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06 February 2007

Help me calm down. →[More:]

My boss won't listen to me.

I am very very very frustrated.

I care fully collate all vendor invoices that belong with our billing invoices. I show her this, along with the corresponding spreadsheets that has everything categorized.

She unclips everything, goes in random order around the spreadsheet, and mixes invoices from bill A with bill B.

She won't listen to me when she asks a question. "Where is the fabric invoice for these Roman shades?" "Right here," I say. In the pile of invoices for the Roman shade installation." She then tears the pile apart, picks up something completely unrealated, and starts asking me about it.

Most of the time she's "checking" my work, I'm sitting there re-stacking the piles she's torn apart, showing her things she's already handled, already looked at, but never actually saw.

Then SHE got frustrated and stomped off to lunch, asking that I please collate everything for her before she looks at it again.

I'm at my wit's end.

post by: Specklet at: 17:08 | 32 comments

Ugh, crazy bosses are absolutely terrible.

What about stapling so she can't unclip everything and muck it all up?

posted by muddgirl 06 February | 17:12

Mudd, you're a genius. I learned this when dealing with my boss.

posted by pieisexactlythree 06 February | 17:15

I've been blessed with a string of crazies. I even had my boyfriend meet the latest because I was starting to worry that people would think it was me.

I know you probably aren't looking for practical advice about the work you are doing but rather how to handle this terror.

I've learned that hard work and a stiff upper lip (yes, I sound like Charles Ingalls) is the only way to get a crazy out of your life. You maintain professionalism and sometime (hopefully soon) she will get figured out.

THAT SAID, I wouldn't be able to do this if I didn't have people I could vent to that understand the madness.

In the meantime, building on what muddgirl said, what about three ring binders. You can use the clear pages if you can't staple your invoices. They also have alphabetical or other tabs to sort the information. I'm sure you have thought of this but just throwing it out there.

AND at the very least please no that in the event my advice is complete crap as advice often is...I empathize with you. I'm sorry you have to deal with her shit.

posted by Lola_G 06 February | 17:22

Ugh. Sorry, Specklet, that sounds nasty.

I like the idea of staples. Or, can you hand her the things separately, rather than all at once?

Or else, arsenic in the coffee. That's always a good back-up plan.

posted by occhiblu 06 February | 17:23

yeah, stapling's the way to go. you can staple her eyelid shut, too, if you're _really_ frustrated.

posted by matteo 06 February | 17:24

What about stapling so she can't unclip everything and muck it all up?

Oh yeah, I've tried that. She pries out the staples and tells me the papers in question should not be stapled together. No joke.

I've tried clipping, labeling, not handing her things but instead holding them on and flipping through things myself. No dice.

She takes things out of binders.

She won't let me hand her things seperately, she wants to see everything at once.

I don't know what to do. It's a TREMENDOUS waste of time, and it makes me look like I'm not doing my job.

posted by Specklet 06 February | 17:27

Yes. This is frustrating. It's because your boss (like many bosses) is out of touch of how things get done. Which is kind of okay, because generally that is not their job. But, when they want also want to be in charge and need to mess around to pretend that they do know how things are done, without admitting that they do not. I have had to tell my boss more than once, "Stop it. Put it down. Or it won't be done today." I also put idiot stickies and labels on everything, so there was no excuse for messing up a system. That takes time, but in the end, they also don't want to seem like fools, so the good ones will stop messing about, and let you get on with your work.

posted by typewriter 06 February | 17:27

Three-ring binder with index tabs?

posted by pieisexactlythree 06 February | 17:32

Can you maybe go in with nothing categorized or done, and ask her how she'd like the collating done? So she can muck about in the receipts and throw them around like confetti without disturbing your system?

In other words, if she's basically accusing you of not having done the work, *and* making you do it over because of her actions anyway, maybe just skip that (useless) first step?

This probably only would work if she's a control freak rather than just annoyingly addled, though. (My boss *loved* any time I asked her how she wanted things done, even if I knew full well how they should be done, because it let her feel like she was doing something.)

Sigh. I'm sorry you're so frustrated.

posted by occhiblu 06 February | 17:32

I've learned that hard work and a stiff upper lip (yes, I sound like Charles Ingalls)

OMG, a Little House reference. I love love love you, Lola_G.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 06 February | 17:32

Treasury tags? Or how about a punch bag with her face on it. Or the face of the off-licence owner who shut the shop when I was 10 feet away from the front door. Bitch! I wanted wine and but I have nothing. grrrr.

posted by TheDonF 06 February | 17:37

Or else, arsenic in the coffee.

Or, if you can get us an address, we can have sex toy and incontinence supply catalogs delivered to her at work. I'm just saying.

posted by jonmc 06 February | 17:38

Or, if you can get us an address, we can have sex toy and incontinence supply catalogs delivered to her at work.

Or a visit from an astronaut when she gets into her car. Just saying.

posted by danf 06 February | 17:43

Speck, I meant to staple the boss's fingers together *evil grin*. Seriously, I could not handle people like that. I would probably just cry, and then get fired.

posted by muddgirl 06 February | 17:49

Gah! You poor thing, Specklet. I once worked with a guy who used to re-arrange his court bundle when we were mid-trial. So the judge, the witness and the other side would have a properly collated and numbered bundle and this bozo's documents were all over the place. And at the end of each day's court, he'd yell at me for the bundle being in a mess and I'd have to stay in the office late putting it all back in order for him to mess up again next day. Nightmare.

