Top 8 Dumb Complaints about Managers

By Geoffrey James
Complaint #1: “My boss doesn’t want to get into the nitty gritty details of my work.”


Why It’s Dumb: Why should she have the time to worry about your job at more than a top-line level? It’s your job to worry about the details, not hers.

Complaint #2: “My boss delegates too much work to his staff.”

Why It’s Dumb: It’s his call, not yours, whether his staff can do a task better or more efficiently than he can. Where do you come off deciding what he should be doing or not doing?

Complaint #3: “My boss relies on her staff for fresh ideas.”

Why It’s Dumb: Of course she does; that’s what staffers are for. Would you rather have a boss who thinks she knows everything and won’t listen to anybody else?

Complaint #4: “My boss makes lots of trite ‘motherhood’ statements.”

Why It’s Dumb: Are you such a paragon of originality that your delicate shell-like ears are offended when somebody trots out a bromide? What’s the big deal?

Complaint #5: “My boss uses too much jargon and biz-blab.”

Why It’s Dumb: So what? Most people in business talk that way. It’s just mental noise, like a verbal tic. At worst it’s annoying; at best, amusing.

Complaint #6: My boss steals ideas and claims them for his own.

Why It’s Dumb: Hey, he assembled a staff with good ideas, so that makes those ideas his to use. If you’re smart, you’ll WANT the boss to “own” your ideas.

Complaint #7: My boss demands work assignments but doesn’t review them.

Why It’s Dumb: Maybe she trusts you to get the details right. Or were you maybe expecting her to be your fact-checker?

Complaint #8: My boss is overpaid, in my opinion.

Why It’s Dumb: Who put you on the executive compensation committee? While it’s true that some bosses make obscene salaries, your boss’s salary is none of your business.

A Couple of Hard Truths: 1) Complaining about a boss never got anybody anywhere. 2) If you don’t respect your boss, you owe it to your boss — and yourself — to find a job elsewhere.


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