%%* The Magic School's Headmaster in ''Webcomic/{{Furmentation}}''.
* Lord Stanley the Tool from ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}''. He is not only is a Pointy-Haired Boss, but he's also a ''BadBoss'' who threatens to kill Parson for simply noting that Stanley is [[TheNapoleon short]], and an EvilOverlord. And to top it all off? He believes that he is ''holy'', and on a MissionFromGod (though in his defense, there's a good chance that he ''is''). However, this may fall under the "promoted beyond his capabilities" aspect of the trope, as he's a pretty savvy tactician and capable warrior. Although, as the story progresses he seems to be going through CharacterDevelopment to be less of a BadBoss, as he actually is putting effort into trying to be nicer to his subordinates, and he has shown several moments of competence, such as negotiating an alliance with the Juggle Elf tribe all on his own.
* The head developer of ''Clichequest'', the satirically stereotypical MMORPG that ''Webcomic/TheNoob'' is set in and around, is an idiot, {{Jerkass}} and SmallNameBigEgo to boot.
* Mike in ''Webcomic/BetweenFailures'' is self-aware and trying not to be one of these, but his management training was inadequate to prepare him for the job, and those in charge of him have fobbed him off on one of the least important branch stores rather than trying to help him.

* George Fennec of ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'' is owner of Hare-Link, but only got that position because his daughter, the former owner, wanted to avoid a potential conflict of interest situation when her mother wanted her to promote her new stepfather. He makes hardly any useful decisions for the business except for once filling in for Kevin as a representative for a deal with Carrot Computers, and tends to be quite distracting. When he passes out after it dawns on him that his pregnant rabbit wife will likely have a litter of babies rather than just one[[note]]It really is just one, though[[/note]], Kevin notes that they can finally get some work done. George is actually a benign example. His ex-wife was emotionally blackmailing their daughter into firing her boyfriend's father and promoting her step-father, and Fionna did not want, so that George offered her a way-out. And he seldom makes business decisions because he trusts Kevin to run the company with as little interference as possible, since Kevin had been the company founding and owner for the longest time.
* Horns, the ''Webcomic/WeaponBrown'' version of Dilbert's PHB is decidedly not like the original. For starters we're introduced to him as he's [[spoiler: ''[[KlingonPromotion murdering Mr. Dithers]]'' to take charge of The Syndicate]]. Then again [[spoiler:he forces the MadScientist version of Dilbert to rush CAL-v1.N and HOBS' awakening and ignores "Dilbert's" warnings that the two are unstable and uncontrollable]].

%%* Dr. Breign from ''Webcomic/TheSnailFactory'' is the quintessential incompetent boss.

All too often this is TruthInTelevision; one technical term is "manglement", a portmanteau of "mangle" and "management". Compare with the military's GeneralFailure. Shares a lot of overlap with a CluelessBoss.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': The manager of [[BurgerFool Burger World]] has to deal with Beavis and Butt-Head's shenanigans -- constantly goofing off at work, harassing customers and delaying/withdrawing their orders, having no standards of sanitation when dealing with the food (including replacing fry oil with ''motor oil''), etc. And yet, he [[UltimateJobSecurity never even bothers to fire them for any of this]] or keep them in line, instead just telling them to get back to work.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': The manager of [[BurgerFool Burger World]] has to deal with Beavis and Butt-Head's shenanigans -- constantly goofing off at work, harassing customers and delaying/withdrawing their orders, having no standards of sanitation when dealing with the food, replacing fry oil with ''motor oil'', etc. And yet, he [[UltimateJobSecurity never even bothers to fire them for any of this]] or keep them in line, instead just telling them to get back to work.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': The manager of [[BurgerFool Burger World]] has to deal with Beavis and Butt-Head's shenanigans -- constantly goofing off at work, harassing customers and delaying/withdrawing their orders, beating each other up during hours simply to get worker's compensation, replacing fry oil with ''motor oil'', getting the place closed due to breaking health codes[[note]]i.e., Beavis not washing his hands ''before'' accessing the grill (and ''after'' scratching his ''crotch'' non-stop), getting everyone horribly sick in the process[[/note]], bringing in a ''live rat'' to work (which produced a ''litter'', surely resulting in an infestation), etc. And yet, he [[UltimateJobSecurity never even bothers to fire them for any of this]] or keep them in line, instead just telling them to get back to work.

