Being a manager is not for the faint of heart, and not everyone handles it well or has the temperament for it. Sounds like, as an entry level employee, you find yourself reporting to a first line supervisor who it not terribly skilled or sophisticated and is probably pretty powerless in the organization. So, what to do? Sure, keep looking for a new job but in the meantime learn from the situation and use it as an opportunity show some grace and class.

You can be certain that every boss, even the best, that you have in your career will be human and therefore deeply flawed, as are you. In addition to bringing skills and knowledge to the workplace every day, bring compassion and the willingness to see everyone--including the awful boss--as a fellow human being of worth. It will take you a long way in your career. Doesn't mean that you won't run into some horrible people, but you will develop the capability to handle it.

In the meantime, good luck with the growing up thing.

That's my mom's favorite line whenever I complain about my job. It feels nice in a sort of "my big sister hit me so I hit my little sister" way to say it to someone else. Please pardon me. I do know better.

I was going to get some work done this weekend so I won't have to rush at the last minute to meet a deadline, and on Friday I asked my boss for some information I needed before I could start working and mentioned that I really wanted to work over the weekend so could he please get around to talking to me today? And he left me a message: Hey yeah, I need to talk to you about that! And then left for the weekend. So I played Left 4 Dead a lot this weekend and I'll be working over the holidays. Oh merciful Jesus it's a good thing I work long distance, or I would have mastered punching through people's skulls and hauling their pulsating brains into the light to see what the hell the problem is by now. Instead I ask sweetly, You needed to talk to me? And he tells me what I needed to know, IN FEWER WORDS THAN HE USED TO BLOW ME OFF. Insert blasphemy here.

A good boss is a gift from heaven. A bad boss will make you stomp around in little circles with steam coming out of your ears like a cartoon character. No, you can't quit right now, and you know that. Post some Dilbert cartoons in your cubicle, hitch up your pants, and get back to work.

Is this your first job ever?

Your boss doesn't care what you think of her (although you'd be wise to not let her know!). Nobody cares if you are paid "fairly" or not. And oh, how awful! She gossips a little!

You need to acknowledge that you're just whining. If there's a problem, it's in your own head.

You know what a really bad boss is? Someone who steals your work and claims he did it himself. Someone who tells everyone that you have psychological problems. Someone who is stealing from the company and who tries to either involve you or blame it on you. Someone who makes unwanted sexual advances.

If you don't like your job, find a new one. Meanwhile, thank your lucky stars that you 1) have an actual paying job, and 2) aren't stuck in a really toxic work situation.

I apologize for nitpicking, but some distant memory of economic history class tells me that David Ricardo should be credited for his theory of comparative advantage, and not good old Adam...

Good answer, though!

Hatred expends a great deal of unnecessary energy. One becomes drained, exhausted by the intensity of one's own feelings. Two questions: Do you want to stop hating? Or do you somehow need to feel hatred? You can call it loathing and despising, but regardless of what you label it, it's still depleting you.

Conserve, preserve your self. Put the boss in a box labeled "not a projection screen for my frustrations" and stow the box on a high shelf, out of the focus of your consciousness.

Concentrate on pursuing other things in your life. Detach from her. Don't make her your mirror. Do not allow one person to invade your mind like that. You are in control of your thoughts about her. Change them. Try compassion. She is probably a very sad woman inside. If you look at her with a different attitude, she will start to seem much smaller and less important.

"but I feel like the entire time I've been here it's been a constant struggle."

Ya know, sweetie, life's a bitch sometimes. Get used to it. And it is a "constant struggle." Where did you and the other "shirts-over-my-knuckles" types ever get the idea it wasn't a struggle?

Did it occur to you that you might have to get a job in an area or field that is not your speciality in order to leave this job? I mean, how bad do you want to leave?

Give yourself a time line, say 60 days to seriously find another position and if that time comes and goes, then take the job down at the SpeedMart as a cashier until you can find the job you want.

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, stick the financial consequences of this mess on your fiance' no matter how understanding he is. Be a grown-up about this. I'm sure he's tired of listening to rant about it too.

"Do or don't do; there is no try," said Yoda back in the day.

Never go into a job without an exit strategy. Difficult though it may be, bust your ass to make yourself indispensible to this woman & the office at large while keeping an eye on the calendar. Make people notice you & start gathering references to use for your job search. Once you land another job negotiate your start date. Then when the time is right - at the busiest time of the year or just before a major event that you know your boss can't possibly handle on her own - turn in your resignation with as little notice as you can get away with giving & just walk away. In the end, the best way to stick it to an organization or a bad boss is to use to your advantage & then take your skills & talents elsewhere.