I do kind of wonder what my boss' background is. I think she started out as a researcher in mining and I guess the team leader position opened up and maybe she'd been there longer than others, or they just thought it was easier to promote her than post ads/interview, etc., so they just promoted her.

I get the impression that this is her first time as a supervisor and maybe she is not prepared for that side of things. Plus, she often doesn't seem to like dealing with people much, which is not a good characteristic for a manager.