I've quit jobs where managers were like this because I felt like a toddler! The way I'm so tempted to scream, "hands off my computer, I can feel your breath on my neck! Leave me alone!" 😭😭
@@Riley-1078 That's what my last job was like. Literally breathing down my neck. It was very gross and uncomfortable. If I took too long (less than a second) to think about my actions and what to do since I was new, she would GRAB THE HEADSET from me and scoot me over to the side.
My first boss was generally pretty nice to let me work. The issue with him was he was a brit who had worked in the middle east, uk, europe, Caribbean and finally canada. He was new to canada and didn't know the corporate culture as well or didn't want to adapt. He was used to having most of his work done by others below him to perfection. He couldn't say much to me because when i was hired, i was one of the few colored folks in the office and only colored person in the department. I would generally do a pretty good job but there were always minor issues that could be improved. Really small stuff that as the boss, he could easily fix. But my colored status hire allowed me to be tolerated and he couldn't do much. Plus he was a typical rich foreign boss who came to canada with good years of employment and had a massive estate home right outside the city and at least 3 cars. Plus he was irritated i stuck to my 8h of work only while he would constantly work 12h each day.
my coworker quit after a “progress phone call” from my manager/boss 😂 same day, 15 mins b4 work ends, he just steps out and call him saying he quit (giving the company a 3 day notice)
Yes! I’ve worked jobs with bad customers, but when the boss is on your side you laugh at the craziness instead of cry. I haven’t had a bad boss yet somehow, so grateful for that. Maybe it’s karmic justice for some of the downright demonic teachers I had as a kid!
ugh I miss my restaurant job every day. The customers/regulars were great, all my coworkers were fantastic and fun, sales were highest they’ve ever been, but the managers man. They ruined it and everybody left 😕
This! Everyone assumes I quit my last job (fast food) because of the customers or the work, but it was because the managers were horrible and disrespectful. I actually liked the job itself, but the managers would always find a way to ruin my shift before I even got halfway through.
Whats sad is that some companies expect their supervisors to do this. My last company fired me because I wouldn't micromanage people. I have a PhD in management yet they still fired me. 😂😂😂 So companies need to allow leaders to lead too. 😂
companies with healthy cultures and trust don't need you to micromanage, they trust you and your team to behave like adults and just get the damn work done. I would have left a place like that SO FAST
It is bc of the top management. They have to constantly improve and found an easy way of "improving" by detecting what they labelled as lack of management skills. It doesn't seem to me that u were on friendly terms with them, but rather the person to be only interested in honest work and the well being of the employees. In this case many bosses will not like u. U just have to go on the way u have, leave a job if necessary. It is paramount that one stays a good person and never be a bosses pleasers. Good for u, best wishes for your future!
What does you having a PHD in management mean exactly? Management is an experience based position, and you were fired because your managers didn’t feel like your piece of paper was worth enough to offset the lack of production you were responsible for. 🤷🏾♂️
@@TheDougSpotFor someone who doesn't now what OP's degree even covers, you sure made a lot of assumptions about their qualifications and the quality if their work.
Yeah i had 2 jobs where the bosses were like this. They would give me a deadline which looked reasonable but then a few days in, they would give me work that isnt urgent when given. But then halfway since the inital work was given, they would expect the work to be done and to review. And they then would be annoyed and try to purposely hold meeting in my off time when im usually done 2h earlier. It was a nightmare. Luckily these 2 jobs never appear on my resume. And im usually my other 2 employers were much better. They would give me a long deadline but the real deadline to client was usually a week or 2 after that. Plus if any new work was assigned my deadline would be adjusted accordingly. I miss working for both those organizations.
I can imagine Boss saying something in response like, "I actually would prefer to check on things in real-time so that way you're not wasting YOUR time doing something that isn't what I'm looking for."
@@riverwing7497 shrug it off and either adapt or start looking for a new job. when it comes to unpleasant to work with bosses, there is only so much advice that can help you deal with them. you cannot teach a full grown adult to be nice and respectful if their parents haven't done it or if they haven't realised how ignorant they are on their own
I would respond with, "i would appreciate it if you could trust me to do this presentation myself. If you think i'm wasting my time doing the presentation, then i dont understand why you are having me do it."
I have to be honest though, I feel like your solution could be considered "back talk" and "attitude" in a LOT of places by a LOT of bosses unfortunately.
A good way to deal with a micromanaging boss is to remember that they are generally easily distracted. They can't resist chasing after minute details. So flood them with loads more information than they could ever ask for.
@@connortobin3775yiur comment and this person’s comment came at the perfect timing today. Needed this. My strategy is always to try not to personalize their behavior and just focus on doing a good job… because I can sense a part of them does crave conflict, because they’re often creating conflict that isn’t there. I know I’m doing a good job. It’s exhausting to be micromanaged.
My response would probably be, I'm not going to be done in time if you're constantly checking on progress and if you don't like how I'm doing it you can do it yourself or let me work in my own way that is most productive for me.
"It seems like you have some concerns about the quality of my work. I totally understand wanting to deliver the best presentation possible to our client, but these check-ins are interrupting my focus on the project. What can we do to help you feel more confident about the quality of the final product while I'm still working on it?"
Man, I don't know if I'll ever be able to do corporate talk. It sounds so robotic. My managers might just have to deal with me telling them, "Thank you, it'll be alright, I'll run my final drift over by you, I'm feeling good about this project and I know the ins-and-outs on how to finish... Seriously, I'm fine. Thanks though." And that's why I'll probably never get a corporate job. Whoops lol.
Only thing I might add (might not be completely necessary?) is that interrupting your focus so often is greatly reducing your productivity. I.e. you can’t get anything done BECAUSE of their behavior
This is my work life. If I told my boss that, no matter how helpful I make it sound for him, he'd say he wants to make sure I'm "using time correctly" and then he'd be condescending to me for the rest of the week. I'm currently job hunting. So grateful I've found your videos to help me with that!
I have no patience for this sort of thing, my response would have been "I would make much more progress without these constant interruptions. If you don't trust me to create this presentation, feel free to assign it to another employee." I'm older, and so sick of peoples crap 😅
@@GoneFishingAway sorry my sarcasm didn't come off right. I was being sarcastic. I've had micro managers and I always use the words "adorable" or "cute" in these situations when I'm using sarcasm. Try having 5 bosses that all tell you they want different things on a project, so you have to redo the damn thing that took a week 5 times. Then you get yelled at for not being able to complete your projects on time because the managers won't get together and come to a consensus of how they want this to go. 15 years of this crap. It's literally like Office Space. Then I go into my car, scream and cry. Take vacation days or PTO, but your having to work anyways. I get paid for 40 hour weeks, I probably actually work about 80 hours a week, while only getting paid for 40.
