Pissin' the boss off when you're actually not at fault.

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Boss man gettin' cranky with me for failing to read his mind and operating under a week-old directive that hadn't been revised or refuted since its origin. Do I apologize for this?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Nope. You point his fault out to him (I am losing my temper with my own boss regularly and have taken to criticising him at length. It makes for interesting dynamics at work).

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I deal with this almost daily. I have no advice. I'm really bad at dealing with authority, especially when it's wrong.

― Pears can just fuck right off. (kenan), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Also tack posters which say things like "Insert Brain Here" with an arrow pointing up on his back. That's bound to improve the dynamic.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I had this problem with my old boss. She got fired recently. I swear to Shiva, it was like she had Alzheimer's.
"Why didn't you X?"
"You said I was strictly forbidden to X until I received permission." "You dropped the ball."
Yeah okay, rotten cock focker.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:13 (twenty-one years ago)

That's because she was too busy Ying off in her office.

― trigonalmayhem (trigonalmayhem), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I WAS ABOUT TO START A THREAD EXACTLY LIKE THIS!
My boss in being a loud-mouthed hypocrite shocker! God forbid I should follow his instructions exactly and not read his mind and know when I shouldn't follow protocol for our secret special clients! I take comfort in the fact he is old and will hopefully have a life-ending heart attack during one of his trademark pounding-fists-on-desk anal retentive hissy-fit yell-fests!

― Apparently now known as (o )( o) (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha. Mine neglects to write rotas until a couple of days before the week starts, then panics when he notices I've taken time off because he's already arranged to do something that day (one of us has to be there at all times). Then tries to get me to work that day for him whilst I patiently explain that I've booked the day off FOR A REASON. Then he gets annoyed with me.

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, he's in the middle of a conference right now, but right before ducking into it, he took a moment to patronizingly scold me for performing a task he'd ordered a week before (the opening line of which being: "From this week on,...") The major stipulation that's making him pissy is that the directive was sent to a group of individuals he didn't want to include this time (meanwhile, in the seven days since the last one went out, there's been no official deviation nor advisory expressing same). He's basically incredulous with me for being consistent and efficient. Nice.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

It should also be noted, that he hates it when you apologize to him for some reason.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, if you did nothing wrong don't apologize. Do what I did - tell him you did as you were supposed to and he should be more consistent with instructions. (mind you if I get fired I really don't give a shit) (I might try the "insert brain" thing later on)

― Apparently now known as (o )( o) (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Just saw him post-conference. All business as usual. Not apologizing. But I will check with him next week before undertaking that same task.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Make sure it is a long winded email when you do! (what I plan on doing next time - even though his desk faces mine!)

― Apparently now known as (o )( o) (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 29 November 2004 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

doesn't count as the boss, but last week I went to a customer for an equipment install at the appointed time and this lady, who's makes it a point to be a passive aggressive pain in the ass, tells me I'm an hour early. I said no, 1:00 was the time.
So she pulls up her Outlook calendar for a 'gotcha' and the whole fucking day is blank. She just moves on and tries to save face "i'm pretty sure it was 2:00, maybe you can go get lunch or something." I should have let it go there but I said "I already had lunch, I need to get started". I told her I needed a PC to work on in the meantime she said she couldn't allow me to do that before the IT consultant got there. I just gave her a disgusted look and walked off, then double around to the back and sat at the first computer I saw and got some work done. I was hoping she would come back and catch me so I could explode with semi-professional indignation but no.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Monday, 29 November 2004 19:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Boss lady gets mad when I point out that, despite her sister having kids with a black dude and her having seen Angela Davis speak, she herself is not black and should not lecture me re: "the struggle"

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Monday, 29 November 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I get around this as much of the time as I can by ensuring people direct me to do things, and I them, via email.

This means you can chuck it in their face later when they 'splode. Case in point: wholesale sales rep who has handed me a company's national order to set up with our Telco, but wants me to stagger the rollout of it, which totally doesnt fit how our system works. I tell her the only way that will work is if she keeps sending in the order form with the next part of the rollout on it, each month, because I'm not the only one who does this work and I leave soon blah blah. She says ok.

This is all in an email exchange.

A month passes and she calls in a panic WHY HASNT THE NEXT ROLLOUT BEEN DONE YET OMG THEY GO LIVE IN NSW TOMORROW WHY DIDNT YOU DO IT. I tell her we got no form, she plays stupid... until I fwd all the emails to her and she suddenly remembers what she agreed to. Haaaaa!

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 29 November 2004 21:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, Trayce totally OTM. I document everything. I send faxes/email over calling. If I call, I document the gist of the conversation. Then when a higher up comes to be about ANYTHING I can cover my ass.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Monday, 29 November 2004 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

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