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

Chapter 20. Short Attention Spans

About Short Attention Spans

When your TOT returns for a split second, you try to interject before she sentences you back to terminal hold. "Boss, this is really important," you blurt, "Mr. Stanley wants to ...," "Uh, sorry, I have to take this," and you further endure your own company's unnerving on-hold message, "Your call is important to us ..." Seconds later, the line goes dead.

Once more, you've had to fight for just a few minutes of uninterrupted time with your boss before something more important comes along, and you are losing the fight. You're left with questions unanswered and decisions unmade—all because you can't get your TOT to focus.

This time, connecting with your boss is critical and the clock is ticking. You have important feedback from a client—one of your best accounts. He wants to make a major budget change to your contract before things are finalized.

You stall by taking your client to lunch, and naturally, your phone rings exactly when the food arrives. Thankfully, it's your TOT: "Sorry, I couldn't get back to you before, but, oh wow, I just remembered. I've got a lunch meeting and I'm running late. We'll chat when I get back. Whatever you wanted to talk to me about, I know you can handle it."

And with that, she hangs up. This is a big budget decision, and you aren't authorized to approve that big of a change. Now what?

But Why?

You ...