Tips For Dealing with a Bad Boss

Tips For Dealing with a Bad BossJill Jacinto, HuffPos Millennial Expert has some suggestions for handling outrageous anfhrer requests that cross the line from demanding to ridiculous. Its harder than it sounds googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) At my first editorial assistant job out of college, they hired an executive who didnt understand that my job was supporting the whole departmenthe was used to having a personal secretary and didnt realize that I was not therbeie to manage his calendar or handle his lunch order. But I couldnt just say sorry, youre out of luck. I had to deftly navigate the intersection of the professional and the politicaland you can do it tooSay Yes, then Ask QuestionsAccording to Robert Hosking, the Executive Director of OfficeTeam who spoke with Jacinto, its better to try to be helpful instead of pointing to your job description and shrugging. If its something way outside of your typical roster of tasks, its probabl y worth asking your boss after the task is done if you can clarify their expectations and priorities for your workflow.If youre at the bottom of the geschftszimmer hierarchy, its possible theyll just add gofer to the list, but at least youll have directed their attention back to the job you were hired to do. You can also go to HR and ask them to mediate a discussion, particularly if you feel youre being taken advantage of.Stay Away from NegativityRoy Cohen, author of The Wall Street Professionals Survival Guide, suggests an anti-Just Say No response. If you refuse to go above and beyond, someone else probably will, and youll start to get a reputation as a non-starter.If you decide you do need to turn down an ask, try responses that show youre capable of compromising and also fully loaded with to-dos, like Im just now feinschliff up a project on deadlineif this request needs to come first, I can set it aside, just let me know if I should rearrange. or Is it possible to tackle this fi rst thing in the morning? I can come in as early as you need me, but I have a prior commitment tonightPolitely Ask for ClarificationWith a boss who seems inclined to just keep piling on the demands, or worse, micromanaging how you fulfill them, sometimes its helpful to turn into the skid and ask for more clarification.Try questions like, And would you like me to do X? How should I approach Y? Can you take a look at this and tell me if Im on the right track? This serves a dual purposeit lets them weigh in at every step so you dont waste your time on something theyll ask you to re-do, and it makes you enough of a pain that they may micromanage less.When Requests Become UnreasonableWhenever Im trying to decide if a request is reasonable or not, I try to mentally review the give-and-take dynamics in the office as a whole. If Im in a company where the culture is to pitch in, I try to go with the flow a little more. If everyone else pretty much sticks to their lane and I suspect Im being tapped as the youngest, or as a woman, or as most likely to be accommodating against my own self-interest, I might try to propose a compromise rather than just saying yes.I spent some time at a very small nonprofit with a boss who was, to say it politely, very hands-on. Id been responsible for compiling a video slideshow for our annual benefit, which was only a few days away, and the video editor wed hired was late turning around a final cut. My boss insisted I make the trek to the editors apartment after work and deliver the DVD to her apartment, which meant staying late at the office and walking over to get it in the pouring rain, then taking an express bus uptown and arriving home close to 11.I was wet, cold, and miserable by the time I had the DVD in my hand. To make matters worse, my boss wasnt picking up the phone to confirm I should drop it off that night, so I finally gave up and went home.My boss was leaving me furious messages by the time I got back to my apartmentdespite the fact that shed been unreachable. She told me I should have gone to another coworkers apartment to view itshe didnt even trust me to watch a 15 minute video I quit about a month later. If it have been a larger office, or I had been older than 22, I would have tried some of the other strategies before I gave upbut sometimes unrelenting inappropriate requests are a sign that youre working in the wrong office.