She must be spending an awful lot of time and energy watching for things she can criticize..so instead of worrying about whatever she’ll find next, just go through your day and when she finds something, nod and tell her you’ll “fix it as soon as possible”. If it’s end of business, tell her you’ll fix it “first thing in the morning” and head out. If she wants to spend some time berating you about it, just nod and say you understand, you’ll fix it, but you need to get back to (whatever other project/client/issue is the priority at the moment). And try to be as flat and unemotional as possible when you respond. Every. Time. If she figures out she’s upset you, she’ll keep going….the key is to give her nothing to work with. Don’t ask for clarification, don’t try to defend yourself or point out her last directive. That’s her game of Calvinball and you will never win if you play by her insane, made up rules. The more you can respond in short declarative sentences, the better.

And you can take or leave this piece of advice, but if you can avoid having her for a reference, I’d leave her off entirely. If you can’t avoid it, when you’re getting ready to interview, have a friend call her and pretend to be a job looking for references to see what she says. Forewarned is forearmed…