Problem with this approach is, if you answer to multiple layers of management you will soon find yourself in three meetings a day. For a project based task, I would suggest you set up three meetings. 1. Initial assignment, where the majority of targets and parameters are set 2. Midway, last call for major edits/reworks. Followed up with an outline of what was discussed and agreed to ('We are changing Red to Blue, as directed.') 3. Finishing touches, last call for minor modifications
I actually have the opposite problem, my manager is so laid back (a bit irresponsable even) that they rarely check on us. To the point I have had to ask them when I have to give them things and what should I be working on. The cool thing tho is that I get to do my own thing on the side easier, so is not that bad
@@Literallyarealhuman It doesnt make sense to you that ground level workers dont have all the information and thus don't know which tasks take priority over others? Are you really *that* dense? I have a similar problem at my workplace for different reasons...bosses are horrible about not telling us workin stiffs what takes priority until the last second so we'll have to guess and almost inevitably guess wrong. Bad management leaves workers rudderless and confused.
@@Literallyarealhuman Mainly because I don't know what's supposed to be done first and what's not a priority. On top of that, if I managed to get ahead on work, I don't know what to do next because my manager doesn't tell me until we're close to a deadline and I have to rush. It's mainly a communication issue
The one thing I hate about Micro-Management is where it stems from; distrust. If you trust the people you hire to do the job that they have expertise in, then you don’t track every single step looking for tiny mistakes to validate your anxious behaviour
This is what I'm dealing with right now :( It's not good for my self esteem. I found out that my boss checks my work when I'm not in the office (I work part-time and she doesn't) and randomly takes the jobs she assigned for me. I have to fight to actually get to keep the things she assigned to me. I was promised more working hours (can't live on this), but she's not doing that in the agreed time, because she has a lot of trouble delegating. I find it really stressful and I did speak up, but I'm also scared to speak up bc I was fired from my last job for speaking up :(
Same! They weren't even my boss to begin with just someone who was assigned to the same project as me. I was new so at first I thought this is normal but then they started giving me criticism about stuff that I CLOSED! LONG AGO! After a while, they became my actual boss. I contacted the supervisor the same day (It was their vacation but I had no other choice, I was to start within 2 days from the announcement), and declared that I'll NOT be working with them anymore, especially when they got to be in charge of me. And I quote my very shallow explaination: They're not bad but sometimes there are people you can just never get along with and it WILL affect their and my productivity. Try to talk privately with someone in charge. Like giving the supervisor a warning that work will not go as smoothly unless. And also I recommend making the supervisor SWEAR to keep it between you both until actions will actually take place, should they take place. Good luck! Sorry if I rambled.
This is legit how my entire week just went with my new supervisor. Just so you’re aware, I did the very thing suggested in the video and she admonished me for not being flexible enough to her working style. As if micromanagement is a legitimate leadership style.
That in it of itself comes off as a personal problem from her behalf, "not being flexible enough to her working style". It sounds like shes making it about her, and not the needs or requirements of the task at hand or the job. If my supervisor said that to me, my response would simply be, " this isnt personal. The style needs to be whatever may be that produces the best results from your employees or delivers the best outcome for the task in question.
The BEST way to deal with micromanagement is to quickly figure out what's important to them and always be one step ahead. In this example I feel like the boss just wanted the colors/font to be correct before moving forward... so I would always make sure I'm doing that even if it seems pointless to me at the time. Usually the boss has reasons for why they want things done a certain way.
Agreed! The boss generally has a big picture view across the org, & may know stuff they can’t or don’t want to say. So they ask for stuff without sometimes saying why. Sometimes you gotta cut them a break. (Assuming they’re generally decent people.)
"Yes, I could change the font now, but staring at calibri text is like stabbing pins into my eyeballs. I don't really want to do that for 8 hours every day." _literally said this to a boss in the past._
@leafm5375 It's those sharp serifs on all the TNR letters. Like caltrops for your eyeballs. I like Times New Roman, and serif fonts generally, but I can sympathize with your suffering.
Yes, this is bad management _however_ I myself have had to do exactly this (unfortunately) when one of my reports was consistently saying it was taking him several days to do a task that should have taken no more than an hour. Some employees waste time and let's not further management is still held accountable for that persons contributions.
She touched on one example of how to do this, but generally speaking when people are being overbearing it helps to be the one to suggest their involvement before they have a chance to. In this case, as she walked up it would be a good idea to say "It's great to see you! Would it be best to send you a report on my progress by email or over [company program?" If you take initiative and offer to share information before they have to ask, then give specific options (preferably only 2 or 3 options), they'll have much less of a chance to "take over" and you will be in more control of what you share and when.
When I was a heavy diesel mechanic, boss man would tell me what needed to be done at the beginning of the day, then went and took a nap and came and got me at coffee times. One of the best jobs I ever had.
i work in graphic design and i would actually cry if my manager/boss was doing this every hour, i’d get SO frustrated. im an intern now so she checks on me and emails me throughout the day, but shes never just over my shoulder micromanaging me. she gives me projects and constructively criticizes what needs working on and thats that.
I don’t miss being micromanaged. I work from home now and sometimes I’ll go daaaays without talking to my bosses. Then when I do talk to them it’s just because they don’t want me to feel left out lol
@@Bllue I know but I though you had to buy it it's not fully free now either so yeah. And I use my school email rn for Microsoft stuff. And not everyone has Microsoft some use linux or something else so yeah.
Guilty as charged, I sometimes find myself as supervisor doing that as I rarely trust anyone doing work throughly. I trying to reduce to minimum, As its retail all hired students dont give a damn about quality of work, and I end up micro managing at the end... I really hope I will not take this horrible habit to people who dont deserve this kind of pressure. 😢 and if I ever do that to anyone who works well, please tell me that Im giving unnecessary pressure.
I used to watch shorts like these and wonder how common these types of experiences were for folks, as they felt unrelatable to me at the time. Now, in a role I genuinely enjoy, my supervisor, who is a micromanager, has made all these scenarios incredibly relatable to me...😪
I’m leaving my current job because of this. Even worse they will just take over the job themselves, leaving you standing there wondering why you’re even being paid in the first place.
