My graduate advisor was like that. Refused to ever put anything in writing. Would verbally order you to do something, entire room would jump in and say "that doesn't make sense, literally doesn't add up", when they would bring it up again I would send them an email stating exactly what was wrong with their idea and why I didn't like it, if they insisted I would send them another email stating "although you have not responded to my previous written correspondence, you have verbally commanded me to do this multiple times so I will go ahead with your idea although here is a list of my objections", and then when the crap idea failed exactly the way everyone in the lab said it would professor would rant that it was your idea and they were always against it and you've wasted everyone's time and resources. Not surprisingly, I left with a MS instead of finishing my PhD. What an asshole. Professor recently got tenure, after multiple students and staff (including me) reported them for fraud, embezzlement, and slander.