Describe your worst boss, how would you handle it?

It varies. Lots of ways to prepare; research online.

Thank you, Naomi,
I was looking for your particular approaches when preparing to interview a person for a PM position.

Jean,
Thank you for sharing your experience. What did you take away from this situation? How has your boss developed you?

Thanks for this question John.

To be fully honest, I would not want to present myself as fully innocent from this experience. Situations are never "black and white", this is also the message I'd like to share in such discussion. A bad boss might reflect in a bad collaborator, sometimes.

I think my best take aways from this tricky period are :
1 - the fact that a project needs to be carefully defined, staffed and governed from its earliest phases.
2 - the need for close management of all stakeholders, and the need of a strong communication plan, even if this would impact the overall time lines.

Overall, afterwards, this was a strong learning phase, but painful and frustrating :) as well.

Lori,
Thank you for placing yourself in the interviewer perspective. Another thought is how you react to bad situations, will you be a gossiper and backbiter when the boss corrects you on your errors.

For me, as an interviewer, I would want to hear "She was very hard to work for at times, but she was also very smart and taught me to be more assertive, to fight when necessary to be heard and not to shy away from confrontation. I balance what I learned from her with appropriate and professional skills I have learned and have developed within myself that match my style. Many people would say the surgeon was a terrible boss, but I was able to learn from her strengths and appreciate what she taught me very much."
My objective for the interview question would be looking for someone to fill the position who has integrity and strength of character greater than the normal run of the mill job.

In my opinion, a person who throws their terrible boss under the bus brought their bad experience to a personal level, therefore their answer is more subjective rather than objective. A mature person values the hard times just as much because they value what they learned from those experiences.

I think some employers do not prepare to interview new candidates as well as they could.
In adult learning, the idea is not to assess something or someone without having a measurable objective. We would do a better service if we think through what our questions and our expected results.

Jean,
Your point is valid. We tend to forget our participation in upsetting moments, but if we step back and look at what transpired we will learn how to handle a similar incident.
You have to ask yourself which is important the outcome or preserving the relationship? Our attitudes are what we own in every situation. There is a saying, a husband has two options; be happy or be right. I believe that truth will always prevail and I also believe there is a way to present truth without suffering the relationship. The interview question stems from those beliefs.