Wednesday, August 29, 2012

How to Deal with an UNJUST Boss?


By: NBA





In my previous blog before this, I have talked about boss-gone-mad tales. http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4962636334307266278#editor/target=post;postID=3943067719268651193 But I'm not letting you guys just ponder on it and forget about it.  So, I prepared some tips and word of advice collated also by some colleagues who have experienced the same problems as yours.  Some are my own formulas that I have used to remedy my own situation.  Let me warn you though that I am not in any way going to give you a reluctant-angel-like way to get to the bottom of your problem.  The last thing I want to employ is a**licking.



  •           Keep it Cool FIRST.  I know you are so infuriated with your boss’ attitude and you just to want to wage an all out verbal war with him but actions brought about by temper is usually not good and well-served to your purpose.  Relax, think and gather all your cards so you can play a smart game with your boss. Besides, remember he is unjust and so fair grounds are definitely not his cup of tea.  Let me share to you a metaphor I came across in an article that says -- try to imagine your problem as a ‘knot’, the more you panic and pull on the ends, the tighter the knot cinches.  But when you adopt a singular focus, a calm takes over and you can loosen one strand at a time.  Now, when you know that you’re not panting and your reason came back to the picture already, it is time to think on the next step.  Think first before you make any move.


  •         Share your issues with the person you trust the most. “A friend can tell you things you don’t want to tell yourself.” ~Frances Ward Weller.  The whole idea is to calm your senses, grieve on your emotions and most importantly to put reason amidst your woes.  The last thing we want to defend is a pointless argument.  How can you defend a promotion you’ve been eyeing on if you had a bad record on punctuality?  Your friend knows you day in and day out.  He might not be at the same company as you do or he might have diminutive idea of your boss but sure he’d be able to say in your face what you don’t want to admit to yourself therefore saving yourself from arguing and later on a subject for your boss to make grounds for your dismissal. 
Moreover, as the famous saying of John Heywood goes, “two brains are better than one…”  His ideas can give you a variety of things to choose on.  Whether be it bringing it to the higher court or just simply hitting your boss’ sports car with a baseball bat.  Next thing you know, you are laughing on your predicaments with your friend, suspending you from an utterly young heart attack. 

  •         Ask your boss the impervious question, “WHY?”.  After all, you deserve to know the reason why he is bullying you or why has he not granted you the reward you deserve for being his best ally.  Do not chicken out, if you know that you are on clean slate, strike the beast with this 3-letter word and sure he’ll be rounded up on his posh swivel seat.  Not only will you catch him offguard but you’d be able to get the answers straight from the source, your unnerving boss himself.   Remember that when you do this trick, try to look at his eye for 3 seconds first and without blinking, fire the “why?” question away!
On the other hand, if you are the introvert type and you are not good with face to face encounters. Ditch these trick and make an email or call your boss instead after working hours.  You wouldn’t want to mess up with his temper thereby deserving you a ‘go to my office and let’s talk’ line.  This is what you are avoiding and this is what you will get.  So again, play your cards well.


  •        Appeal your case to the ‘boss of your boss’.  When things go beyond your hand and it is futile to talk to your unjust boss, don’t.  Besides, its just going to be a waste of time.  He will deliberately put you on hook because he did what he did and he will by all means defend his own action.  Talk to the bigger person, if he is your supervisor; then you can probably talk to the manager and so forth.  State the facts (do not add or try to aggravate the situation because you will soon be busted if you do) and tell him what you really feel towards the issue.  If he is not like your immediate boss then sure he will investigate and try to make amenable resolutions.
If your boss doesn’t have a boss, you can consider going to the Human Resource Department who handles employee relations.  Lets just wish that your boss is not the owner of the company or its dead-end not unless the situation is so grave you would want to bring it DOLE (Department of Labor & Employment).

  •        Review and Seize your contract, memorandum, previous text message or email that contains what you have talked about a certain matter.  It is therefore important for any employee to keep all records pertinent to his job.  If you both have signed as the conceding parties then you have a big chance of winning your case.  If it talks about an incentive that is due for you, show it to your boss and you’ll send a message to him that you are not a person easily brushed off.  If its about taking credits on your own work, show to him your emails (if you do have it) signifying that you were the one who cooked up the genius idea for your company.  If possible, make it known to him that you will not succumb to his credit-grabbing style. 