I legit keep telling managers to stop trying to convince me to also be a manager because I know I would unfortunately be like this. I don't want to put anyone else through that; I do it to myself enough. Since micromanagers usually enjoy their position and don't know they're that way, nobody takes me seriously and thinks I'm just being hard on myself. Definitely not THIS bad, but I would definitely be making sure everyone is actually working and provide updates to their weekly goals/progress. I know it's annoying. I've had a boss exactly like me and I couldn't handle that either. So no, I will not ever take that position. No. Really. Don't ever offer me manager again. I'd rather everyone enjoy me as a teammate instead. Thanks.
You could be the best and most respected employee, but it won’t change how the boss will react. Even if you’re very gentle with the way you approach certain topics, some managers will see that as an immediate threat.
This would cause me to have a meeting with the boss'es boss. Unless they were also a micromanager, then I'd schedule a meeting with my next job manager. LOL
my first boss was like this and I was only one she was managing so I couldn't even talk about this with my colleagues because everybody else loved her 😭
We literally have someone at work who is just like her character…after being confronted about their over the shoulder micro managing they admitted to being one …ready for this because they had too….because he claims he inherited bad teams to manage. Now we have to take classes of his choosing so we understand how to be Time to go
I quit my last job because of a micromanager who wanted to play it off like she wasnt so she would just ask for a fetailed play by play of what you did. It was ridiculous
I had a supervisor early in my career who would sit with me and talk me through every mouse stroke when I was doing building design modelling. Got to the point once where he actually went, "gimme that...": and took the mouse out of my hand to do it.
Last time i had a manger like this i went to their manager and outlined how the micromanaging was destroying morale, slowing everyone down and just creating a toxic enviroment where no one wants to work with or for said manager.
The only time where it is appropriate for a manager to be a "micromanager" is if an employee has a history of missing deadlines and that manager has told the employee that they're going to be popping in more often to ask for updates to make sure things are on track.
I can't stand when people are like this at all! I've always struggled with low self-esteem and fear of failure due to the way I was raised, and whenever someone does this it always results in me making more mistakes 😭 I'd leave this company so fast for my own sanity
Oh god bless you for sharing these tips I had my boss check on me all the time making me feel underconfident on my work at one point by pointing out all the things she thought should be on a ppt and what all mistakes I do and talk abt it in team meetings it mentally depressed me
“Im having trouble making progress when I’m being interrupted every 60 minutes. It’s obvious that you really care about this, so I’d be happy to give you a progress report at the end of the day. That way you can focus on more pressing matters, you can still give feedback to make sure I’m giving the best presentation possible, and I can stay in a rhythm that flows well. That way we both win!” Then you give a dumb excited smile so you don’t seem snarky.
Wow, how do you already know so much about being a good professional? I've just graduated from college, looking for my first job and every video of yours I see I learn something completely new that I feel like I would've been in trouble if I hadn't known.. Please keep making these! 🙏🏼
And these people LEGITIMATELY think they are helping and making things better. When you eventually complete the task they think they were indispensible
I'm gonna watch your videos on my company's email because I know the algorithm can't stop themselves from oversharing what you watch to your coworkers and boss 😂
Boses are human too. So much courage is needed to be outspoken, be convincing to higher ups. It's so much pressure to be there for the team, even in your vacation . Can you imagine the pressure of ownership of the project.
I had that happen once on a project and after the third 'visit' I told the guy, "Every time you come in here I become a little more concerned that I will make a mistake so I slow down to check and re-check my work for any errors, which causes the project to slow down. At this point, the only way I can go slower if you come in again is to begin to erase what I am doing and start over again. I'll let you know when the project is completed." That worked.
I had a (toxic) boss who decided he needed us to write down every thing we did during working hours. Made us mark down when we started and finished each task. He claimed it was to see if we were waisting time. One by one employees started to quit, he finally let me go saying it was a "lay off" and he might hire me back because I did such a good job. He ended up losing the business and having to sell. He treated the customers like "cash cows" andthe entire community/subscribers had turned against him due to his attitude (this was a newspaper)
I literally had one that made me turn my desk to face him so that he could watch my screen at all times 😒 even though I've explained that I'm not comfortable doing that and it would cause unnecessary stress and burnout, to which he replied "stress is good, it makes you more productive" lmao. Anyway, I obliged, but I kept my earphones in the entire time and never communicated my progress with him, since he can already literally watch it the whole time. He quit shortly after.
I tried this. Two days later she’s just more aggressive and taking my work from me, fucking up the flow and plans I had for when I get back from break and telling me that I’m not doing my job
Ughhhh this is my life right now. My assistant manager is micromanaging everything, and I can’t count the times we’ve taken my projects to our manager and she says “yeah… I like the work you’ve done but it feels like you’ve focused a lot on the look and details of the design rather than the content” or “I’m not sure why you went this way, THIS is the information I’d really like you to capture” and then my assistant manager scrambles to backtrack and micromanage the new pieces of info 😅 soooo frustrating
“ I’ve made some progress since you were here at 9 AM” love that I had this one manager who during a potential crisis situation that would’ve forced me to take a few weeks off, would ask verbatim “do you have any new updates“ and she would ask me this literally every few hours. Even when I was off, would text me that exact wording. Needless to say, I don’t work there anymore
I feel a reasonable response for the 2nd interaction regarding Font. Would be 'I want all the content done first then do design [as she said] added with "Also, we get a better picture of how the font will truly look when comepleted w/ all the proper info as well' or something liek that. lol
I work in sales and used to love my job. We had a change of management recently and now we have to let our managers know what's going on every single time we get a customer.... it's exhausting and I want to get a new job now bc I feel patronized...
Even tho im the kind of person to set all the aesthetics up first, this would still drive me nuts. I worked for my mom once and she wasnt exactly like this. She did this more with me and things like homework. I felt like " leave me alone, dont you trust me? Do you think im dumb or incapable? And the more you do this the less i actually want to do the work"
The other question I have is how to be professional when coworkers/bosses I overhear talking about me. I don’t know what to say. Especially when they act in friendly in front of me,. I went back to my desk to get a drink and heard them laughing and talking about me. Please tell me what to do.
