So, the week long back and forth goes…like…this…!
Boss – Here, put this in the client’s account.
Assistant – I don’t think we’ll be able to…
Boss – Get the information and let me know.
Assistant *gathering information*
Assistant – I looked into it and we’re not allowed…*
attempt at full explanation*Boss – Yeah okay. Give it back to me next week and I’ll take care of it with the client.
In the meantime on a completely unrelated issue…
Boss – I don’t want you talking to the clients unnecessarily (ie. without my permission).
And on another unrelated issue…
Boss – It’s great that you provide so much information, but sometimes giving the client all this information makes things worse, it’s too much information. Please keep it simple or check with me first (note…it was through him, that the client received the “too much information”).
Then this week on the original issue…
Boss – (via email) Where are we with that thing I gave you last week to put into the client’s account?
Assistant – (email reply) As I told you last week, we can’t put it in the client’s account. Here is the reply I received from my head office contact *
quote from communication attached*
Boss – (email reply) This is something that you should be handling with the client. What happens if…*
new questions on said scenario*
Assistant – (on the phone) *
frustrated and trying to stay calm* When I gave you the answer on this last week, you told me to give it back to you this week and that you’d handle it with the client, which is why I stopped looking into it. I can look into it further if you’d like…
So of course the boss wants the assistant to do further research. And of course the boss now wants the assistant to follow up directly with the client. And of course the assistant does a marvelous job, providing the client with all of the information they require on the topic as well as how to move forward now that they cannot assist him.
It’s not that I mind doing the work. Quite the opposite, I love doing the work. I love investigating problems and discovering as much as I can on any given subject. I love learning the procedure and the way things work and knowing so that I know for the next time, or for when someone else needs to know.
But I haaaaaaaaaaaaaate, absolutely despise, mixed messages. And I’m not talking body language or subliminal messages here folks. I’m talking blatant opposite statements…
I don’t want you talking to the client & Give it back to me and I’ll deal with the client.
VS
This is something YOU should be handling with the client.
Or
Sometimes providing the client with all this information is too much information.
VS
Even though I already dropped this issue a week ago, I have a million more questions that I really wanted answered, but expected you to read my mind and ignore other statements I’d made (okay, the Boss didn’t say that, but he might as well have)
What’s an assistant to do? Yes, I need to stand up for myself when I say “I don’t think so”…heck I knew it for a fact. But I’d been told in the past, that “I don’t like it when you say no…” (…yes, there are much bigger issues here…I see it, I see it). So I give a wishy-washy answer when I’m sure of the answer and then find someone to back up my I’m-not-sure-of-myself response.
Anyways…I’m feeling much better about the whole scenario now…but wow, was I ever pissed this morning. Thank you blog!
