What to do when your boss never takes responsibility?

norm

scb wrote:

they usually end up feeling like putting up with him was worth it (which is what I tell them to keep them from quitting - and then I get them drunk). Too bad I'm never going to be making bank for putting up with him.

awww



i totally get what you're saying...really my questions are more rhetorical than anything else

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chadwick wrote:

was prickface nice to you today?

He's actually a pretty nice guy (when he's being a nice guy), he's just totally self-serving. So yes, he was "nice". But he still came into my office like 4 times and told me to stop what I was doing and immediately do whatever it was that was on his mind at the time. One of them was walking across campus on an errand for him, which is something our work-study employee should do - but she's out today and he decided this was urgent. One of them is a pretty big project, so not only did I not finish the big project I was planning to work on today, but I'm also going to have to come in this weekend to do the project that he suddenly decided was important. (Then next week he'll blame me for not getting the first project done. He already emailed me a little while ago asking when I'd have the first project done.) And then he made a comment - nicely though :roll: - that I need to be more organized so I can get projects done on time! I AM organized! He just won't leave me alone and let me do my job! :evil:

Also, when he emailed me recently blaming me for the schedule problems (with another faculty member copied), I replied and said he's got to be kidding because I did the schedules exactly as he told me too - and then I reminded him that he actually did one of the schedules himself. So he replied and said yes, he was kidding - but then said he had told me what he wanted it done differently but that he'll have to be more clear next time (meaning he's still saying I fucked up). Sure he'd told me he wanted it done differently. He told me about 15 different ways to do it. But ultimately he settled on the way I did it, so it's not like I misunderstood him or something. Then he called later and reiterated that he was just kidding in his original email. The other faculty member who was copied on the emails brought it up with me today, though, and she said he totally wasn't kidding and was very clearly trying to blame me. (That's another one of his tactics that he uses on her as well. He'll make some snide, accusatory comment and then put a smiley face after it so later if you call him on it he can say he was kidding and you're just overreacting.)

Ah... sorry for the details - but it's nice to get it out. I sure hope he's not a Pearl Jam fan! :shock:

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norm wrote:

scb wrote:

they usually end up feeling like putting up with him was worth it (which is what I tell them to keep them from quitting - and then I get them drunk). Too bad I'm never going to be making bank for putting up with him.

awww



i totally get what you're saying...really my questions are more rhetorical than anything else

Yeah, maybe mine are too; I'm not sure I believe there really are any good solutions. Sometimes I feel like this job is supposed to be teaching me about how to deal with difficult people (which is another thing that sometimes keeps me from quitting). I'm not sure I'm learning anything though.

Heineken Helen

I've had a few bosses like him... they seem to be common in construction but it helps to be incredibly laid back. They would give me plenty of 'urgent' stuff to do, whilst I'm already doing 'urgent' stuff... but I just had to figure out myself which was the most urgent and prioritise that way. If they were making me do something first that I knew wasn't more urgent I would say something like 'that's no problem. I can do that right now but you realise that will set back that other thing I was doing'. I think it's often a man thing to be honest :oops: . Unfortunately the only ways to deal with it are for you to either become more assertive or to rat on him and go to the director... even maybe anonymously????

scb wrote:

He's actually a pretty nice guy (when he's being a nice guy), he's just totally self-serving. So yes, he was "nice". But he still came into my office like 4 times and told me to stop what I was doing and immediately do whatever it was that was on his mind at the time. One of them was walking across campus on an errand for him, which is something our work-study employee should do - but she's out today and he decided this was urgent. One of them is a pretty big project, so not only did I not finish the big project I was planning to work on today, but I'm also going to have to come in this weekend to do the project that he suddenly decided was important. (Then next week he'll blame me for not getting the first project done. He already emailed me a little while ago asking when I'd have the first project done.) And then he made a comment - nicely though :roll: - that I need to be more organized so I can get projects done on time! I AM organized! He just won't leave me alone and let me do my job! :evil:

Also, when he emailed me recently blaming me for the schedule problems (with another faculty member copied), I replied and said he's got to be kidding because I did the schedules exactly as he told me too - and then I reminded him that he actually did one of the schedules himself. So he replied and said yes, he was kidding - but then said he had told me what he wanted it done differently but that he'll have to be more clear next time (meaning he's still saying I fucked up). Sure he'd told me he wanted it done differently. He told me about 15 different ways to do it. But ultimately he settled on the way I did it, so it's not like I misunderstood him or something. Then he called later and reiterated that he was just kidding in his original email. The other faculty member who was copied on the emails brought it up with me today, though, and she said he totally wasn't kidding and was very clearly trying to blame me. (That's another one of his tactics that he uses on her as well. He'll make some snide, accusatory comment and then put a smiley face after it so later if you call him on it he can say he was kidding and you're just overreacting.)

Ah... sorry for the details - but it's nice to get it out. I sure hope he's not a Pearl Jam fan! :shock:

Bathgate66

The Boss always takes responsibility,.....

http://vimeo.com/14453246

_

Heineken Helen wrote:

I've had a few bosses like him... they seem to be common in construction but it helps to be incredibly laid back. They would give me plenty of 'urgent' stuff to do, whilst I'm already doing 'urgent' stuff... but I just had to figure out myself which was the most urgent and prioritise that way. If they were making me do something first that I knew wasn't more urgent I would say something like 'that's no problem. I can do that right now but you realise that will set back that other thing I was doing'. I think it's often a man thing to be honest :oops: . Unfortunately the only ways to deal with it are for you to either become more assertive or to rat on him and go to the director... even maybe anonymously????

Yeah, I have the laid back part down. I just listen to whatever he's going on about and when he says he wants something by a certain time I tell him I'll try but I have to do x, y, & z first. Then later when he asks if I got his thing done I just say no. Probably not the best way to handle him, but I usually just want him to get out of my office, not have a big, unproductive conversation about it. I have gone to the director before and so have others. I don't, however, have the assertiveness thing down at all. By the time I decide something's worth getting assertive over, I'm usually upset and that's not good.

_

Bathgate66 wrote:

The Boss always takes responsibility,.....

http://vimeo.com/14453246

libragirl

wow..are you sure we don't have the same boss? I dread going to work lately...I don't work right under her any more but she's such a control freak she overrides my supervisor. She's such a control freak..yet delegates most everything..