Is this normal?

[Anonymous]

I started a new job recently and I've never experienced a boss like this one. He will have his admin look at my calendar and schedule hours of meetings a day with him or that he initiates, and cancel or decline for me meetings that I have set up or that i wanted or needed to join. When I inquired politely whether we could shift 1 meeting he had scheduled in order to be able to attend 2 of my other meetings, I was reprimanded by him and by his assistant and told I needed to prioritize what he determines is where I need to be and made to feel like I was being scolded (have never experienced this before). I have been working for 20 years and lead a team and find this wildly disrespectful of my time and just of me as a person. Today I missed a meeting I needed to attend because his assistant declined it for me, and tomorrow I am missing several meetings for the same reason. I counted and he has me in an average of 8-10 hours of meetings a week just that he puts on my cal. This means I have to do much of my work at night and can't spend time with my kids because he creates rolling deadlines and action items for me and i cant complete any of the work during the day as am squeezing all my other meetings into the slots I have left. Is this a type of corporate environment I've just not encountered before? I am currently downsizing in preparation to quit cold turkey because life is too short...

[Anonymous]

That is absolutely not normal. I’m sorry. Sounds toxic and micromanage-y and I would be out of there, too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is absolutely not normal. I’m sorry. Sounds toxic and micromanage-y and I would be out of there, too

op - thank you kind internet stranger, it made me feel incrementally better just to think that I am not crazy to feel this way!

[Anonymous]

Not normal, get out now!

[Anonymous]

Why are you asking if it's normal when you've worked for 20 years and said you never experienced this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you asking if it's normal when you've worked for 20 years and said you never experienced this?

op - I thought maybe this is a type of corporate environment i maybe hadn't experienced before and in some arenas it 'was' maybe normal? And then i would have context for those.
either way just - no.

[Anonymous]

Nobody has assistants manage their calendars these days. These kind of assistants were phased out about 10 years ago except for the highest levels (c-suite). Is he c-suite or is he just precious?

Also, I have never had anyone have access to my calendar and able to decline meetings for me. That's just insanely overstepping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody has assistants manage their calendars these days. These kind of assistants were phased out about 10 years ago except for the highest levels (c-suite). Is he c-suite or is he just precious?

Also, I have never had anyone have access to my calendar and able to decline meetings for me. That's just insanely overstepping.

My assistant manages my calendar and that's true for the 5 bosses above me. Regardless, the behavior is unacceptable. Are you the only one being treated this way? Are you a member of a protected class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody has assistants manage their calendars these days. These kind of assistants were phased out about 10 years ago except for the highest levels (c-suite). Is he c-suite or is he just precious?

Also, I have never had anyone have access to my calendar and able to decline meetings for me. That's just insanely overstepping.

My assistant manages my calendar and that's true for the 5 bosses above me. Regardless, the behavior is unacceptable. Are you the only one being treated this way? Are you a member of a protected class?

Op - no - boss has 5 directs and we are all experiencing similar. Many of those meetings we are all in, reporting up at a granular level to boss. Recently we have all opened up to each other about how insane it is - we are all on the verge of quitting over it. It’s nuts

[Anonymous]

Absolutely not. Run screaming out the door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody has assistants manage their calendars these days. These kind of assistants were phased out about 10 years ago except for the highest levels (c-suite). Is he c-suite or is he just precious?

Also, I have never had anyone have access to my calendar and able to decline meetings for me. That's just insanely overstepping.

My assistant manages my calendar and that's true for the 5 bosses above me. Regardless, the behavior is unacceptable. Are you the only one being treated this way? Are you a member of a protected class?

Op - no - boss has 5 directs and we are all experiencing similar. Many of those meetings we are all in, reporting up at a granular level to boss. Recently we have all opened up to each other about how insane it is - we are all on the verge of quitting over it. It’s nuts

Yeah that’s absolutely nuts— someone having control over your calendar (and not your exec assistant or something), controlling what you respond to and attend? That’s truly crazy to me. That makes no sense at all. It can’t be efficient or helpful in any way.

[Anonymous]

Oh my god, you might work for my old boss. Get out! This is nuts.

[Anonymous]

I have one question though—is your boss a very senior executive or the CEO and are you their CoS? Do you have any direct reports?

If you are a deputy or chief of staff to a very high ranking person, it can be like this. Those jobs come with big pay though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have one question though—is your boss a very senior executive or the CEO and are you their CoS? Do you have any direct reports?

If you are a deputy or chief of staff to a very high ranking person, it can be like this. Those jobs come with big pay though.

I am not there cos, I have a very different role. Yes they are senior. And yes I have a team of about 50 under me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh my god, you might work for my old boss. Get out! This is nuts.

Op - tell me more. What did you do? Yes so crazy