Mission: Imbossible

(I am working for the corporate end of a popular building and home supply store chain. We’ve just gotten a new manager, and I’m being bombarded with work with impossible deadlines. One Friday my boss, the new manager, approaches me.)

Boss: “So, I have these files that need to be typed up, formatted, printed, and binded in several copies by Monday.”

Me: “It’s Friday; how am I to do this without working overtime?”

(Note: I’ve been forced to work overtime several weeks in a row and reprimanded for it because of the cost to the company.)

Boss: “Well, that’s not my problem. You should know how to do this. You’re the one with the most experience. I want this on my desk Monday.”

(Sure enough, I spend all of Saturday and Sunday, working until midnight both nights. By the time I get the work done and put it on my boss’s desk Monday morning, I’m exhausted and stressed out. Not surprisingly, my boss doesn’t show up until noon time.)

Boss: “Oh, you actually got it done.”

Me: “Yes, sir. I had to stay here until midnight to do it, but it’s done and should be all in order.”

Boss: *bursts into laughter* “You actually stayed here until midnight? You’re stupid!”

Me: “…Excuse me?”

Boss: “There would be no way I would’ve done that much overtime for this. We didn’t even need it until Thursday of this week anyway. It could have waited!”

(Needless to say, not long after, I had to quit under a doctor’s advisement because my blood pressure had skyrocketed.)