The managers I've had have all had flaws of one type or another, but they've also had strengths that I couldn't gain without years of training/working under them.
I wouldn't last long under someone I didn't respect - that's a recipe for resignation.
Again, are you kidding me? It sure has some fabricated pieces, but I've seen tons of similar examples in real life, working with other programmers and project managers.
Heck, you can find tons of DailyWTF worthy material even in Stack Overflow questions and answers, and those are 100% legit non-fiction.
OK, what are your real life examples? :) I'm trying to see through the myth.
> you can find tons of DailyWTF worthy material even in Stack Overflow questions and answers
Plenty of examples of crappy code on Stack Overflow, not so many examples of crappy managers.
I have tons of stories to tell, but instead I propose you check this: http://thedailywtf.com/