I love this, since my boss is JUST LIKE THIS. It's not as dramatic with every hour, but he does check in EVERY FEW HOURS, and when I'm constantly trying to focus and already have worries that I'm not good enough it's really annoying. Could we get more advice for micro-managing bosses?
Or just tell them neither of you are in a daycare center but if they really feel the need to act like they are tell them to find one and check themselves in. Yes, rudeness is a valid option, micromanaging is very rude so respond in kind. Also let their boss know how much time they are wasting being the opposite of productive and let them know how much of your time they are wasting. Ain't nobody got time or patience for this shit.
I quit my last job over a font issue exactly like this. There was lots wrong, loads of scope creep on my vague job description, but font micromanaging was the last straw.
oh my goodness this gives off the EXACT vibes of the yearbook teacher i was working with. i feel like we've had the same conversation as the one going on here, like nothing i was doing was right. (this would have probably not fazed me at all if i hadn't been working in a much more breathable and organized environment with my past yearbook teacher for 2 years before working with my new, disorganized one 😭😭) to make things worse, she went hot and cold with how she would check in on me and the other members, not caring about us receiving the resources we need to finish spreads depending on her mood of the day
I lived this plus so many more borderline abusive behaviors and it literally ended up breaking me, friends. I’m not saying this to get attention, I’m saying it in hopes that someone in a similar position will read it and decide to get out before they make career and lifelong impacting decisions like I did that I regret every moment of my life now. Please never let a job become more important than your own mental health, and please listen to anyone that you know genuinely loves you and wants the best for you if they are telling you that they are concerned about you and want you to get help. I didn’t listen and it absolutely could have prevented me from progressing to the lowest low of my entire life afterwards, which is part of those regrets that I’m going to have to work on learning how to live with for the rest of my life. Please, please, please take this seriously. What I went through made me unrecognizable to myself any anyone who loves me and the feeling of impossibility for bouncing back from this the vast majority of days is crippling and only making my mental health worse. Yes, I am working medical professionals to get help including my PCP, Psychiatrist, and Therapist, but what I’m trying to say is that if I had listened to the half dozen loved ones and other platonic but very well respected and regarded colleagues who came to me individually over the course of 2 years to address the things they have noticed about me changing for the worse and getting exponentially worse, I could have saved myself so much harm both mentally and physically if I had listened and taken action immediately instead of dismissing them and saying that it wasn’t really that bad and all I needed to do was work more hours to get caught up and that would put me in a place to quickly be able to go back to “my old self”. That was the worst lie I ever told myself and I wish I could explain to y’all the damage that was cause by that lie and me not addressing my mental health but I’m just not ready to talk about that part yet.
That’s a good way of going about it. If my boss was checking in on me every hour I would be like. If you think this project is out of my wheelhouse then I would be happy to relinquish it to someone you deem more qualified and don’t feel the need to constantly check on.
My mother-in-law is like this, and one of my employees explained it to me once. He said that his grandmother was the same way because she was sold into the U.S. as a slave and lacked the education to trust other people's education to be sufficient to handle the task. Basically, she lacks confidence in the fact that saying "make a presentation" is enough because she presumes that you don't understand what work it entails. I find this insight especially useful since the older my husband gets the more he wastes time micromanaging petty tasks. He really does talk like he thinks that the people around him are completely uneducated, which is disturbing. In fiction, having a character talk down to people is the easiest way to let the reader know that that character is a villain. There's good reason for that.
I've quit jobs where managers were like this because I felt like a toddler! The way I'm so tempted to scream, "hands off my computer, I can feel your breath on my neck! Leave me alone!" 😭😭
Oh ew if they're that close im pushing them away gently but assertively. That is gross and it would make me uncomfortable. PERSONAL SPACE!!
@@Riley-1078 That's what my last job was like. Literally breathing down my neck. It was very gross and uncomfortable. If I took too long (less than a second) to think about my actions and what to do since I was new, she would GRAB THE HEADSET from me and scoot me over to the side.
My first boss was generally pretty nice to let me work. The issue with him was he was a brit who had worked in the middle east, uk, europe, Caribbean and finally canada. He was new to canada and didn't know the corporate culture as well or didn't want to adapt. He was used to having most of his work done by others below him to perfection. He couldn't say much to me because when i was hired, i was one of the few colored folks in the office and only colored person in the department. I would generally do a pretty good job but there were always minor issues that could be improved. Really small stuff that as the boss, he could easily fix. But my colored status hire allowed me to be tolerated and he couldn't do much. Plus he was a typical rich foreign boss who came to canada with good years of employment and had a massive estate home right outside the city and at least 3 cars. Plus he was irritated i stuck to my 8h of work only while he would constantly work 12h each day.
No frrr the moment they treat me like a child im so out.
my coworker quit after a “progress phone call” from my manager/boss 😂 same day, 15 mins b4 work ends, he just steps out and call him saying he quit (giving the company a 3 day notice)
“I’ve made progress since you were here at 9 AM…😭✋”
How are there no replies???
@@x360gg Just checking in about those replies. Three months is a long time to not have any replies here @Preppy731.
@@x360ggits perfect as is
Man shut up @@x360gg
@@x360ggwhats there to reply to lol
Bad managers can ruin a workplace faster than bad customers or bad coworkers
Yes! I’ve worked jobs with bad customers, but when the boss is on your side you laugh at the craziness instead of cry. I haven’t had a bad boss yet somehow, so grateful for that. Maybe it’s karmic justice for some of the downright demonic teachers I had as a kid!
ugh I miss my restaurant job every day. The customers/regulars were great, all my coworkers were fantastic and fun, sales were highest they’ve ever been, but the managers man. They ruined it and everybody left 😕
This! Everyone assumes I quit my last job (fast food) because of the customers or the work, but it was because the managers were horrible and disrespectful. I actually liked the job itself, but the managers would always find a way to ruin my shift before I even got halfway through.
Whats sad is that some companies expect their supervisors to do this. My last company fired me because I wouldn't micromanage people. I have a PhD in management yet they still fired me. 😂😂😂 So companies need to allow leaders to lead too. 😂
They're somehow micromanaging the managers?
companies with healthy cultures and trust don't need you to micromanage, they trust you and your team to behave like adults and just get the damn work done. I would have left a place like that SO FAST
It is bc of the top management. They have to constantly improve and found an easy way of "improving" by detecting what they labelled as lack of management skills. It doesn't seem to me that u were on friendly terms with them, but rather the person to be only interested in honest work and the well being of the employees. In this case many bosses will not like u. U just have to go on the way u have, leave a job if necessary. It is paramount that one stays a good person and never be a bosses pleasers. Good for u, best wishes for your future!
