What's the least considerate or most humiliating thing your boss has ever done to you?

I’m brand-new to Reddit but I’m hoping to get some good responses...

When I started my new job as PR director, I was set up for a bunch of different meetings and conferences. One of these was a huge conference in Las Vegas. It was about month after I’d started, so I had no idea what I was doing, and really didn’t know anyone. I’m an outgoing guy, and I thought I was getting along pretty well with a couple of girls I worked with who were also along. Since I was engaged to my wife at the time, and I talked about her pretty much constantly, I had no reason to believe anyone thought I was being anything other than reasonably affable.

We went out to a club the one night and although I had a great time talking with my male and female coworkers, I left before everyone else because I was feeling ill. (I probably had more to drink than I ought to have.) I woke up the next day fine and finished the rest of the trip without incident, although I apologized for having had a couple too many scotches. Everyone seemed cool.

When we got back to the office the next week, I had an interoffice IM pop up about mid-day from my boss: “Keats is being a bit mousy with me. Guess he knows I’m irritated with him.” I was very confused so I asked him what he meant. He called me in for a meeting and explained that he had meant to send the IM to someone else in the office, apologized, and then explained that all of the girls felt I was coming on way too strong, and that I was clearly flirting with a couple of them. He told me that they asked him to bring up the issue because they were too embarrassed and hurt. I was gobsmacked. Not a thing I said or did even approached that line, and I couldn’t believe someone would speak up about it. He basically told me to cool it with the ladies and, confused, I obliged.

I’m short, kind of goofy, and talk a little too much - all-around not a flirty guy. It’s impossible to mistake my self-conscious bumbling as flirtatiousness. My palms sweat just thinking about flirting. I called my fiancee, who was equally confused, and we decided I should just stay out of everyone’s way and lay low. In spite of this, the drama built, since everyone in the office somehow found out that the new guy was being fresh with the ladies.

I left the girls (and everyone else) alone for a week and then, out of nowhere, one of them said that she was pissed that I’m rude to everyone in the office now. I go back to my boss who says, “You shut down entirely. I just wanted you to back off a little bit.” Now, incredibly pissed, I realized that I wasn’t going to win. I walked to HR, but the HR manager wasn’t there, so I walked back to my desk. So every day from then on, I made pleasantries with everyone in my immediate area and kept to myself otherwise. It worked like a charm.

Slowly but surely I began talking to my coworkers like normal again until, six months later, one of them brought up the awkward situation. What I didn’t know, we pieced together. After I left, with everyone completely drunk, one of the girls mentioned to the other that I seemed pretty friendly, and the other asked “well, do you think he’s flirting with you?” My boss, in a moment of sauced bravado, apparently tried to butt into the conversation. He then discussed it with another girl I work with – one with whom I have minimal contact, a pretty secretary who is constantly flirting with HIM – and sent her an interoffice message when we got back about how pissed he was with me for “coming on to everyone.” Turns out he accidentally sent it to me. In spite of the fact that he was NEVER asked to discuss the situation he fabricated, in his embarrassment, he made me – a new employee – feel as absurdly uncomfortable as possible.

All to save his neck after trying to show off to a pretty secretary. And he still hasn’t admitted to his mistake.

To top it off, my female coworker told me that one of the guys we were hanging out with that night, a friend of my boss, had literally asked every girl there to come back to his room that night, and ended up making out with the secretary.

TL;DR: When I was new to my company, my boss said some girls had complained about me flirting with them. The reason he did this was to cover up a mistake he had made – sending me an interoffice message meant for a secretary HE was flirting with. It caused six months of weirdness between me and the entire department. He still hasn’t fessed up.