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I think I am too nice to my boss.
On the 9 to 5 board this girl is venting about her boss who does sound somewhat annoying. From personal experience I also feel like a broken record when talking to my boss - I have to tell him the same things over and over again, send him the same emails 500 times but - he is also quite busy and I get that his life does not revolve around me.
But what really got me about this particular post is that her boss called and asked her to do something and her reply was "but I am at lunch."
Would you EVER tell your boss you couldn't do something for him/her because you are at lunch? Hell, I offered to get my boss lunch today and I often pick him up a cup of coffee, you know why? Because he is MY BOSS. I just don't get why some people are so offended by those things but perhaps I need to be enlightened.
What do you all think?
Re: I think I am too nice to my boss.
I'm pretty much the same as you. Yes, I do get annoyed with some of the docs I work for, but at least I have a job. One of them is vegetarian only on Tuesdays and eats chicken on the other days, so I always get him lunch where ever I go. Another one is vegetarian all the time. Another one doesn't eat carbs. The other one will eat pretty much anything. I know the ones that like coffee and tea and how they like it, etc. They are my boss' and I am happy to do it for them. I am never rude to them, even if they're having a bad day and may come off rude to me. I would never tell them "I can't, I'm at lunch." I'll stand up for myself though, but never would I be disrespectful.
I mentioned to my mom awhile back that I had gotten my boss a coffee and she FLIPPED out! She went off about women's rights, I am "above" getting ANYONE coffee on and on and on...I don't know, that kind of stuff doesn't bother me. Its not about my boss having control over me its about...being nice. I really appreciate it when my employees do nice stuff for me so why wouldn't I do nice stuff for him?
My mother should just be happy I am at least nice to SOMEONE because it doesn't happen often.
She doesn't seem to think outside her little world at work or her manager isn't communicating to her about how it fits with the rest of the company. She's also complaining because her boss is always going to her - however annoying that is - it usually means good things.
I usually work through my lunches. If I knew my boss needed something by a certain time, I would get it done. I have stayed pretty late because at 4:30 he said he needed something first thing in the morning. He felt bad to ask me but I knew why he was needing it. I have disagreed with him in a professional manner. I respect that in my employees as well. I don't want employees who only say 'yes'.
I don't expect my employees to not have lunch. If I need something from them last minute, I tell them why. It is usually out of my control.
Eh, it depends. If it was urgent, I'd drop everything of course. If not, I'd say, "ok, let me finish up my last few bites and I'll get right on it." I think it's all in the tone.
ETA: Maybe my field is different because we keep such different hours. My boss is 9-5, but I'm more likely to work from 12-5, and then again from 7-10. We also don't really have urgent things come up. We also elect our bosses, so that's a very different work situation. If my chair asked me to do something, I'd have no problem asking if I could defer it or saying, "Sure. I'm working on XYZ right now, but I can get to it by the end of the day if that's ok." If the President of the university asked me to do something, I'd hop to it.
I didn't read the other post so I don't know all the details, but I will admit I am probably a pushover boss. We have a small office and are kind of casual, so I could see my staff saying something like that to me. More like "I'll check into it right away when I'm back" - not anything rude. We're not very formal,so I don't really wear my boss hat too often (I do when I need to but I have a good group that works well together), so we're probably more laid back than other offices where I work. BUT they are also an awesome staff (my secretary will pick us up coffee out of the blue, I'll grab them lunch just because) and I won't call them on their lunch break or after hours until absolutely necessary because I try to respect their time. If it was an urgent matter/emergency I know they'd come through though - they haven't let me down yet!
Now I, on the other hand, am a people-pleaser (and boss pleaser) and would probably not say that to my boss because she tries to respect our lunches/vacations/after hours as well. So I assume if she asks, it's important that I take care of it. Hasn't happened very often. But I've had plenty of times where I didn't get a lunch because I was too busy working, but it's usually because I chose to do so to get stuff done.
I think it shows a level of professionalism and is one of the reasons why you and other people here have been so successful with their careers.
H knows someone who was fired for, among other things, having a "9-5 only" attitude.
Well, you are right. I was trying to phrase this earlier and wasn't sure how to do it...clearly that girl's job is just a job to her and this job is a CAREER for me.
Another poster mentioned you have a right to lunch and your boss will "respect you more" if you push back. I am not sure what kind of boss they have but my boss would kick my @ss out the door!! And *I* respect him for that!!!