What does you having a PHD in management mean exactly?
Management is an experience based position, and you were fired because your managers didn’t feel like your piece of paper was worth enough to offset the lack of production you were responsible for. 🤷🏾♂️
@@TheDougSpotFor someone who doesn't now what OP's degree even covers, you sure made a lot of assumptions about their qualifications and the quality if their work.
Literally my old boss, he was either so on top of me or ignored me completely 🙄the most childish person I’ve ever met
I'm literally living this now and seeing your comment makes me feel so seen rn
@@kawaiichickennuggetpls tell them to hire me i need a job 😂😂
Yeah i had 2 jobs where the bosses were like this. They would give me a deadline which looked reasonable but then a few days in, they would give me work that isnt urgent when given. But then halfway since the inital work was given, they would expect the work to be done and to review. And they then would be annoyed and try to purposely hold meeting in my off time when im usually done 2h earlier. It was a nightmare. Luckily these 2 jobs never appear on my resume. And im usually my other 2 employers were much better. They would give me a long deadline but the real deadline to client was usually a week or 2 after that. Plus if any new work was assigned my deadline would be adjusted accordingly. I miss working for both those organizations.
Same as my ex boss
Had that same exact experience. It created so much fucking anxiety.
I can imagine Boss saying something in response like, "I actually would prefer to check on things in real-time so that way you're not wasting YOUR time doing something that isn't what I'm looking for."
Facts. My freaking boss. She's unreal.
What are your thoughts on the boss's response if they said this?
@@riverwing7497 shrug it off and either adapt or start looking for a new job. when it comes to unpleasant to work with bosses, there is only so much advice that can help you deal with them. you cannot teach a full grown adult to be nice and respectful if their parents haven't done it or if they haven't realised how ignorant they are on their own
That’s what happened to me when I tried this
I would respond with, "i would appreciate it if you could trust me to do this presentation myself. If you think i'm wasting my time doing the presentation, then i dont understand why you are having me do it."
I have to be honest though, I feel like your solution could be considered "back talk" and "attitude" in a LOT of places by a LOT of bosses unfortunately.
Agreed! Some bosses are just extremely toxic.
Yeah I couldn't see me telling my boss "that doesn't seem like a good use of your time".
@@dakotacampbell1358 I agree. Maybe switching it out for "I know your time is valuable" would work?
Yeah I guess it depends on the power dynamics and your/their personality. That said, you ARE allowed to stand up for yourself.
@@LeslieStinsonyeah well that can get you fired in a lot of work places 💀 unfortunate but true
“Can I look to check something?”
“Can I finish this presentation so I can do my job?”
A good way to deal with a micromanaging boss is to remember that they are generally easily distracted. They can't resist chasing after minute details. So flood them with loads more information than they could ever ask for.
My family has a saying about that. You can wrestle with a pig in the mud all day long, but the problem is the pig likes it.
@@connortobin3775yiur comment and this person’s comment came at the perfect timing today. Needed this. My strategy is always to try not to personalize their behavior and just focus on doing a good job… because I can sense a part of them does crave conflict, because they’re often creating conflict that isn’t there.
I know I’m doing a good job. It’s exhausting to be micromanaged.
The discussion would be never ending.
So true! 😂
That doesn't work. Micromanagers LOVE insignificant details and will bother you with asking for more.
i would get fired from a corporate job so fast oh lord
😂the buffoonery is at an all the high in the corporate world
no fr. in my case, my neurodivergent ass would not survive.
Sounds like a you problem
@@josiahbaumgartner7643 why did you feel the need 💀
I would rather labor all day in the sun than ever work in corporate. Physical exhaustion over mental exhaustion any day
The best way to handle a situation like this is to get a new job.
Agreed.
A lot of places are like this though unfortunately
My response would probably be, I'm not going to be done in time if you're constantly checking on progress and if you don't like how I'm doing it you can do it yourself or let me work in my own way that is most productive for me.
I normally politely say "i want to hit x milestone before i leave for the day". And my tone says a lot when im called the 3rd time.
So how's the unemployment line working for you? 😊
This low key gave me secondhand anger 😂
"It seems like you have some concerns about the quality of my work. I totally understand wanting to deliver the best presentation possible to our client, but these check-ins are interrupting my focus on the project. What can we do to help you feel more confident about the quality of the final product while I'm still working on it?"
Man, I don't know if I'll ever be able to do corporate talk. It sounds so robotic. My managers might just have to deal with me telling them, "Thank you, it'll be alright, I'll run my final drift over by you, I'm feeling good about this project and I know the ins-and-outs on how to finish... Seriously, I'm fine. Thanks though."
And that's why I'll probably never get a corporate job. Whoops lol.
That's gold!
much better
Only thing I might add (might not be completely necessary?) is that interrupting your focus so often is greatly reducing your productivity. I.e. you can’t get anything done BECAUSE of their behavior
This is my work life. If I told my boss that, no matter how helpful I make it sound for him, he'd say he wants to make sure I'm "using time correctly" and then he'd be condescending to me for the rest of the week. I'm currently job hunting. So grateful I've found your videos to help me with that!
I have no patience for this sort of thing, my response would have been "I would make much more progress without these constant interruptions. If you don't trust me to create this presentation, feel free to assign it to another employee."
I'm older, and so sick of peoples crap 😅
Epidemic levels of micromanagement right now
No. This is still adorable. Sad to say.😢
@@deidrecrane No, it is not adorable. Unless you experience someone micromanaging you, you won't ever think it's adorable.
@@GoneFishingAway sorry my sarcasm didn't come off right. I was being sarcastic. I've had micro managers and I always use the words "adorable" or "cute" in these situations when I'm using sarcasm. Try having 5 bosses that all tell you they want different things on a project, so you have to redo the damn thing that took a week 5 times. Then you get yelled at for not being able to complete your projects on time because the managers won't get together and come to a consensus of how they want this to go. 15 years of this crap. It's literally like Office Space. Then I go into my car, scream and cry. Take vacation days or PTO, but your having to work anyways. I get paid for 40 hour weeks, I probably actually work about 80 hours a week, while only getting paid for 40.
the way my heart rate immediately went up at the font comment 😂 God that gives me flashbacks
My experience is that managers and management styles make or break a job experience.