I have no solution for you. Except maybe to ask her how she wants it done, confirm it in writing and then she can't argue if you're not doing it her way.

People like that are generally impossible though. I'm sorry you're stuck with her.

posted by essexjan 06 February | 17:57

What about color-coded PostIt's? Yellow for vendor invoices, Pink for billing invoices? That way, when she makes a mess of the neatly gathered papers, they can be identified at an instance?

posted by redvixen 06 February | 18:09

What a monumental pain in the ass. Maybe this book will help?

posted by chewatadistance 06 February | 18:10

Staple it to her forehead (in order).

posted by fluffy battle kitten 06 February | 18:14

Ah, artistic types.

posted by matildaben 06 February | 18:17

God, I hate invoices. I once worked for a contracting company and it was never-ending invoices. Type, print, mail, file. In triplicate. I used to doze in the file room filing the pink copies. The highlight of my month at that job was a trip to the post office to refill the postal meter.

I recommend no more invoices.

Barring that, maybe color-coded stickers with Job Reference #s? Your boss may have what we call in my profession (teaching) a "disorganized" mind. Her brain may not be able to organize or recognize categories very well. (Think of the student with the notebook with papers sticking out everywhere.) More visiual cues can help.

posted by Pips 06 February | 18:22

Does she have a sense of humor? Can you get to a point where it's a joke that you are compulsive about maintaining order in the TPS Reports? Or number the pages in pencil so they re-collate easily. Or, flatter the crap out of her so she doesn't have to make herself feel important by mindlessly rummaging through carefully completed work. Or, sharpen the edges of the paper, so she gets a million papercuts and has to go for a looooong rest.

posted by theora55 06 February | 18:33

Ugh, what a nightmare. I'm sorry you have to deal with this.

I would probably just cry, and then get fired.

yeah, muddgirl, me too... likely with an added degree of violent behaviour, accelerating in direct proportion to the frequency of Said Boss' Insanity.

I recommend no more invoices.

yeah, what Pips said. Unfortunately the comings and goings of cash / monies / currency / bread / loot / bank tend to ride high on the priority stream of most businesses, so it's one of those annoying crappy tasks that's very difficult to get rid of.

Specklet, I recommend alcohol. In quantity.

posted by lonefrontranger 06 February | 18:51

Specklet, I recommend alcohol. In quantity.

Dammit, she's dry this month! Tempt her not!

I feel for you, Speck. Sounds like you've got a boss with ADD.

posted by Eideteker 06 February | 21:07

I second the alcohol. Get a (very) large jar, fill it with alcohol, then drop your boss in the jar. Make sure you seal the lid down tight, because she may struggle for a while.

But it may be more useful to just number all the pages in the bundles (with different colours for each bundle, if that helps) so you can put the piles back together easily. Other than that, I think you are stuck with things.

posted by dg 06 February | 21:07

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.

I must say, though, that it's not the re-collating that bothers me, it's the fact that she asks me to do it, takes it all apart, asks me a bunch of questions that, if she would just look at things in order, she wouldn't need to ask, then tells me things are too confusing and "we've really got to get on top of this". Sigh.

Specklet, I recommend alcohol. In quantity.

Waaaaaa!

posted by Specklet 06 February | 22:41

Who did this before you? I wonder if anyone there knows how he/she did it, and if it "worked" for crazybosslady. Sometimes, with some people, the most confusing thing is a change of routine... Maybe she was used to dealing with it in one certain way, and a different way, even it's much better, throws her into confusion. She sounds like the sort of person who couldn't articulate how (if she ever really noticed) some past person used to do it, so I wonder if there's anyone you could ask?

posted by taz 06 February | 23:17

That ordinarily would be a good suggestion, taz, but it just doesn't apply in this situation. The thing with the invoices is just an example of the way her brain works; she's extremely disorganized, and most certainly has ADD. I know she's not going to change; I've just got to get used to it.

I'll be okay and find away to prove to her that I'm awesome at my job...

posted by Specklet 06 February | 23:34

sorry, specks; that's the worse kind of suckage - the kind that just ain't gonna quit sucking no matter what. My recollated advice has something to do with maneuvering her into position by a high, high, open window... "now, about those Roman shades... aiiiiiiiieeeeee!"

posted by taz 06 February | 23:42

Yaaaahhhh specklet! Do you have coworkers with who you can commiserate?

posted by brujita 07 February | 00:59

oh shit./
Is this a case of psycho in the corner office¿

She seems over her head and overwhelmed — too much information. Too much control, not enough trust in her employees that they are on her side....
Someone, needs a vacation.

bag the invoices, labeled. No paper clips, no stapling, just smoosh it all in a large envelope. Deal. or at least she should tell you how she'd like her 'presentation' of the ff invoices.
nothing like a mountain over a mole hill.

posted by alicesshoe 07 February | 01:44

Gah, I'm getting all tense and my stomach acid is pumping just reading what you wrote, Specklet. I don't know how you deal with it.

*major whuffles*

posted by deborah 07 February | 13:37

Thanks, deborah.

alicesshoe, the thing is: she really does need to go over this stuff. There are questions I have, so even though I'm "in charge" of the invoices and crap, I still need to sit down with her and go over them.

She just won't listen to me.

If I smooshed the invoices in en envelope and refused to comply with her request to collate them for her, I think my ass would be in a sling.

posted by Specklet 07 February | 15:58

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