He recently transferred to our office, but has been working for the firm 15+ yrs and in the same role 10+ yrs - single, workaholic & making my life (both related to CFA studies and in general) a living nightmare. If I have 5 must-do projects a day and 5 l/t projects, and leave the office completing all 5 must-do and say 3/5 l/t projects, I still get an email asking me to log-on and complete the other two…fine, but seriously EVERY DAY, especially when he doesn’t turn them around and sits in his inbox/office desk for at least a week, what’s the rush? Maybe this is normal and I’m just frustrated b/c working the 12-14 hrs is taking precious study time away.
Wondering when it’s time to just give up and find another job vs. sticking it out. Although not a good l/t prospect, great firm and good pay. I’d just hate to go from one crappy job to another and thus want to really search for the right fit, but obviously that requires time and so do most other things, which I just dont have - starting to think it’s better to be unemployed than work for someone who is seriously affecting my health/well-being in a dead-end job.
I used to have a boss like this, and what I would do would be to manage expectations on my own end, i.e. not respond to e-mails right away, finish tasks but allow a bit of ‘buffer’ before letting him know about it so I had some breathing room, etc. You may also want to seek advice from colleagues at your workplace and apprise them of the situation, because what you don’t want to run into (but could happen) is that this guy starts talking smack about you which ends up making you look bad on top of having a terrible work/life balance. Ultimately, however, you may need a change of scenery.
As another option, have you considered defenestration?
^True - but for now, given that I have very limited time for anything besides work, I have to focus whatever time is left on studies and put up w/his crap, but after June 8th, must find another job!
He’s a good person (or I like to believe that about people), but just a terrible manager. Like I understand you’re single, but IMO, even watching tv/sports/sleeping/going to a bar/[fill in any activity outside the office] is better than being at the office ALL THE TIME. Pretty sure he isn’t getting paid extra or promoted for this “extra” effort…just an inefficient moron who has all the time in the world to ruin his and others work/life balance.
I had a dick boss like yours before, everything was a MUST BE DONE NOW urgent task, and then when done, he takes 2 weeks to even look at it.
I would follow Numi’s advice, a function of how a boss runs you to death is how you give him. If you set expectations that you are always on call, always can drop what you are doing/where you are, that becomes his expectations and you are locked into that. Start to give more leash, respond slower, don’t “guarantee” when you’ll finish things.
This work style sucks, and if the worst happens, you may be better off… severance, free govt unemployment money, tiem to study a bit
Word. I had a hyper Type A a hole bipolar suspect boss and it was a miserable time of my life. I got a new offer and put in my two weeks and he didn’t even bat an eye, wish me well, or try to keep me aboard. Life is too short to deal with those asshats. This clown would be blowing up my phone with texts at 8:00 PM on a Friday night, 10:00 AM on a Sunday, and what not demanding that ish be done now. Fk dat noise. Rest assured when I put in my two weeks, I didn’t even bother acknowledging such requests anymore…
Good points from CFAvsMBA. On the day you finally resign from your firm, you may decide to leave a farewell gift for your boss in the form of a big steaming pile of sh!t on his desk.
^ Sadly that was a year ago. This is the type of a hole where I don’t think I would bother to brake if I saw him crossing the street. Yes. I hate the fcktard that much!
^ Hahaha, wow. Tell us what you really think of that guy!
BTW, the advice dispensed in this thread – and more – is exactly what you get when you sign up for career coaching services with me. I’m not all about helping clients get six-figure salaries; other times, it’s simply about helping them get even with insufferable managers. Booyah!
Misery loves company - went to bed at 1 last night and back in office today at 7am…just want to sleep or go to a beach w/no internet/cell phone access.
Although a bit late, I’ve definately learned to not be so efficient (terrible, I know). My original thought process was, do my work & then some and leave at a reasonable time - but last few months I’ve learned that either way (efficient or not), I’m going to be working till atleast 11pm every weeknight + some wkends so screw it. My main concern is I’m up for promotion at the end of this yr & probably 80% his call so I want to do whatever I can to please him - just sometimes you gotta draw the line & feel like now it’s too late - I also fear his wrath - dude is def an a**hole.
Unless I get paid 7 figures, there’s no way I’ll agree to work from 7 am to 1 am. You lose 5 years of life expectancy for every year you work under those conditions.
How on earth can a back office job equate to 15 hour days? Just start looking unless there is clear evidence around you that your peers are getting promoted to better jobs. If nobody is managing to escape to better things, just quit.
Dude, fk this boss. Leave. I’m sure he’ll have a line of AFers willing to work in BO for 15 hours a day.
I get the facetime aspect. I could probably pull 8 hour days, but the rest of the team is here 10 hours a day. So I put in facetime to act as if I’m working hard too. Not that I’m not working hard, I just don’t see a need to push like they do.
So it’s clear, I’m not blowing this out of proportion & this place really, truly sucks. Regarding next steps - do you think it’s better to:
1.) Study for L3 and then network/job search & stick around until I find something (mentioned the possible promotion at YE); or
2.) Just spend all time available into job search & if w/in say 3 or 6-months don’t get anything worthwhile since I’m already in BO - go for an MBA? Just not sure how to get into a good program (which is the whole point of an MBA, right) when my resume is all BO?
Read earlier post about current phase of my life being a shitty circle. On another note, excited to go play some ball this weekend - been soo long!