A little help with a difficult supervisor

[Pro2A]

Deleted this post for internal reasons

[gnbrotz]

Don't care any more than your supervisor does. Most companies really do NOT care about efficiency. Do what you're told, and how you're told. Collect your paycheck and forget about the place every day as soon as you walk out the door.

[338winmag]

Don't care any more than your supervisor does. Most companies really do NOT care about efficiency. Do what you're told, and how you're told. Collect your paycheck and forget about the place every day as soon as you walk out the door.

good advice also stop bailin him out and let them set what a dipshit he is.

[spabula]

Watch the movie Mall Rats... Learn the stink palm.....

[Pro2A]

Don't care any more than your supervisor does. Most companies really do NOT care about efficiency. Do what you're told, and how you're told. Collect your paycheck and forget about the place every day as soon as you walk out the door.

I do. He asks me to do it a certain way, so I do it that way, then he gets mad at me for doing it that way...

[bullet]

sounds like ur supers a real dick just do the wrk however u want as long as it gets done and its done rite who gives ashit! maybe he aint got anything better to do but give shit.

[Sandcut]

I'm gonna disagree with Greg then agree with him.

I disagree w/ the only do what you're told. If you feel that you need to do more than the minimum to do a good job, then do it! What this world needs is more people who are willing to rise above the least common denominator.

But I agree w/ the learn to leave work at work attitude. I didn't fully grasp this until my 30s so you may have a ways to go yet. That's why I don't work from home. When I'm at work, I'm at work. I've got my game face on and I'm thinking about work things. Climb in the car, flip the breaker in my head to "home" and leave the office at the office.

Re: your supervisor, unfortunately this is a common occurrence among lower echelon supervisors, especially ones that start out as field staff or techs. They don't grasp the fact that it is no longer their position to know the specifics of each project. Their job is to oversee the fact that it gets done, not the how and why it gets done. This leads to micromanaging in a BIG way.

Re: taking it up the chain of command. My recommendation is to grow a thicker skin. Unless your supervisor is deliberately doing something to intentionally undermine you, don't say a damn thing to your command chain. 1) you don't want to burn your bridges w/ you immediate supervisor. You never know when you're gonna need his support,

2) You have no idea what alliances exist between you immediate supervisor and those higher. Refer to #1 again,

3) Only portray yourself to your command chain in a positive light (e.g., w/ good work, good suggestions etc.) If you become the "whiney guy" you will lose all credibility and they won't listen to you when you do have something to say worth listening to. But mostly

4) If your boss is giving you contradictory directives, keep a phone log, e-mail folder, task sheet and document the date, time and a brief note of the conversation. In the event that you ever have to go to the mattresses, something concrete like "On March 5 at approx. 0930 in your office you said to prepare the TPS reports chronologically" and not the he said/he said of "well, that one time, you said something like....." Sometimes documentation makes or breaks the case.

Good luck with it. I know just where you're at.

[phillyd2]

Don't care any more than your supervisor does. Most companies really do NOT care about efficiency. Do what you're told, and how you're told. Collect your paycheck and forget about the place every day as soon as you walk out the door.

Do yourself a big favor and completely ignore this advice. Forget you have heard it. Do your job as best as you can. If you think a job should be done per X and your supervisor says Y, explain to him why you think X is better. If he still says do Y then do it to the best of your ability. Be at your desk 5 mins before he shows up in the am and leave 5 min after he does in the pm.

You are still young and its totally up to you if you will be a success or just a time puncher. If you are a good and hard worker as you say it WILL be noticed.

There will always be A-Holes out there. You can't escape this so as soon as you come to terms with it the better off you will be.

Lastly, the guy may be a jerk but he is still human. Keep your eyes and ears open to learn more about him so that you can find some common ground on some issue.

[PennsyPlinker]

I do. He asks me to do it a certain way, so I do it that way, then he gets mad at me for doing it that way...

Tell him you did it that way because you were following his orders. If he continues to make a stink about it, tell him you want your instructions in writing so that you don't make any mistakes. It is hard for him to argue when it is phrased that way. Then, when he complains, shove his own paper under his nose.

I worked under a guy like this, and it led to my getting a formal write up and a transfer into NJ. Thirty days later they fired him because I wasn't there to cover up for his screw ups. I got a personal visit from both the sales and operations managers from the district level to let me know about his final disposition and my redemption. It didn't help enough, which is why I have been working for myself for the past 16 years. They pay isn't always that great, but I have a fantastic boss.

Good luck with solving your problem.

[Pro2A]

Do yourself a big favor and completely ignore this advice. Forget you have heard it. Do your job as best as you can. If you think a job should be done per X and your supervisor says Y, explain to him why you think X is better. If he still says do Y then do it to the best of your ability. Be at your desk 5 mins before he shows up in the am and leave 5 min after he does in the pm.

You are still young and its totally up to you if you will be a success or just a time puncher. If you are a good and hard worker as you say it WILL be noticed.

There will always be A-Holes out there. You can't escape this so as soon as you come to terms with it the better off you will be.

Lastly, the guy may be a jerk but he is still human. Keep your eyes and ears open to learn more about him so that you can find some common ground on some issue.

I work for a military contractor. Most of our stuff is MIL-STD. It's done one way, and one way only. He likes to go off on a tangent and tells me to do it "his way", regardless of my objections and why it needs to be done this way. I do it the way it's supposed to be done regardless of his fits just to keep us from getting in trouble with the gov't and DoD.

I just don't understand how the GM can trust me to do my job, and can see that I can do it and do it well, and leaves me alone... but my supervisor thinks I'm a five year old that needs constant supervision.... it's beyond me.