True tales of totally wicked bosses: think your head honcho is heinous? You won't believe the twisted tasks and demented duties these employees were asked to perform. (Daily-Grind Disasters).

We all have to deal with degrading chores and insulting instructions in the name of paying dues. But sometimes, a higher-up will make a truly out-of-line, nowhere-in-the-job-description demand. And judging from The Nanny Diaries--the best-selling novel written by two totally taken advantage of nannies who worked for she-devil mothers on New York City's posh Upper East Side--plenty of stepped-on staffers are tired of suffering in silence. Here, Cosmo collected the most ridiculous requests from bosses we've ever heard of. After reading these unbelievable stories of office abuse, you won't think fetching coffee, placing lunch orders, and picking up dry-cleaning is so awful.

yeast beast

"I'm a sales clerk at an upscale clothing boutique, and I rarely leave the shop during the workday. One morning, I was called into my manager's back office because she wanted me to return her yeast-infection kit. She claimed the applicator was broken, and she needed a new one. I had to go to a nearby pharmacy and wait 20 minutes in an insufferably long lunch-hour line to give the pharmacist the used kit and tell him it was defective. After inspecting it, he showed me that the device worked fine--my boss was inserting it backward--and gave me a demonstration in front of the packed store on how to use it properly. As if that weren't horrifying enough, I had to go back to the office and show her what I had just learned."--Monica, 33

backup bridesmaid

"The college professor I work for as an office assistant is notoriously bitchy, but she really topped herself when she started planning her wedding. She was such a tyrant that one of her bridesmaids decided to ditch the nuptials the day before the event. Crying hysterically, my boss called me from out of state, begging me to buy a $1,100 plane ticket (she didn't offer to pay for it) and get the bridesmaid dress from the dropout so I could be her last-minute stand-in."--Chyna, 22

x-rated request

"One of my earliest jobs was as a shampoo girl in a little day spa. My second week there, the control freak who ran the spa showed me a picture of her son and asked me if I thought he was good-looking. Of course, I replied that he was handsome. She told me that he was 18 and still a virgin. She then said, `You're a nice girl. Will you take care of him? I want to make sure he likes women.' She was asking me to deflower her barely-legal child!" --Vanessa, 31