unreasonable expectations

Seraph

Tue, Apr 15 2008, 10:31 am

if ur superior at work asked you to do something you found unreasonable (aka impossible), would you let them know that you felt that way and try to work it out? or would you suck it up, zip up, and do your best to comply, no matter how outrageous the request?

This happened to me. (I was told I was not allowed to work bec of such and such, but still had to work my required amt of hrs for the week.) I told them I thought their request was unreasonable and that it upset me a lot, so much so that I was really having a hard time speaking politely.
I got fired the next day.

Now I realize I did something wrong, as my friend said, this is not a marriage where u compromise and talk about feelings, its a job. You're depending on them for a job but they dont need you. You have a problem, tough.

What do you do when your boss asks u something very unreasonable and impossible to comply with?

happyone

Tue, Apr 15 2008, 11:15 am

breslov wrote:

I told them I thought their request was unreasonable and that it upset me a lot, so much so that I was really having a hard time speaking politely.
I got fired the next day.

What do you do when your boss asks u something very unreasonable and impossible to comply with?

I think the key here is the sentence I put in bold. Employees can sometimes be unreasonable. If you get unreasonable and don't speak politely, that's the first mistake. If you try talking to them in a polite way, you stand a better chance.
I've had issues in the past with an employer. I wrote him a letter voicing my issue with how he handled something unreasonable. When on paper, you could reread, rewrite and erase. He read it, and called to apologize.

Tamiri

Tue, Apr 15 2008, 11:32 am

breslov wrote:

Can you give an example?
My sister once worked for a place which would not give her a week off when she wanted it, she insisted and then had to leave the job. Is it something like that?

Seraph

Tue, Apr 15 2008, 1:20 pm

No, the situation was as follows:

I had computer issues with my online job from day one.
One day while working, I was told I wasnt allowed to continue working until I fixed my computer. I was told to stop working then., go fix my comp, etc. I told them "Its almost passover vacation when I'm taking off two weeks, this isnt a new problem, why cant I just fix my computer then? I don't have a spare computer, so I didn't know what to do."
I was told no, I have to go fix the computer now, I'm not allowed to continue working until I fix the computer.
I was talking to my superior online. I asked her "Does that mean I still need to get my hours in even if I'm not allowed to work?"
She says "You still must make up all your hours"
I asked "But you said I need to go get my ocmputer fixed now. What computer do you want me to work on? How am I supposed to get in my hours if you're telling me I'm not allowed to work??"
"You still must get in all your contracted hours" was her reply.
I told her "This is really getting me frustrated. I'm really having a hard time speaking politely."
At no point did I speak impolitely. I just told her, over im, how frustrated her unreasonable request made me.

After I spent hours trying to fix my computer, when I tried to sign in, I find out my password was changed. I asked why, I was told I was fired. I'm assuming it was based on my last conversation, but even that I'm not sure because they won't tell me why I was fired.
So I wanted to know if I did something wrong, and if you would have done differently in my position...

Akeres Habayis

Tue, Apr 15 2008, 1:37 pm

it isn't their problem about your computer,if u are contracted to do a certain amount of hrs,and your computer breaks down or doesn't do the job properly u are still held accountable.
I would have told her ok. asked a friend to use their computer to work on,and u would pay them.
I use to work for a co from home,and my phone connection was terrible,I asked could I take the next day off to fix the problem,and I would make up the hours on another day.she had said fine,but I didnt take any chances, I asked everyone I knew if I could use their american line and computer,bc I didnt want to seem like I couldn't do the work(which is how u came across,to your boss).

Fox

Tue, Apr 15 2008, 2:16 pm

I'm usually the one who's ranting about how unreasonable employees can be, but I like to keep everyone guessing, so I'm going to side with Breslov on this one.

The key thing that swayed me was that no one told her she was fired -- they just changed the password. That was really inappropriate and unprofessional, no matter what!

Without knowing more details about the specific computer problem and whether it was causing a problem for others or simply impeding OP's work, I can't say whether it was reasonable for them to expect you to get it fixed immediately. I can see both sides.

It sounds like the computer problem had been bothering them for a while, and they finally got fed up for some reason. Some people are better than others at figuring out non-verbal communication, and this is even more difficult with on-line relationships. They probably didn't communicate their frustration adequately -- they made a few comments, but went directly from there to letting OP go.

Bad, bad supervisory skills going on. It's possible you might have picked up on their unhappiness earlier -- but maybe not. I'd spend exactly 2 hours total thinking about it and then move on!

Akeres Habayis

Tue, Apr 15 2008, 2:59 pm

I had computer issues with my online job from day one.
One day while working, I was told I wasnt allowed to continue working until I fixed my computer. I was told to stop working then
I just told her, over im, how frustrated her unreasonable request made me.
seems it was a heads up that she wasn't going to keep this job.online jobs expect and depend on u to comply,they only hire u unless you can be productive,if not then they will let u go.I'm sure if breslov looks over the papers she signed when she started the job there is probably something written to why she was let go.the great thing about online companies,is they eliminate all the things that go with having good employee/employer relationships.
can u do the job?yes,great! if not,thanks your services aren't needed.

Seraph

Tue, Apr 15 2008, 3:10 pm

the computer issues were something completely connected to their program (only thing that didnt work so well in my computer), and it didnt impede me from working, just made my program work a little slower, making my get fewer calls an hour...

Even with this problem, I was still bringing in a nice bit of cash for them, keeping up with my quotas of points per hour- they told me I was a really promising agent, they had lots of hopes for me, and then I was fired suddenly... which is why I'm thinking it had to do with what I said to my superior...

And you say think about it for two minutes than move on- not that simple, because I did need that cash, and I dont know where I'll get another job quite so easily...

Akeres Habayis

Tue, Apr 15 2008, 4:43 pm

ahh,well u could call them and ask for another chance.
if u really think u were fired bc of insubordination Confused

I would just call and say,I apologize w/how I spoke via email,I truly enjoy my work,and would like to continue working for u.the computer problem has been solved.

louche

Wed, Apr 16 2008, 7:44 pm

On the rare occasion when such a thing has happened, I've told my boss "I can do X or I can do Y but I can't do both within the time span you're giving me. Please tell me which you want me to do now and which I should do later." or ""I can do X by tomorrow but it'll be a very sketchy job. If you want a thorough job it'll take another 2 days. Which do you prefer?"

In short, I tell him what I'm able to do and throw the ball into his court to decide priorities.

Starhavah

Sun, Apr 27 2008, 11:21 pm

DH works from home at a computer job. The ISP we were using started updating their lines and creating problems for everyone. It was frustrating for DH not to be able to sign on to a job he loved and wanted to work at and frustrating for his employer to be able to rely on him. The laid him off after a year (I was never able to convince DH that switching ISPs might help the situation). After 2.5 years they really needed DH's skills and rehired him in the meantime we had moved and gottten a new ISP and so far all things are hunky dory.

My experience is that if your computer regularly has problems the company (in a telecommuting situation) will not wait for them to be fixed.

I hope you find something fast Breslov. The job market is tight here, I can't imagine what it is like there.

Star havah

BeershevaBubby

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 12:52 am

If she said you needed to make up the hours, you should have asked for clarification as to what that meant - did it mean once you got the problem fixed could you work more hours per day until you made up your time or did you need to find an alternative computer to use while yours was being fixed.