Problem with this approach is, if you answer to multiple layers of management you will soon find yourself in three meetings a day.
For a project based task, I would suggest you set up three meetings. 1. Initial assignment, where the majority of targets and parameters are set 2. Midway, last call for major edits/reworks. Followed up with an outline of what was discussed and agreed to ('We are changing Red to Blue, as directed.') 3. Finishing touches, last call for minor modifications
I literally felt like this last week and didn’t know how to approach it
Now, my current job is having a manager like this. That's why I want to quit and find another better job 😅
Yes the solution here
In this economy, I strongly recommend you find a better job and *then* quit....ijs
Leave. As fast as you can or your mental health will suffer.
I actually have the opposite problem, my manager is so laid back (a bit irresponsable even) that they rarely check on us. To the point I have had to ask them when I have to give them things and what should I be working on.
The cool thing tho is that I get to do my own thing on the side easier, so is not that bad
I greatly prefer that. Give me my assignment and fuck off for a while. That's what works for me.
Why don’t you know what to work on? That doesn’t make sense
@@Literallyarealhuman It doesnt make sense to you that ground level workers dont have all the information and thus don't know which tasks take priority over others? Are you really *that* dense? I have a similar problem at my workplace for different reasons...bosses are horrible about not telling us workin stiffs what takes priority until the last second so we'll have to guess and almost inevitably guess wrong. Bad management leaves workers rudderless and confused.
@@Literallyarealhuman Mainly because I don't know what's supposed to be done first and what's not a priority. On top of that, if I managed to get ahead on work, I don't know what to do next because my manager doesn't tell me until we're close to a deadline and I have to rush. It's mainly a communication issue
That's the worst!
The one thing I hate about Micro-Management is where it stems from; distrust.
If you trust the people you hire to do the job that they have expertise in, then you don’t track every single step looking for tiny mistakes to validate your anxious behaviour
And they will always convince themselves that they’re right/ that it’s in the best interest of the product
Totally
This is what I'm dealing with right now :( It's not good for my self esteem. I found out that my boss checks my work when I'm not in the office (I work part-time and she doesn't) and randomly takes the jobs she assigned for me. I have to fight to actually get to keep the things she assigned to me. I was promised more working hours (can't live on this), but she's not doing that in the agreed time, because she has a lot of trouble delegating. I find it really stressful and I did speak up, but I'm also scared to speak up bc I was fired from my last job for speaking up :(
Same! They weren't even my boss to begin with just someone who was assigned to the same project as me. I was new so at first I thought this is normal but then they started giving me criticism about stuff that I CLOSED! LONG AGO! After a while, they became my actual boss. I contacted the supervisor the same day (It was their vacation but I had no other choice, I was to start within 2 days from the announcement), and declared that I'll NOT be working with them anymore, especially when they got to be in charge of me. And I quote my very shallow explaination: They're not bad but sometimes there are people you can just never get along with and it WILL affect their and my productivity.
Try to talk privately with someone in charge. Like giving the supervisor a warning that work will not go as smoothly unless.
And also I recommend making the supervisor SWEAR to keep it between you both until actions will actually take place, should they take place.
Good luck! Sorry if I rambled.
On the third approach, I would have been fired for thumping that manager right on the forehead.
"If you interrupt me again, I'm going to "startle" and accidently delete every database on the production server.
This is legit how my entire week just went with my new supervisor. Just so you’re aware, I did the very thing suggested in the video and she admonished me for not being flexible enough to her working style. As if micromanagement is a legitimate leadership style.
That in it of itself comes off as a personal problem from her behalf, "not being flexible enough to her working style". It sounds like shes making it about her, and not the needs or requirements of the task at hand or the job.
If my supervisor said that to me, my response would simply be, " this isnt personal. The style needs to be whatever may be that produces the best results from your employees or delivers the best outcome for the task in question.
The BEST way to deal with micromanagement is to quickly figure out what's important to them and always be one step ahead. In this example I feel like the boss just wanted the colors/font to be correct before moving forward... so I would always make sure I'm doing that even if it seems pointless to me at the time. Usually the boss has reasons for why they want things done a certain way.
Agreed! The boss generally has a big picture view across the org, & may know stuff they can’t or don’t want to say. So they ask for stuff without sometimes saying why. Sometimes you gotta cut them a break. (Assuming they’re generally decent people.)
"Yes, I could change the font now, but staring at calibri text is like stabbing pins into my eyeballs. I don't really want to do that for 8 hours every day."
_literally said this to a boss in the past._
In a workplace that exclusively used TNR for everything, I feel this so hard.
@leafm5375
It's those sharp serifs on all the TNR letters. Like caltrops for your eyeballs.
I like Times New Roman, and serif fonts generally, but I can sympathize with your suffering.
Yes, this is bad management _however_ I myself have had to do exactly this (unfortunately) when one of my reports was consistently saying it was taking him several days to do a task that should have taken no more than an hour. Some employees waste time and let's not further management is still held accountable for that persons contributions.
She touched on one example of how to do this, but generally speaking when people are being overbearing it helps to be the one to suggest their involvement before they have a chance to. In this case, as she walked up it would be a good idea to say "It's great to see you! Would it be best to send you a report on my progress by email or over [company program?"
If you take initiative and offer to share information before they have to ask, then give specific options (preferably only 2 or 3 options), they'll have much less of a chance to "take over" and you will be in more control of what you share and when.
When I was a heavy diesel mechanic, boss man would tell me what needed to be done at the beginning of the day, then went and took a nap and came and got me at coffee times. One of the best jobs I ever had.
i work in graphic design and i would actually cry if my manager/boss was doing this every hour, i’d get SO frustrated. im an intern now so she checks on me and emails me throughout the day, but shes never just over my shoulder micromanaging me. she gives me projects and constructively criticizes what needs working on and thats that.
I don’t miss being micromanaged. I work from home now and sometimes I’ll go daaaays without talking to my bosses. Then when I do talk to them it’s just because they don’t want me to feel left out lol
I give them a link to the google sheet and tell them they can check any time from their computer (commentor mode)
Not every company use Google Doc.
I guess I think you are lucky that's the case since it's easier to share than a word doc.
@@christinewhoyt even if you use msft office that comes with an online version you can turn around for collaborating.