  •         Lastly, Know when to Let GO and Find ANEW.   I have always believed that you have to let go of small things in order for you to see greater things.  Do not try to limit yourself with what you have right now.  Get out of your comfort zone.  Trust yourself and conquer the world.  There are a lot of opportunities lurking around for you.  If you are not happy with your boss and your work place, why stay?  Find new job opportunities or probably you can enroll in that class you’ve been eyeing on when you said 'only if you have time'.   Letting go is not a sign of weakness but maturity.

Lastly, let me end this with a quote by C. Joybell 

“Choose your battles wisely. After all, life isn't measured by how many times you stood up to fight. It's not winning battles that makes you happy, but it's how many times you turned away and chose to look into a better direction. Life is too short to spend it on warring. Fight only the most, most, most important ones, let the rest go.”


Got your own remedies for this bossy boss problems? Share it with us :)

Unjust Boss!


By: NBA


“MY BOSS IS UNFAIR, UNJUST AND IS GETTING INTO MY NERVES. “  Has this line gotten up to you? If not, consider yourself lucky because a lot of Filipino employees have expressed their disgust over their employers.  Most, if not all of us have an ‘unfair boss’ story – or two – to share. A myriad of reasons count to a worker’s loathing to his boss. Let me enumerate some of the most common complaints I have heard myself from my co-employees and friends.  Maybe some of you can relate to this (I do on some!!)…

  •         A PROMOTION you think you deserve.  Yet, you’re boss didn’t grant you this and goes on to give you his long speech of why “not now”.  Of course, you are broken hearted, how in the world can you explain to your family and friends that you’re long awaited promotion didn’t happen.  You were teased by most of how a ‘model employee’ you are, going to work rain or shine and rendering overtime hours that others don’t give a damn with and yet???  Sure you want to castigate your boss but because you need your job, you are staying.  Don’t be sorry for yourself; a lot have eaten out on their pride instead of being jobless. 


  •           You didn’t get the SALARY INCREMENTS you are long expecting.  You have made a list of what upgrade in life style you will make or getting that gadget you’ve been eyeing for a long time when you’re company have given you that highly anticipated increase in your pay slip.  And it just didn’t happen or it did happen but not to your expectation.  Your mind instantly flew on your boss’ monster physique and you just know that he didn’t give you a good score on your performance evaluation.  Of course you can’t do something about it, he’s the boss and you’re just suppose to be graded. Maybe you have missed to give him an expensive gift on his birthday or brought his favorite Mc. Do meal (which your other co-employee might have done). 


  •         Your boss has strong issues of ‘favoritism’.  Mr. Webster defined favoritism as the practice of giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another.  And if you are not the favorite, poor you.  The pet gets all what he asks for while you have to work your ass out to get what you want or request for.  You and your colleague has the same job description, same benefits, same schedule yet he is the only one who gets good comments, signed and approved vacation leaves and worse, he is not scolded even if he doesn’t meet the quota while you will be bombarded with memorandums and warning letters from the HR department. 
  •        You’re superior has forgotten the magnitude of the phrase “word of honor”.  Makes his own set of rules yet is the first one to break it.  He goes on to discuss a lengthy list of rules and regulations; only to be broken in the end with no less than himself.   Sure, ‘palabra de honor’ is a pre-requisite to gain reverence from people and you want to tell your boss that!




  •         You’re boss takes CREDIT on all your work inputs and efforts.  You did all the leg work, you brought in leads (clients), follows up keenly on your projects yet all of a sudden he strides on the front and gets a hold of all the credit and recognition.  This situation happens more on the sales & marketing world.  You put enormous effort on building rapport, getting new clients to sign up and building your profile yet you’re boss strikes from behind (he might have helped in closing the sale) claiming all that’s yours his.  Next thing you know, the x percentage of your incentive became an impeccable y amount of referral fee instead.
  •         You’re boss being a BACKSTABBER; does things behind your back and worse you found it out through people from other departments.  You felt betrayed by the person whom you have thought would help you improve and defend you against odds.  You trusted him and served him in all that you can.  Not to mention that you didn’t join your co-workers in their hate brigade against your management.  It makes your stomach churn knowing that the snake is just beside you ready to strangle and bite you at any time.

You probably at this time have reminisced your own nightmare story about your previous boss.  Well, its now funny looking back at it but what if you are currently experiencing one of the grim situations mentioned above?  I’m certain you are dragging yourself everyday to work; And when in the office, don’t you just wish for the time to move faster so you can spare yourself from the presence of the incredulously sinister boss of yours?

In my next blog, I will be discussing some tips and pointers on how you could deal with these situations.