Workaholic for a boss

[Anonymous]

I’ve gone through almost the exact same experience, except in my case she worked in local government. Unfortunately, she stayed in that role for years, even though she couldn’t retain employees to save her life. People came in motivated and hopeful, and within a few months they were burned out or already looking for the exit. Upper management knew exactly what the issues were and even put measures in place to make sure she was never promoted any higher, especially since she didn’t have the professional certifications required for the position above her. But despite that, we were still the ones who had to deal with her day to day, trying to navigate the constant confusion and last-minute chaos she created. She was genuinely the most scatterbrained person I’d ever worked with. There was no direction, no planning, no prioritizing, just nonstop disorder. Every day felt like a guessing game of what fire drill she was going to invent out of nowhere. It was exhausting, especially because none of it had to be that way. In government these situations drag on forever, but eventually the turnover rate started to speak for itself. Honestly, I’m just glad I finally got out and moved to the private sector, it was the best decision I could’ve made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a professional, late-50s, and have never had a scheduled lunch break and have worked multiple jobs (public, private, for profit and not for profit). A meeting at that time, I would bring my lunch and eat during the meeting, and would expect everyone else to do the same

Unless it was completely unavoidable I would be super annoyed if someone scheduled a meeting through lunch time without a clear break in the agenda for lunch or a catered lunch. It’s really thoughtless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work with a woman who’s up and working by 4AM. She’ll take 3 flights instead of 1 to save $100. Why have a single hotel room for one person when two or three people can share? Why send a simple email when you can Teams, text, call, slack, and text again in a 3 minute period? She’s an insane workaholic who’s pennywise and pound foolish. She’s a decent person with a family but never stops working.

Thankfully she is not my boss!

I know someone like this very well. She is completely insane but has risen very high in our field and gotten her kid into a very exclusive test in school so it clearly works for her. However I would never, ever want to work for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a professional, late-50s, and have never had a scheduled lunch break and have worked multiple jobs (public, private, for profit and not for profit). A meeting at that time, I would bring my lunch and eat during the meeting, and would expect everyone else to do the same

I’m a 50 yo senior level professional and have never attended nor ever planned a meeting that covered a period of more than one hour when people traditionally eat and not served food. If the meeting is from 12-1, everyone can eat before or after. If it’s from 11-2, the planner needs to serve lunch. To not do so shows a complete disregard for the meeting attendees, is rude and unprofessional.

+1. To not do this shows a tremendous lack of people skills. Even the 12-1 meeting is questionable and should come with apologies for there being no other time slot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve gone through almost the exact same experience, except in my case she worked in local government. Unfortunately, she stayed in that role for years, even though she couldn’t retain employees to save her life. People came in motivated and hopeful, and within a few months they were burned out or already looking for the exit. Upper management knew exactly what the issues were and even put measures in place to make sure she was never promoted any higher, especially since she didn’t have the professional certifications required for the position above her. But despite that, we were still the ones who had to deal with her day to day, trying to navigate the constant confusion and last-minute chaos she created. She was genuinely the most scatterbrained person I’d ever worked with. There was no direction, no planning, no prioritizing, just nonstop disorder. Every day felt like a guessing game of what fire drill she was going to invent out of nowhere. It was exhausting, especially because none of it had to be that way. In government these situations drag on forever, but eventually the turnover rate started to speak for itself. Honestly, I’m just glad I finally got out and moved to the private sector, it was the best decision I could’ve made.

I read this and I truly wonder how these people get promoted.

[Anonymous]

This is bad news in a boss

You need to plan an escape.

At the very least, such a person can't effectively advocate for you, something that is crucial to advancement.

They are going to think you are slacking off just for having human needs.

At the worst, it will shorten your life by a few years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work with a woman who’s up and working by 4AM. She’ll take 3 flights instead of 1 to save $100. Why have a single hotel room for one person when two or three people can share? Why send a simple email when you can Teams, text, call, slack, and text again in a 3 minute period? She’s an insane workaholic who’s pennywise and pound foolish. She’s a decent person with a family but never stops working.

Thankfully she is not my boss!

I know someone like this very well. She is completely insane but has risen very high in our field and gotten her kid into a very exclusive test in school so it clearly works for her. However I would never, ever want to work for her.

Wanted to add - she is not disorganized and gets a tremendous amount accomplished. She just sets extremely high standards in terms of the quantity of work for herself and her employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have an unpaid lunch break in there or something?

I've been working for 18 years and have never had a lunch break so it's never been on my radar and I could accidentally be that boss I guess.

I also send emails at weird times. As a working single mom, if I can't sleep at 3am I might as well play catch up. However, I do literally have my email signature saying "Wellbeing Notice: Receiving this email outside of normal working hours? Managing work and life responsibilities is unique for everyone. I have sent this email at a time that works for me. Please respond at a time that works for you."

Nicely played. I like your well being notice. I don’t mind when emails come in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does she expect you to respond to emails at all hours and on the weekends? Sometimes people send email when it works for them and it doesn't mean you need to respond.

- 40-something boss who's married with 2 kids and gets work done when I can, though if I'm working nights/weekends, I generally try to hold emails to my team to send during business hours

This! If she doesn't expect an immediate response, I don't think this is a problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a boss like this. It was horrible. she sent emails at all hours of the night was incredibly inefficient and disorganized. She made her emergencies everybody's emergency.

She would sometimes call a meeting at 4 o'clock in the afternoon with the intent of meeting a deadline the next day, which meant all hands on deck, but we would be working till 10 or 11 o'clock at night. Unplanned on our side because we did not know that she had this deadline looming.
Anyway, I left the company and I heard through the grapevine that pretty much the entire team left and then she was demoted.

This sounds less like a workaholic problem than a disorganized procrastinator with poor executive functioning skills problem.

[Anonymous]

This is normal if you've ever worked a real job.

You don't have to respond on weekends, but you could take more time to respond on weekdays.

Who cares?

[Anonymous]

Not all workaholics are the same. Though the micromanagement types seem to be par for the course. I've managed to make peace with my current boss. He seems to value getting things done on time and under budget so. It's more about independence. He doesn't send emails or anything, I just pretty much figure out how to get the stuff done with little input. Independence and self-initiative seem to go a long way. EG if I take work off his plate, that is appreciated. Even if it might take me longer to do it without direction. YMMV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. She sounds incredibly undisciplined. I work a lot in the evenings and on the weekends. I guess you might say I’m a workaholic. What I’ve learned to do, which your boss would be wise to do, is to use delay delivery with my emails. I do not want any employee thinking they are expected to work outside of the workday simply because they got an email from me at 8pm. They’re welcome to do that on their own.

As for an 11:30-3pm meeting, please speak up. Say, “I see this is during lunch time. Are you providing lunch for us, or are we taking a break during the meeting?”

I would be floored if someone said that to me. Can't grown adults figure out how to eat food around their daily itinerary?

agreed. this would be a sign of an incompetent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is normal if you've ever worked a real job.

You don't have to respond on weekends, but you could take more time to respond on weekdays.

Who cares?

You are the problem with American work culture.

[Anonymous]

Shane on her husband. She needs to be railed more often. Seriously if your wife is sending emails at random hours during the night, she is clearly not getting f**d