That's what always bugged me about many of the "bad bosses". Suddenly, they are no longer an employee of the company like all the "workers" - they are on a higher plane, and are entitled to grab perks or get away with whatever they can.
I don't mind someone being in charge - there needs to be someone in charge in most situations. But if the company is paying you to be in charge, you are an employee doing a necessary job for the company just like the guy who does the necessary job of cleaning the toilets and making sure the garbage is taken out.
Increased authority doesn't mean you are a better person then everyone else. And often, bad bosses seem to forget that they are supposed to be shouldering increased responsibility along with their increased authority.
It is really demoralizing when the staff sees a supervisor who spends most of their time asleep and largely doesn't have a clue when awake, get the big merit pay bonus at the end of the year for the great work they were able to lead their staff in performing. Of course, the staff is usually doing good at that time to get a cheap ball cap or pen with the organization logo on it as their bit of a reward.
Also, a comment by one of the good supervisors I had made sense. He was good about asking the staff for suggestions - as was pointed out we were the ones processing the work and were likely to see where things could be streamlined or improved. But in the end, the supervisor is the one responsible to upper management and it is their decision that will determine what will be done, not the suggestions of the employees.
I have no problem with that in a supervisor that is obviously giving weight to the staff suggestions (along with having a clue about what is going on and why). The supervisor may have other factors they have to consider in the final decision, or they may just be picking one of several roughly equal options that they prefer over the others.
But then that supervisor took the responsibility for the decision. If we did our best to implement it, but it was the wrong decision, the blame stopped with him and wasn't passed downwards. Too often the credit stops with the bad boss, but the crap continues to flow downhill to the staff.
cheers,
Michael