How do you respond to the questions or things that your boss asks you?

[Maggie]

I become a civil servant after passing the national examinations. You might think I definitely got a relaxed task, but it's NOT.

A female employee who is a senior civil servant, is resposible for teaching me most of things I have to do in the near future. However, there is another more senior female employee that I call her a boss. Basically, I just assist the senior civil servant but not my boss so far. This morning, my boss asked me to do a minute which I'm not familiar. The senior civil servant thinks it's inappropriate to ask me to do this kind of task because I'm not experienced in that and actually I only stay in that department for around one week. Moreover, the minute is very very important and the meeting is very very important, too. It has to been finished in three days. That means it's in a hurry. Before my boss asked this thing, I hadn't know this kind of thing, such as the minute should be finished IN THREE DAYS and it takes a lot of time to finish it. You might think three days is long, but it isn't. The third day the senior civil servant will be day off, so when she is day off, she won't teach me anything about minute definitely. That means I should finish it IN TWO DAYS.

I think I don't need to describe too much things about the minute indeed. My question is that how do you respond to your boss that when your boss asks something you haven't done and you probably don't know how long you will take. Moreover, the boss asks you to do it in a limited time that you're not sure if you can finish it on time.

In my opinion, I think I can't say 'NO' if my boss asks me to do something. I only remember that when she asks me to do the thing , I told her that I would finish it today AS I COULD. If you asked me whether I told her that I would finish the task or not at the end, I would say I was not SURE indeed. Because I rarely taked with my boss, I got nervous to talk to her actually. So I really forgot if I promised her. Now I'm in a bad situation and I think I'm really not good at aswering questions to the boss cleverly and quickly.

Would you mind telling what do you respond to your boss if you meet this situation or what have you done before when you got this question? It depends on coutries or culture I think. But I still want to know what you think of it. By the way, I need to continue to listen to the record files that I haven't finished at this moment. God bless me!

Maggie
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In my view,the more mistakes someone else corrects me,the more I could learn.
And welcome to my blog: http://0rz.tw/793HL

[NinaZara]

Hi Maggie,

Congratulations on passing the National examination and also on landing a job as a civil servant!

As to your question I think we've all been in the same shoes. I think it's only normal that we don't know a lot of things when we first start working. I have been in situations where I find myself asking, "What the h*** am I suppose to do with this thing?" or "What is he (my boss) talking about?"

Luckily I remember an advice from a professor. He told us kids to always ask questions, any questions no matter how dumb, when we are not sure about something. He specifically told us to do this when we first start our job because it will be more difficult to ask as we get older or longer in a company. According to him, our boss or our surrounding will expect more from us then. And I think that is true.

Yet from my father's perspective, he always told me to think hard. Sometimes, it's not that we don't know how to do it, it's just that we don't have the confidence and sometimes we don't think of our options and resources. In your case, I think you can find tips or format to do a minute online and reconfirm it with your boss, if that is how she usually does it or if there is any other format that she prefers.

Personally, I hate saying "I don't know" to my bosses so I usually offer them something first, then as usual they will offer me their experience.

And as we say it in Japanese, gambatte! >_<

Nina

[Maggie]

Hi Nina and everyone,

Thanks for sharing your ideas and experiences. At the beginning, I was really afraid to talk with my boss who I think she's a little bit serious and I hadn't seen she smiled actually. That's because I'm a girl who don't know how to get along with a person who's not so friendly. In recent days, I get used to talk and communicate with her. It's really much better than I worked there at the beginning.

By the way, have you thought of your boss? I found out that most of the bosses prefer to have lunch ALONE. I'm very curious what's the main reason. That's because they don't like to have lunch with their subordinates who work for them or they just think it's weird to have a meal with the subordinates? Definitely, the boss has a huge power and he/she gets offers much more than them. But is it worth that it seems they don't have friends in the companies actually. I just get this idea and want to talk about it. That's all.

Hoping have a satisfied election poll.

Maggie^^
_________________
In my view,the more mistakes someone else corrects me,the more I could learn.
And welcome to my blog: http://0rz.tw/793HL

[Prezbucky]

Nina made a great point, Maggie:

The only stupid question is one to which you already know the answer. That is to say, the only dumb questions are rhetorical questions.

Nobody can fault you for not knowing something the first time you're asked to do it. Ask questions, be patient with yourself, respect your co-workers and work hard. That's about all anyone can ask of you. Try your best and relax!
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[NinaZara]

Hi Maggie,

Glad to hear that you are getting along with your boss. Smiling always works for me. Sometimes, it can be interesting to see how a VERY serious person reacts to your smile.

As for eating alone, what's wrong with it? I don't mind eating alone at work. Girls here told me they would rather skip lunch than to eat alone. Seriously, I cannot understand that. To me it's time saving and I don't have to wait for EVERYBODY to start eating. It's different with guys though, I don't have to wait for them. And they don't make faces when I finish first and have to leave them.

I think this is the reason why bosses like eating alone. Plus, at other times, people are always bothering them, so by eating alone they can do other things, like read their mails, or news, perhaps?

What about you? Do you think eating alone is the worst thing?

Nina

[Maggie]

Hi Nina and everyone,

Actually, I'd like to eat alone. However, sometimes it's weird and I also care about what other people think indeed. For me, now I'm new in the department of goverment. A couple of persons are new, just like me. So we'll go to restaurant and have lunch together. Sometimes, I feel not so comfortable and a little bit nervous because I don't know what I can say and what I can talk with them. So I usually think about what kind of topic I can say safely. That means I don't say gossip about what happens to me about working. I think it's terrible if I say something wrong and someone tells another person, then I'll be in a bad situation. So what I can say is less. That's why I don't want to eat with a couple of persons. I get pressure to eat with them really.

However, if I don't have lunch with them, then they might think it's weird. I know I shouldn't care about what other people think. But at this moment, I simply care about it. So I don't want to eat alone.

What I think of the boss who likes to eat alone is that I think boss is the kind in the office. Boss usually blame his/her subordinates. You see, if we do something wrong, our boss definitely will blame us using a not good manner,right? So I think nobody wants to see boss again during lunch time absolutely. So I'm guessing that subordinates are the king during lunch time and bosses are the king during working time. :p

Maggie^^
_________________
In my view,the more mistakes someone else corrects me,the more I could learn.
And welcome to my blog: http://0rz.tw/793HL

[NinaZara]

I think in a new environment it's important to make new friends and sort of "promote" oneself. Having lunch, among other things, is certainly a quick way to make friends. But once you know your way around, it's not that important anymore.

Also, I think it's very wise of you to stay away from office gossips. Gossipers, they are just the worst kind.

All I can say about bosses is that different boss has different style. Some just want to have a clear line between a boss and employees but some might prefer to mingle more if that works better with the work demands and needs.