The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
The Boss: Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)
The Horribleness: Queen bitch of the fashion industry. Cruel, cold and clinical in her put downs. When her assistant moves mountains to get a copy of the unreleased Harry Potter manuscript for her twins, she unflinchingly asks "What are they supposed to do with one? Share?"
Get In Their Good Books: Do everything she says,and do it on time. Coffee, cars and CK scarves: make sure she has them.
Austin Powers (1997)
The Boss: Dr Evil (Mike Myers)
The Horribleness: Petulant, demanding and ever inept arch nemesis. Question his judgement at a meeting in his volcano lair and you might just end up with your seat tilted back and floor opening up to a pit of liquid hot magma.
Get In Their Good Books: Avoid saying the wrong thing at the meeting table, get on with his son and be nice to his cat Mr Bigglesworth.
Spider-Man (2002)
The Boss: JJ Jameson (JK Simmons)
The Horribleness: Micromanaging foolishly stubborn and pompous skinflint who’s mean to our spidey hero.
Get In Their Good Books: Stay within budget and don’t be a skin-tight suited vigilante by night (but if you must be, take some nice pictures of yourself in your spare time).
Wall Street (1987)
The Boss: Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas)
The Horribleness: “Greed Is Good” says it all, the epitome of '80s money lust, and he’ll go all criminal to get whatever he wants. The kingpin of the white collar criminals was scamming and fixing the numbers way before it became cool.
Get In Their Good Books: Don’t have a sensitive side, don’t grass him up and don’t date his daughter.
Star Wars (1977)
The Boss: Darth Vader
The Horribleness: If the ability to throttle someone without actually physically touching them isn’t bad enough, he’s floating around out there in space in what he calls “The Death Star” practising the “dark side” of “the force” terrorising his own children.
Get In Their Good Books: If you point out the fatal flaw in the design of his aforementioned space vessel I’m sure you’d become his BFF for life. And don’t believe a word of that Obi-Wan Kenobi’s nonsense.
A Few Good Men (1992)
The Boss: Colonel Nathan R Jessop (Jack Nicholson)
The Horribleness: Hard faced disciplinarian doling out “code red” punishments on marines in his command like a trigger-happy psychopath. His hard-headed approach lands him in court but there he displays a masterclass in vitriol.
Get In Their Good Books: Make sure you’re aware of how poorly you handle such things as the truth.
The Devils Advocate (1997)
The Boss: John Milton (Al Pacino)
The Horribleness: Sharing the moniker of Paradise Lost 's writer, this run-of-the-mill post-Gekko white collar criminal turns out to be a bit of a devil ... quite literally!
Get In Their Good Books: Let him look after your soul for a while, don’t tell the Mrs.
Office Space (1999)
The Boss: Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole)
The Horribleness: Power-tripping middle management type who exercises his authority in a most peculiarly irksome manner. If the one thing you enjoy about your job is being in the possession of a shiny red stapler, don't worry, he'll take that away with pleasure.
Get In Their Good Books: Always be aware of “what’s happening”, be prepared to work weekends and put your best into “themed” work days.
Swimming With Sharks (1994)
The Boss: Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey)
The Horribleness: Treats his assistant like a kid might a small insect with a magnifying glass and a set of tweezers. How about this for a prep talk: "You are nothing. If you were in my toilet bowl I wouldn't bother flushing it. My bath mat means more to me than you"
Get In Their Good Books: Let him steal your ideas and your girlfriend.
Glengarry Glenn Ross (1992)
The Boss: Blake (Alec Baldwin)
The Horribleness: Acronym loving deputy sales head. As reward based schemes go, his may just be the harshest… first place gets a Cadillac, second place gets a steak knife set, and third place gets fired.
Get In Their Good Books: Just don’t come last: harsh but fair. And, of course, Always Be Closing.