@@Bllue I know but I though you had to buy it it's not fully free now either so yeah. And I use my school email rn for Microsoft stuff. And not everyone has Microsoft some use linux or something else so yeah.
I usually just tell them “fuck off” but you do you
same
Guilty as charged, I sometimes find myself as supervisor doing that as I rarely trust anyone doing work throughly. I trying to reduce to minimum, As its retail all hired students dont give a damn about quality of work, and I end up micro managing at the end... I really hope I will not take this horrible habit to people who dont deserve this kind of pressure. 😢 and if I ever do that to anyone who works well, please tell me that Im giving unnecessary pressure.
I used to watch shorts like these and wonder how common these types of experiences were for folks, as they felt unrelatable to me at the time. Now, in a role I genuinely enjoy, my supervisor, who is a micromanager, has made all these scenarios incredibly relatable to me...😪
My boss and I have a 30 min cameras off zoom each month, other than that we don't bother eachother.
I’m leaving my current job because of this. Even worse they will just take over the job themselves, leaving you standing there wondering why you’re even being paid in the first place.
I legit keep telling managers to stop trying to convince me to also be a manager because I know I would unfortunately be like this. I don't want to put anyone else through that; I do it to myself enough. Since micromanagers usually enjoy their position and don't know they're that way, nobody takes me seriously and thinks I'm just being hard on myself. Definitely not THIS bad, but I would definitely be making sure everyone is actually working and provide updates to their weekly goals/progress. I know it's annoying. I've had a boss exactly like me and I couldn't handle that either. So no, I will not ever take that position.
No. Really. Don't ever offer me manager again. I'd rather everyone enjoy me as a teammate instead. Thanks.
“Can I see what you have done so far?”
“No, I’ll chat to you on Friday”
You could be the best and most respected employee, but it won’t change how the boss will react. Even if you’re very gentle with the way you approach certain topics, some managers will see that as an immediate threat.
This would cause me to have a meeting with the boss'es boss. Unless they were also a micromanager, then I'd schedule a meeting with my next job manager. LOL
my first boss was like this and I was only one she was managing so I couldn't even talk about this with my colleagues because everybody else loved her 😭
Or when every single interaction is a “lEaRnInG oPpOrTuNiTy” 🙄 aka micromanaging bosses constantly telling you things you knowwwww
So true 👍
Telling your boss that them checking on you is an improper use of their time is a great way to get written up or fired.
We literally have someone at work who is just like her character…after being confronted about their over the shoulder micro managing they admitted to being one …ready for this because they had too….because he claims he inherited bad teams to manage. Now we have to take classes of his choosing so we understand how to be Time to go
Meanwhile my boss: "well, nice for you to look out for me, but *I* decide how I'm spending my time. And I demand to see it now."
I quit my last job because of a micromanager who wanted to play it off like she wasnt so she would just ask for a fetailed play by play of what you did. It was ridiculous
This was my boss three weeks ago. He is no longer my boss; I quit. Thank you for talking about this Erin!
I had a supervisor early in my career who would sit with me and talk me through every mouse stroke when I was doing building design modelling. Got to the point once where he actually went, "gimme that...": and took the mouse out of my hand to do it.
Unfortunately most micromanagers will still hover. I'm convinced they really can't help themselves
Last time i had a manger like this i went to their manager and outlined how the micromanaging was destroying morale, slowing everyone down and just creating a toxic enviroment where no one wants to work with or for said manager.
Assertiveness princess! Love ya!
The only time where it is appropriate for a manager to be a "micromanager" is if an employee has a history of missing deadlines and that manager has told the employee that they're going to be popping in more often to ask for updates to make sure things are on track.
“That doesn’t seem like a good use of your time.” 💀 If I ever said that to my manager/supervisor I would be fired. 😂
I can't stand when people are like this at all! I've always struggled with low self-esteem and fear of failure due to the way I was raised, and whenever someone does this it always results in me making more mistakes 😭 I'd leave this company so fast for my own sanity
Oh god bless you for sharing these tips
I had my boss check on me all the time making me feel underconfident on my work at one point by pointing out all the things she thought should be on a ppt and what all mistakes I do and talk abt it in team meetings it mentally depressed me
it's like you are training your manager lol
“Im having trouble making progress when I’m being interrupted every 60 minutes. It’s obvious that you really care about this, so I’d be happy to give you a progress report at the end of the day. That way you can focus on more pressing matters, you can still give feedback to make sure I’m giving the best presentation possible, and I can stay in a rhythm that flows well. That way we both win!”
Then you give a dumb excited smile so you don’t seem snarky.
"yea how's the presentation goi-"
*Font, good. Friday, done. Continuing*
Or just "yep, still working, go away" 😅😂
Yup. Fonts and colors. The most important parts! Not the actual presentation. It was nice to quit a job like with a micromanager like this.
Wow, how do you already know so much about being a good professional? I've just graduated from college, looking for my first job and every video of yours I see I learn something completely new that I feel like I would've been in trouble if I hadn't known.. Please keep making these! 🙏🏼
And these people LEGITIMATELY think they are helping and making things better. When you eventually complete the task they think they were indispensible
I'm gonna watch your videos on my company's email because I know the algorithm can't stop themselves from oversharing what you watch to your coworkers and boss 😂
Boses are human too. So much courage is needed to be outspoken, be convincing to higher ups. It's so much pressure to be there for the team, even in your vacation . Can you imagine the pressure of ownership of the project.
I had that happen once on a project and after the third 'visit' I told the guy, "Every time you come in here I become a little more concerned that I will make a mistake so I slow down to check and re-check my work for any errors, which causes the project to slow down. At this point, the only way I can go slower if you come in again is to begin to erase what I am doing and start over again. I'll let you know when the project is completed."
That worked.
I like this approach. In my 20's, I've had bosses like this and never knew how to respond to the micromanagement style.
I had a (toxic) boss who decided he needed us to write down every thing we did during working hours. Made us mark down when we started and finished each task. He claimed it was to see if we were waisting time. One by one employees started to quit, he finally let me go saying it was a "lay off" and he might hire me back because I did such a good job. He ended up losing the business and having to sell. He treated the customers like "cash cows" andthe entire community/subscribers had turned against him due to his attitude (this was a newspaper)
nah because im saying "if youre so worried about it maybe you should do it, you seem to care far more than i actually do. good luck" and walking away
Third time, "thanks to your constant interruptions i am now on track to be finished by next tuesday"
I literally had one that made me turn my desk to face him so that he could watch my screen at all times 😒 even though I've explained that I'm not comfortable doing that and it would cause unnecessary stress and burnout, to which he replied "stress is good, it makes you more productive" lmao. Anyway, I obliged, but I kept my earphones in the entire time and never communicated my progress with him, since he can already literally watch it the whole time. He quit shortly after.
