Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant™ (TOT): How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job

Chapter 3. Demanding

About Demanding

"My office. Now!"

What could she possibly want? You mentally flip through the litany of recent demands and know that you've addressed every request, no matter how random. But, that penetrating tone in her voice didn't sound like you were about to hear praise for any job well done.

You jog down the hall to the door of her office. Before you can knock, you hear her growl, "Get in here!"

"Those primitive bar graphs you sent over need to be redone. I can't send this garbage upstairs. They'll think I have something to hide. What were you thinking?"

"But ... I followed the examples you gave."

"Don't 'but' me. You're on thin ice. Just fix it. Now!!!"

You realize that the kudos (and the stunned admiration) aren't coming—and neither is that prized 5:30 pm departure for the weekend. Nothing is ever enough. You might as well be asking a pushy three-year-old to recount all the nice things his mommy does for him when all he can think of is, "why can't I eat all that frosting?"

Why isn't "thank you" in her corporate vocabulary? Does she suffer from memory loss? Doesn't she see that the bar graphs are actually very good—and just a tiny part of a brilliant package you have been working on all week?

But Why?

Much like a toddler, your TOT believes she is the center of the universe—and with the gravitational pull she exerts as your boss, you are stuck in her orbit. Asking ...