What or who is a straw boss?

The term straw boss comes from the Industrial revolution times and refers to someone who was an assistant to the head boss, but ordered workers about as if he was the top person in charge. Another idea is that a straw boss was a mill worker who supervised the workers who took the straw out of the thresher. It can be used in a negative way to refer to a mean, arrogant boss.

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A straw boss vs. a straw stuffed figure -- No real power of his own, but set up to look impressive. You don't thresh in mills - before threshing machines it was done on a threshing floor. The threshing machine ejects the straw, often as a nice neat pile in the field. The mill was for grinding the grain - after the threshing was done somewhere else.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshing_machine