While ThePeterPrinciple states that all managers are incompetent by definition, TheDilbertPrinciple claims that the most incompetent and irrational workers will be KickedUpstairs where they can no longer disturb the productive flow (at least in theory). This is the origin of the Pointy-Haired Boss.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Retail}}'':
** Just about anybody at the level of store manager or higher is portrayed as a PHB, with Stuart being the most prominent.
** Following her promotion, Marla is trying to avoid becoming one, but upper management's demands (and [[TeachersPet Josh's]] insistence to [[YesMan follow corporate orders to the letter]]) are making it difficult.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': The manager of [[BurgerFool Burger World]] has to deal with Beavis and Butt-Head's shenanigans -- constantly goofing off at work, harassing customers and delaying/withdrawing their orders, beating each other up during hours simply to get worker's compensation, replacing fry oil with ''motor'' oil, getting the place closed due to breaking health codes[[note]]i.e., Beavis not washing his hands ''before'' accessing the grill (and ''after'' scratching his ''crotch'' non-stop), getting everyone horribly sick in the process[[/note]], bringing in a ''live rat'' to work (possibly resulting in an infestation, given the rat made a ''litter''), etc. And yet, he [[UltimateJobSecurity never even bothers to fire them for any of this]] or keep them in line, instead just telling them to get back to work.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': The manager of [[BurgerFool Burger World]] has to deal with Beavis and Butt-Head's shenanigans -- constantly goofing off at work, harassing customers and delaying/withdrawing their orders, beating each other up during hours simply to get worker's compensation, replacing fry oil with ''motor'' oil, getting the place closed due to breaking health codes[[note]]i.e., Beavis not washing his hands ''before'' accessing the grill (and ''after'' scratching his ''crotch'' non-stop), getting everyone horribly sick in the process[[/note]], bringing in a ''live rat'' to work, etc. And yet, he [[UltimateJobSecurity never even bothers to fire them for any of this]] or keep them in line, instead just telling them to get back to work.

* ''Series/KenanAndKel'': Chris Potter is the owner of Rigby's and the superior to Kenan (and later Sharla). However, he seems incapable of taking care of his store, which constantly gets vandalized by Kenan and Kel's shenanigans.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' TV series. See the Comics Strips section for more on ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' in general. The TV incarnation of the Boss focuses more on him being a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} rather than a flat-out MeanBoss, though in earlier episodes [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness he was much more outwardly evil]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' has GCPD Chief Angel Rojas in its first two seasons. The man is incompetent, a glory hog, petty, an UngratefulBastard, and refuses to learn from his mistakes. He couldn't solve some of the Riddler's easiest riddles. On a couple of occasions, he's trying to take credit for Batman's work. He's a MeanBoss, openly belittling detective Ethan Bennett in front of his other subordinates just because Bennett supported Batman; this, along with the Joker's MindRape, drove Bennett to become the show's first Clayface. Even after Batman saved Rojas from Clayface and later Mr. Freeze and Firefly, he's still a jackass to him and when he learns Bennett's partner, Ellen Yin, was in an alliance with Batman, he fired her and used her as a hostage to get Batman to come to him, so he could capture him. Karma then bit him in the ass in [[Recap/TheBatmanS2E13NightAndTheCity the episode he pulled that last stunt]], as the TropeNamer for TheCommissionerGordon had just debuted and became Commissioner, ergo outranking Rojas, and proceed to both end Rojas's manhunt for Batman and force Rojas to release and reinstate Yin.
* Pumpers from ''WesternAnimation/{{Breadwinners}}'' due to [[FakeUltimateHero thinking as himself as]] TheAce and for having a [[SmallNameBigEgo massive ego]].

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' has Captain Carol Freeman. Though she’s competent enough to be ''be'' a captain of a Starfleet ship and recognizes certain flaws within the organization, Freeman has a major chip on her shoulder due to [[DudeWheresMyRespect feeling a supposed lack of respect]] from them. She can be a major butt-kisser, can be ''very'' vindictive if crossed wrong and can employ ideas without thinking them through.

* ''Film/NineToFive''. Franklin Hart is [[ArcWords sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot]], and the boss of the three main characters.

* The {{trope namer|s}} comes from the original [[http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/the_characters/ Pointy-Haired Boss]] in the daily comic strip and former animated TV series ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'', seen above playing chess against a pineapple -- and ''[[EpicFail losing]]''. (Count the captured pieces!) But it's a little bit more complicated than it seems:

* ''Series/KenanAndKel'': Chris Potter is the owner of Rigby's and the superior to Kenan (and later Sharla). However, he seems incapable of taking care of his store, which gets constantly vandalized by Kenan and Kel's shenanigans.

* Hamnpork, leader of the Clan in ''Literature/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'', didn't take the shift to sentience particularly well, being fairly old at the time. By the time the book rolls around, Hamnpork is reduced to being a figurehead for Peaches and Darktan. However, unlike most pointy-haired bosses, Hamnpork is well aware that his leadership qualifications are from a different time, and while he is clearly unhappy about it, he is willing to let Darktan and Peaches call the shots and quietly groom Darktan as his successor. Also, while Hamnpork isn't much of a peacetime leader, he ''is'' a highly competent scrapper and solid, if unimaginative, small-unit tactician (he managed to gain and hold authority well into his old age, at a time when AsskickingEqualsAuthority was in full effect) and puts those skills to good use when called upon to do so.

-->'''Burgerpants:''' Yeah, because [[SarcasmMode humans are always eating burgers made of]] ''sequins and glue!''

* As part of LetsPlay/CallMeKevin's general gimmick, whenever he's in charge of a business for a videogame, he will deliberately play as the most incompetent decision maker possible - from building a restaurant that serves one dish nobody likes to creating a ''VideoGame/TwoPointHospital'' hospital that kills as many patients as possible.