Priorities change if the boss has to work!

I am not feeling well today - nothing major, just a mild dry cough, cold and general feverish symptoms. So I mailed my bosses this morning that I wouldn’t be in office and gave them the reason as well. I mentioned that I would connect to the network whenever I could.

Around noon, I got a call from a superior who, after making the customary enquiries, got down to business in 20 seconds. He wanted me to complete a couple of items since our account manager had asked for some data.

I said I would get to it, but not with any urgency and that I would do it only after 2-3 hours. He sounded mildly surprised and tried to joke around it saying that he would call me if he didn’t see any mail about the updates.

I logged into the network a short while back and completed the formalities. I then sent a mail to the concerned authorities and thought of getting on to the next item. I received a call from him asking what needed to be done next. That’s his usual way of trying to direct a conversation and get you to complete some task.

I told him that my part was done and now it was left to the other department to do their job. He then asked if I could refer to any earlier conversation on this and try to show the importance to them. I patiently told him that though the activity was repetitive, it could not really be carried over from any other email thread. He then asked if I could send the mail from the account manager and I told him that whatever you try, the response would be that they are busy with some month-end work and so they would get to it only afterwards. And that one would have to call them up to find out even this.

He then had the nerve to ask me to try calling them. What the f***? Doesn’t he know that I am on sick leave because of sore throat? Probably since there was no palpable change in my baritone, did he assume that I was just taking a day off just like that? And just because I did some document upload, did he assume that I could do all other jobs as well?

Anyways, I bluntly refused to call them. He sounded surprised with my statement. Then, he reverted to his usual style of work - saying that we could get to it tomorrow. So, an activity which till 5 minutes was of highest importance and priority, immediately got downgraded, simply because it meant that he would have had to call up people and try to close it.

I am planning to go on a full blown leave tomorrow and keep my phone switched off. I know it will serve no purpose because when I return on Wednesday, this high priority task that had to be completed today would still be waiting for me to close. This is the level to which some bosses delegate work.