Boss snuck up on me as I was writing my essay...what now?

Question

So our system went down, and I had a little down time so I was re-reading an application essay. My boss snuck up on me and peaked over my shoulder, and said loudly "so, you're writing your MBA suck up letter?" I said, "I'm thinking about applying to some accounting workshops"..then he proceeded to give me a bunch of work, and that was that. Do I need to explain myself, or not give it a second thought?

aviroop · Answer

you were not surfing websites or anything..not hogging company bandwidth.. so keeping that aside.

your boss has no business letting you know what the letter should be like.. just shows he has no etiquette..what if its a letter you are drafting to HR about some complaint you had.. i wonder what your boss would have done then

Do not go to him to justify ur actions.. dont seek to do any damage control as it only will make the boss look right and make u feel guilty.

Forget the incident and dont bring it up..

gmatclb · Answer

LOL.

I can feel your pain. My boss sits right next to me and he can clearly see my computer screen. He's caught me a couple times with the school names in big bold letters clearly across the top of the webpage I'm viewing.

I know the awkward feeling.

It's like walking in on your roommate "choking the chicken." Don't bring it up and pretend it never happened.

TimeSquareDesi · Answer

He probably got jealous. Just work harder on the essays, get into the school of your choice, work hard+graduate on top of the class - once you've done that, this little hickup will not even be on your mind. =]

aviroop · Answer

oh dude.. u crack me up.. the face that the person makes when u catch him in the act is priceless

ashish.mahendra · Answer

Well maybe he's jealous......

Once my ex boss got to know I was applying he made sure he let me down every time we ended up disagreeing on anything.

Right from telling me that my English skills sucked to the fact that I wouldn't survive an MBA.
He made sure to let me know every time we had a disagreement that My English skills were useless.

Finally when I quit, this is what he said "As a future leader, I want you to tell me what qualities I lack"

I told him " I am wondering what qualities you have"? 

Needless to say, I am not taking a reco from him.

kryzak · Answer

Wow, that's classic!!! Great response! :lol:

TimeSquareDesi · Answer

Your response is a hard fact as to why your English does -NOT- suck. Good job, A+ =]

aviroop · Answer

I really wonder why people retort with the "you can't speak good english" - what does it even mean...

is there some document you need to possess to show that you are certified to speak good english (not TOEFL scores).. like a certificate awarded by the great English dead bards society or Shakespeare's posse of perfect english speakers.....

I once witnessed a fight between an indian female and an air france flight attendant....

the lady told the attendant "dont talk to me. You can't speak english properly also". The attendant retorted "You can't speak French. That makes us equal."

ashish.mahendra · Answer

Yeah,

those of us who have worked under geriatric Indian bosses will understand.....

India is a classic example of servility disguised as politeness at workplace........... especially when it comes to workplace dynamics between bosses and subordinates.


Not all of them are bad though.....

ashish.mahendra · Answer

I can take that from a native English speaker.........

After all, English is not my mother tongue, so I am bound to make mistakes when I express myself in the language.

But to take it from a fellow Indian who does not even address people on official emails, never acknowledges anything in written correspondence, excuse me...............I'm not servile enough to keep quiet when the same person has issues with my written english

riverripper · Answer

Sorry not going to give you much sympathy here, you got busted...next time either be more discrete or don't work on essays at work. I don't know about your work, but I think in most office environmnents doing personal work on the company dime is a no no. Without hearing his tone its hard to tell but he could easily have been making a joke that was intended to embarrass you into stopping your personal work and getting you to go back to what you are paid to do. Even if you couldn't do real work cause your system was down, I bet your boss was hoping you would close the window and at least clean your desk or something. 

It is human nature to screw off at times at work, and we probably all know that there is nothing worse than being the busy person and seeing people doing nothing while you are hustling on something. As a future manager you are going to find yourself in the same position as your boss. 

No one likes to get busted doing something they aren't supposed to, no need to talk it over with him. Just don't do it again.

ashish.mahendra · Answer

I agree with River completely.................With one Caveat...............

If you're working for 12-14 hours a day 6 days a week, you deserve to take a few minutes every day at work to fine tune your apps.....

Trust me those kinda jobs exist and at managerial levels............Ask any manufacturing/consulting pro in India...................

riverripper · Answer

Oh what you do during your lunch breaks or any other freetime you have is your business. I submitted an app during lunch one day.

ncp · Answer

Where I work, there are times when I slog 15 hour days, for weeks together. Add to this my near 24-hour availability to get on conference calls at insane times like 2 am in the morning. Therefore, on other days I come in at 9.30 and leave at 4. Nobody dare ask me what the heck I do in the office? or why I am clogging the company bandwidth?

bherronp · Answer

Totally agree.

I left yesterday at 3 PM to make sure my Michigan app was done after getting in at 9. Of course the day before I worked from 7 am till 5, then 10:30 PM until 2 am. So no one questions my schedule.

aviroop · Answer

Very interesting to note different work environments. I always tend to sound a bit radical, but it maybe due to 
1. working with southern Californians.. who I find to be the most lax and carefree.. very interesting people to work with...I once went on a business meeting, only to find out the guy was a surfer, so we both headed out to the beach to surf and talk about fnancial statements!!! (only in LA)
2. My team is very diverse, we have a lot of Europeans and South Americans, so the concept of what is allowed at work varies in my work place...I guess we can work on our own personal stuff at work as long as it does not affect our work.

ps. do you guys listen to music at work.. plug ur headphones and keep on working until the guy in front of u waves frantically to catch ur attention.. I know a few companies that frown on it..

ncp · Answer

No. We dont use headphones. We have the office radio dialled into the nearest lite rock station.

kidderek · Answer

spilled milk

kryzak · Answer

wow, office radio! nice!

My work environment is conservative, but still influenced by the Californian attitude. Pretty much if you get your work done, you can "flex" your time and take off or come in any time you want. It's somewhat relaxed in that sense.

Boss snuck up on me as I was writing my essay...what now?

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