Having A Jerk For A Boss May Actually Be Good For You

Having a bad boss can really make or break your life.

Seriously, think about it for a second: You've landed a dream job; you're finally getting paid like an adult and can not only afford the nice studio apartment, but you can also afford to go out for brunch!

Everything seems great, right? WRONG.

Your dream job quickly turns into a waking f*cking nightmare when you realize your boss absolutely positively sucks.

Every day you must wake up, get dressed, go to a job you now hate because you have to answer to a complete succubus (or incubus... we don't discriminate bad bosses by gender) and go to brunch every single goddamn week just so you can vent about it.

But is this boss actually the worst? If he or she is just a jerk, no, because as it turns out, sh*t can get much, much worse.

According to a new study published by Michigan State University, having a jerk for a boss isn't really all that bad compared to having an erratic one.

Fadel Matta, lead author of the study and researcher in MSU's Broad College of Business, said in a statement,

Our findings essentially show that employees are better off if their boss is a consistent jerk rather than being a loose cannon who's fair at times and unfair at other times. We found that inconsistent treatment is much more stressful than being treated poorly all the time.

To come to its conclusion, the team split 160 college students into two rooms and gave each team a task. The students were told the opposite team would evaluate their work, but in truth, the evaluations came from the researchers.

In all, one-third of the students were treated fairly; one-third were always treated unfairly, and the final third received erratic treatment.

Feedback included, "You should be ashamed of your efforts on that last round" and, "It sucks to work with an unmotivated person." OUCH.

The team then monitored each of the students' heart rates and found those who had the least consistent feedback (good or bad) were the most stressed.

So there you have it. Thank your lucky stars your boss is *only* a jerk.