Boss: [returning from lunch] Hey, Genius, when do you think you can have that document ready for me?
Genius: [about to go to lunch] Oh, hey. That one? Well, if you need it fast, I guess I can drop everything else and get it done in about half an hour [optimistically].
Boss: Great! Excellent! Hey, come over here. I want to show you something.
[Boss spends the next 30 minutes reviewing with Genius his projects and tasks instead of letting Genius work on the specific one that needs to be ready immediately.]
[Genius steps outside to refill his glass of water, exasperated that he's been prevented from eating lunch and tricked into promising to finish something ahead of schedule.]
Boss: So, Genius. Are you about done with that document?
Wait, he just asked when you thought you could have it ready? It seems you’re the one who volunteered to have it done in an hour… If I’d been in your shoes, I’d've said something more realistic. “Oh, hey. That one? Well, I’m eating lunch with some friends so I might not have it done til later this afternoon.”
Yes, this boss trick is stupid because its effect is to discourage me from taking the initiative to skip or delay lunch with my friends in order to get work done better and faster.
The Hebrew term rosh gadol describes someone who takes the initiative. I have to learn not to be that guy.
Ahh, I mis-parsed the title.. I read it as “(stupid boss) trick” but you meant “stupid (boss trick)”.
To ameliorate work related stress, choose a career in an environment where you can display your displeasure with creativity – and proven results: Try the Postal Service.
@Firepower, when I lived in America, I applied for a USPS job. They had me come and take a multiple choice test with a handful of other candidates. It was probably the easiest test I’ve ever taken, since there were only 20 questions that were repeated in groups. In the process, they kept asking us about 100 times if any of us was a “Native American or Pacific Islander.” I kept raising my hand to say that I was a “Semitic American.” Needless to say, I did not get the job.
Genius, I’ve had all too similar experiences.
ALL levels of Government employment are a fascist shibboleth with RACE the open sesame.
No longer do we hire civil servants, we hire magi in order to heap reparations on them, so service disappears under the entitlement mentality.
Not just for letter carriers, but Department chiefs.
I won’t work for a government until it’s headed by a legitimate monarch.