I tried this. Two days later she’s just more aggressive and taking my work from me, fucking up the flow and plans I had for when I get back from break and telling me that I’m not doing my job
Ughhhh this is my life right now. My assistant manager is micromanaging everything, and I can’t count the times we’ve taken my projects to our manager and she says “yeah… I like the work you’ve done but it feels like you’ve focused a lot on the look and details of the design rather than the content” or “I’m not sure why you went this way, THIS is the information I’d really like you to capture” and then my assistant manager scrambles to backtrack and micromanage the new pieces of info 😅 soooo frustrating
“ I’ve made some progress since you were here at 9 AM” love that
I had this one manager who during a potential crisis situation that would’ve forced me to take a few weeks off, would ask verbatim “do you have any new updates“ and she would ask me this literally every few hours. Even when I was off, would text me that exact wording.
Needless to say, I don’t work there anymore
I feel a reasonable response for the 2nd interaction regarding Font. Would be 'I want all the content done first then do design [as she said] added with "Also, we get a better picture of how the font will truly look when comepleted w/ all the proper info as well' or something liek that. lol
I work in sales and used to love my job. We had a change of management recently and now we have to let our managers know what's going on every single time we get a customer.... it's exhausting and I want to get a new job now bc I feel patronized...
"Boss, do you wana do it yourself?" 😊
Even tho im the kind of person to set all the aesthetics up first, this would still drive me nuts. I worked for my mom once and she wasnt exactly like this. She did this more with me and things like homework. I felt like " leave me alone, dont you trust me? Do you think im dumb or incapable? And the more you do this the less i actually want to do the work"
Girl is teaching us how to gentle-parent our bosses
The other question I have is how to be professional when coworkers/bosses I overhear talking about me. I don’t know what to say. Especially when they act in friendly in front of me,. I went back to my desk to get a drink and heard them laughing and talking about me. Please tell me what to do.
I love this, since my boss is JUST LIKE THIS. It's not as dramatic with every hour, but he does check in EVERY FEW HOURS, and when I'm constantly trying to focus and already have worries that I'm not good enough it's really annoying. Could we get more advice for micro-managing bosses?
I’ve been considering getting my first job and your videos are a big help for when I finally choose
I would have said " If your so interested and focused on my power point presentation then why don't you do it" 😂
Or just tell them neither of you are in a daycare center but if they really feel the need to act like they are tell them to find one and check themselves in. Yes, rudeness is a valid option, micromanaging is very rude so respond in kind. Also let their boss know how much time they are wasting being the opposite of productive and let them know how much of your time they are wasting. Ain't nobody got time or patience for this shit.
I've had a micromanage boss...this would not work on her. In fact, saying something like that would probably get me fired
I quit my last job over a font issue exactly like this. There was lots wrong, loads of scope creep on my vague job description, but font micromanaging was the last straw.
I’m glad I never dealt with this, I’m ADHD and would take longer trying to get back on track/focus.
oh my goodness this gives off the EXACT vibes of the yearbook teacher i was working with. i feel like we've had the same conversation as the one going on here, like nothing i was doing was right. (this would have probably not fazed me at all if i hadn't been working in a much more breathable and organized environment with my past yearbook teacher for 2 years before working with my new, disorganized one 😭😭) to make things worse, she went hot and cold with how she would check in on me and the other members, not caring about us receiving the resources we need to finish spreads depending on her mood of the day
I lived this plus so many more borderline abusive behaviors and it literally ended up breaking me, friends. I’m not saying this to get attention, I’m saying it in hopes that someone in a similar position will read it and decide to get out before they make career and lifelong impacting decisions like I did that I regret every moment of my life now. Please never let a job become more important than your own mental health, and please listen to anyone that you know genuinely loves you and wants the best for you if they are telling you that they are concerned about you and want you to get help. I didn’t listen and it absolutely could have prevented me from progressing to the lowest low of my entire life afterwards, which is part of those regrets that I’m going to have to work on learning how to live with for the rest of my life. Please, please, please take this seriously. What I went through made me unrecognizable to myself any anyone who loves me and the feeling of impossibility for bouncing back from this the vast majority of days is crippling and only making my mental health worse. Yes, I am working medical professionals to get help including my PCP, Psychiatrist, and Therapist, but what I’m trying to say is that if I had listened to the half dozen loved ones and other platonic but very well respected and regarded colleagues who came to me individually over the course of 2 years to address the things they have noticed about me changing for the worse and getting exponentially worse, I could have saved myself so much harm both mentally and physically if I had listened and taken action immediately instead of dismissing them and saying that it wasn’t really that bad and all I needed to do was work more hours to get caught up and that would put me in a place to quickly be able to go back to “my old self”. That was the worst lie I ever told myself and I wish I could explain to y’all the damage that was cause by that lie and me not addressing my mental health but I’m just not ready to talk about that part yet.
“Who are you to tell me how to utilize my time, you are reporting me” that’s what she will hear back
That’s a good way of going about it. If my boss was checking in on me every hour I would be like. If you think this project is out of my wheelhouse then I would be happy to relinquish it to someone you deem more qualified and don’t feel the need to constantly check on.
Makes me appreciate my boss a little more.
The worst experience was my tenure in a Japanese company: micromanagement, toxic, gas-lighting, and dramas. I warn you all.
My mother-in-law is like this, and one of my employees explained it to me once. He said that his grandmother was the same way because she was sold into the U.S. as a slave and lacked the education to trust other people's education to be sufficient to handle the task. Basically, she lacks confidence in the fact that saying "make a presentation" is enough because she presumes that you don't understand what work it entails. I find this insight especially useful since the older my husband gets the more he wastes time micromanaging petty tasks. He really does talk like he thinks that the people around him are completely uneducated, which is disturbing. In fiction, having a character talk down to people is the easiest way to let the reader know that that character is a villain. There's good reason for that.
Constructively and professionally telling them to back off sounds good. What FEELS better would be to tell them to piss off and start job hunting.
Do NOT say "that doesn't seem like a good use of your time." That will backfire HARD.