guidance, more autonomy (if you're being prevented from completing things due to a bottleneck beyond your control.) I was micromanaged once -- and it was just his nature. I had recently moved departments and when my former boss saw how he was managing me he talked with him asking what the heck he was doing -- nothing changed so I left quickly. One example -- there was a series of emails received daily from an overseas partner. MicroBoss was out of the office one day so called to read the email to me over the phone. We were both on the email so I had read it myself, which I politely told him. He said he knew, but he wanted to read it to me to make sure I understood. He proceeded to read all 18 pages of emails to me. Aloud. Over the phone. To make sure I understood. (To be clear, they were written in English -- a language I'm familiar with in written form). When he got back to the office we went over one more bit of communication -- my resignation letter. I gave him the courtesy of allowing him to read it to himself. Lessons learned -- some people just suck and you won't change them. The more important lesson, however, was don't quit a job which pays well without something else lined up just because your ego demands it. Remind your ego about the mortgage and that temping for another couple months until you