fearofmear

So I am a graduate student in college. I TA for an Organic Chemistry lab. I did a good job last semester TAing for a professor who was relatively easy to work with. This semester my boss is a total psycho and to top things off, he is also a professor for one of my classes. The best word to describe this guy is bipolar. He micromanages the lab to every last detail, which is fine by me. Anyway, there was a procedure in the lab that the students didn't have time to do or else they would have never finished the lab. I told them to take a shortcut that works better. He freaked out when he heard of this and chewed me out for it and threatened to have me fired. That was a little extreme , but that is fine; he is psycho and I have come to expect petty bullshit from him like that . I was guilty of something that I shouldn't have done and deserved the criticism I received. What he has been doing behind my back is what pisses me off. He has told the people who run the stockroom that I am "a dumb motherfucker". He has started to criticize me in front of the other graduate students in my own class. Word gets around the chemistry department. And I am not alone in being the recipient of this very unprofessional behavior. I am getting it worse because I won't rollover and take his bullshit. Anyway, I would really not like to take this to the Dean of Students or whatever. I'd talk to someone in his research group about how to better deal with him but he has no group. Which is absolutely unheard of for a fully tenured professor. Anyone have any tips for dealing with psycho bosses?