Finally stood up to my boss after 2 years of being walked on

I had this supervisor who would dump last minute projects on me every Friday at 4:30pm. For 2 years I just said yes every time and stayed late. Last month I finally told him "I can't take this on today, it needs to be on Monday's list." He looked shocked but didn't argue. Since then he's only done it once more and I reminded him of my boundary. Has anyone else had that moment where saying no actually worked out better than you expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly.emma7d ago

Oh man, GOOD for you. That's huge. I had a similar thing with my old manager who used to text me at 9pm on Sundays about "urgent" stuff that could have waited until Monday. I finally just stopped responding after 6pm on weekdays and all weekend. First time I did it I was so nervous I couldn't sleep. But the next morning he didn't even mention it. Then it just became the new normal and he stopped trying. It's wild how much power we give up when we don't set those lines. Seriously, congrats on taking that step, it's one of the best things you can do for your own sanity.

susan4247d ago

Is it though? I mean, your boss looked shocked but didn't argue - isn't that the minimum of what should happen when you say you're busy on a Friday afternoon? You're acting like you slayed a dragon when really you just said "not right now" to a person who was taking advantage of you. And the fact that he only waited a month to try again tells me he's still testing the waters. It's great that you stood up for yourself, don't get me wrong, but let's not pretend this guy is suddenly a changed man because you said one no.