One may call it an occupational hazard, a booby trap waiting to snare its next victim if caution is not exercise. Sadly it happened to my office mate; and sadly her story is a harsh consequence of not using restraint to the demands of the job. On one side of the story, we have a boss who tend to push things when reports are not timely entered in the system, and there is, of course, my office mate who gives in to his demands and thus will be out for two weeks on sick leave. The end result - tremendous wrist pain, possibly Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (my other office mate describes popping veins on her arm). She types a lot of reports, obviously, and instead of doing the usual quota of ten a day, she doubles and sometimes triples them.Given the situation that had just happened, blame can be justifyingly pointed to our boss who authoritatively give orders to my office mate, actually all of us have our shares of his harassment in one way or another, however, not all of us speak up and stand his or her ground during his power trip. I really believe and now i kind-a regret that i did not warn her, that had my hurting office mate spoken up that we are understaffed and paced herself on the typing, she may have avoided the booby trap.
I, for one, have felt my boss "Grand Inquisitor" tendencies, but i've reasoned it out and sometimes joke around with him and ultimately did not let his pressure take over my job capacity and sanity. I wouldn't say that i did not feel that black hole of being sucked upon by his force, that paralyzing fear of pleasing his unreasonable demands, and i wondered why my stars have often put me with a dickhead boss, but i suppose my stars have also taught me to learn and to grow in experience that i can only do so much on a given time and that i am not working to please anybody, especially not a dickhead boss.
4 comments:
It's really hard when you work for someone who does not treat you in a reasonable manner. I am fortunate in that I have not had to put up with that for a very long time. It isn't always easy to say no, particularly in these difficult times when jobs are insecure anyway.
I had the beginnings of carpal tunnel syndrome a few weeks ago and I am certain it was a result of the WAY I was typing rather than the quantity. I sought some advice as I need to be able to type in my line of work, and I have stuck rigidly to the typing position that was recommended and it has largely gone.
I hope hers is as easily dealt with.
Sorry to hear that your work for such an autocratic shithead. Does your office/agency have a ombudsperson or other venue for discussing this person's affect on subordinates?
Good luck and glad you've been able to stay above the fray.
Peace, JP/deb
Daft ideas need to be resisted though. And often for the good of the company, regardless of the ego of an unreasonable boss.
Merry christmas WJ.
Although i feel sorry for my officemate, i also look at this event, and i obviously cannot deny, that there is a mutual benefit and a lesson written on this incident. I agree about the ergonomic posture that one has to follow so we wouldn't strained our hands on continuous typing. I also employ a lot of finger and wrist exercises so the movement and circulations will be spread out, and most importantly i take periodic breaks when i don't use my hands at all. On occasions that my hands hurt, i have a wrist splint that i wear while sleeping so my hands will be steady for the whole time that i am in the bed. As far as my unreasonable boss is concerned, he can say and do all he wants but i am not going to force myself and definitely wont suffer anything that would be detrimental to my health and sanity, i know it is easier said but it is very doable all the same.
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