Comments on: If I Come In Early, I’ll End Up Staying Late Anyway http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2006/05/24/if-i-come-in-early-i%e2%80%99ll-end-up-staying-late-anyway/ By Meryl Runion and SpeakStrong, Inc. Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:16:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: merylrunion http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2006/05/24/if-i-come-in-early-i%e2%80%99ll-end-up-staying-late-anyway/#comment-75 merylrunion Wed, 31 May 2006 18:25:57 +0000 http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2006/05/24/if-i-come-in-early-i%e2%80%99ll-end-up-staying-late-anyway/#comment-75 Meryl Responds If you are confident in your employment, I recommend you take your boss at his word and unapologetically respond to messages the following morning. I suspect your boss sends things out when it’s ready to send and doesn’t think about what time it is. I send my assistants things at very odd hours sometimes, and don’t expect a response at those odd hours. I wouldn't read too much into his messages, as women are often prone to do. If you are less confident in your employment you may want to reaffirm your agreement and say something like, I got a message from you at 5:20 yesterday and I get the impression that you expected a reply at that time. Since we agreed that my day ends at 5:00 I want to make sure you are comfortable with my responding in the morning. Chances are he will say yes since he agreed to those hours. It sounds to me like you need to be clear in your boundaries and teach your boss that you are gone after 5:00. He may test your boundaries but it sounds like he will respect your boundaries if you do. Meryl Responds

If you are confident in your employment, I recommend you take your boss at his word and unapologetically respond to messages the following morning. I suspect your boss sends things out when it’s ready to send and doesn’t think about what time it is. I send my assistants things at very odd hours sometimes, and don’t expect a response at those odd hours. I wouldn’t read too much into his messages, as women are often prone to do.

If you are less confident in your employment you may want to reaffirm your agreement and say something like,

I got a message from you at 5:20 yesterday and I get the impression that you expected a reply at that time. Since we agreed that my day ends at 5:00 I want to make sure you are comfortable with my responding in the morning.

Chances are he will say yes since he agreed to those hours. It sounds to me like you need to be clear in your boundaries and teach your boss that you are gone after 5:00. He may test your boundaries but it sounds like he will respect your boundaries if you do.

]]> By: Miranda http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2006/05/24/if-i-come-in-early-i%e2%80%99ll-end-up-staying-late-anyway/#comment-71 Miranda Wed, 24 May 2006 20:29:22 +0000 http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2006/05/24/if-i-come-in-early-i%e2%80%99ll-end-up-staying-late-anyway/#comment-71 I have a co-worker who routinely stays late into the evening to finish work for the day. I used to feel sympathetic for this person until I started to step back from the day to day workload and really review why she chooses to stay late every night. From what I can tell it is simply her personality. She has not documented her work processes. She has not trained anyone on how to help her. She is routinely on the computer chatting during the work day as well as on her cell phone. She chooses to keep the massive amount of work to herself and suffer in silence. From time to time she erupts and complains to management that she has to stay until 10:00 p.m. the night before (sometimes later) just to get the work out. If she would take the time to document and train in a back up person, delete the computer chat program, and hang up the phone she would not have to work late. This personality type is what I call a martyr. "No one can do it as good as I can so I have to suffer and do it all." The people who are martyrs place themself in that position and become comfortable there. The key point to remember with these personality types is that it is their choice. They are choosing to be a victim of corporate America rather than a leader for it. I have a co-worker who routinely stays late into the evening to finish work for the day. I used to feel sympathetic for this person until I started to step back from the day to day workload and really review why she chooses to stay late every night. From what I can tell it is simply her personality. She has not documented her work processes. She has not trained anyone on how to help her. She is routinely on the computer chatting during the work day as well as on her cell phone. She chooses to keep the massive amount of work to herself and suffer in silence. From time to time she erupts and complains to management that she has to stay until 10:00 p.m. the night before (sometimes later) just to get the work out. If she would take the time to document and train in a back up person, delete the computer chat program, and hang up the phone she would not have to work late.

This personality type is what I call a martyr. “No one can do it as good as I can so I have to suffer and do it all.” The people who are martyrs place themself in that position and become comfortable there. The key point to remember with these personality types is that it is their choice. They are choosing to be a victim of corporate America rather than a leader for it.

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