Anyone ever had any success come from going over your direct supervisor's head, or to HR, and complaining about the work ethic of your direct supervisor?

depends on what you are trying to accomplish. I had a manager once who was unethical, but rather than provide a list of issues, I opted to lay out why our personalities were in conflict and why i needed to move to another area in the bank.

I've also just waited a few of them out until they eventually hung themselves.

Sometimes, though, it takes years to hang themselves. It is fun when it happens though.

In today's environment, I think everyone has a lot shorter rope than they use too

I'm waiting on 2 individuals here to finally hang themselves anytime now. Should be somewhat enjoyable when it (finally) happens... it's long overdue in both cases.

Going over one's supervisor's head is always fraught with danger. Better brush up the resume lest things go awry. Then hold your breath and take the plunge if you must.

Among many other complaints, what if this direct supervisor forwarded you an email that a coworker on the same level as you sent to the direct supervisor in confidence...with the email regarding some of the coworkers concerns (basically a conversation meant only for the coworker and the direct supervisor.)

What if, what if, what if nothing. Either file a complaint, live with it, or get another job. Let's play grown up here....

I agree. You will be viewed as petty and a trouble maker by management by complaining about things like this. If something rises to the level of a whistleblower action that is one thing, otherwise, either transfer, find another bank, or wait to see if there are any management changes.

You will drive yourself crazy and not make any friends otherwise.

I had a manager somewhat like that years ago. He seemed well liked by his bosses (knew how to handle them) but pulled all kinds of stunts on the minions (promises broken; would talk to one about another...) I transferred to another department because I assumed (and found out later that I was right) that if he was talking about the other admin staff to me, what was he saying about me to others). Didn't need the BS, I was a hard working, dedicated employee so I opted to transfer to another department rather than file a complaint in HR. Of course the transfer got a little ugly - he dragged it out for much longer than it needed so even the person in HR soon realized what kind of person he was - I didn't need to say anything; started working for a better boss and life went on.

Not sure from this thread how bad the current boss is, but wishing for yours to get terminated sometimes falls into the category of "be careful what you wish for." Sometimes better the devil you know than the one that you don't. Mine just got terminated, and although he wasn't perfect, I am on pins and needles waiting to see what his replacement is like.

NEVER assume your emailing in "confidence"...seems to be NO such thing in business dealings anymore. My manager, not that it's affected me in anyway, can request ANY computer activity, internet usage, emails, etc. that her employees have engaged in.

LOL, That's how we ended up with the jerk that I worked for. The previous boss was great. If you did your job he left you alone - gave great reviews, yada yada yada. It was a lending dept so he rode the lenders pretty hard (but still fair - kept his promises but just stayed on top of everything). The loan officers under him complained about him so he was moved to another dept and the jerk became our boss. So we went from a boss that you knew where he was coming from to a boss that said one thing and did another - really goes to show the grass is not always greener on the other side.

"If you don't like em, outlast em"

I knew someone who got rid of his boss by giving the boss's name to a recruiter that called. He made an offer the "boss" couldn't refuse.

When the boss turned in his resignation, "Bill" filled-in the job, and they just let him stay as the new boss. Happy ending.

Ugh. If I heard about an employee of ours making an issue out of that, I would think that they didn't have enough to do, and were a troublemaker.

i agree with this completely!! i outlasted my last supervisor who was aweful to work with. and now they have been gone over a year and life is great! And the replacement was the exact opposite of the previous one!