How to Respond to Your Boss Who Asks You to Do Something Dumb and Won’t Say Why

Your boss asks you to complete a task that is not necessary, even ridiculous. You simply ask him/her to explain why. His response is even more enfuriating. “Because I said so.”

Doesn’t he at least owe you an explanation for a request that seems well..redundant, busy work, not necessary. Whatever the reason, how should you respond to this order?

In This Reddit thread the OP asked what to say to his boss who asked him to do something “really dumb.”

I love this Redditor’s suggestion:

“I’ll make a counter recommendation and if they don’t like it well, I’m getting payed so what the boss wants the boss gets. Just have to pay me to fix it after words. I call that job security.

The only time I give a hard no is when I see a safety concern. I don’t get payed enough to get hurt or killed and hurting someone else is just too much paper work.”

What If There is Silent Pressure in Your Work Place?

I remember when I was working at an office in a small midwestern town. I was miserable there and the office politics were terrible. I remember specifically asking for over time when I worked late and didn’t have time for lunch. (It was in the contract.)

Instead of saying something like, “Sure, of course, you are working hard.” I got chastised for my request in a non-verbal way. He didn’t turn me down per say, but I was led to believe that we were supposed to work long hours, get no overtime and be happy about it.

It was that, “Take one for the team,” mentality. It didn’t just come from my boss. My co-workers followed the same mantra. No one asked for over time and we all worked crazy hours. It was taboo to complain..You were basically looked down upon if you did.

If you feel you are dealing with a toxic work environment, this article explains ways to minimize stress. First realize that you can’t control your boss, but you can control how you react to him/her:

“Lean into your power of choice, and the things you do have control over. While you don’t have control over your environment, you do have control over how you react and respond. If you start to feel yourself getting trigged, take a breath, and ask yourself “How can I react or respond in a way that would make me feel better, or proud?”

I left my difficult work place pretty quickly only to find myself half way across the country in an even worse situation. I eventually left the industry.

How Do You Determine When it’s Time to Leave?

In this article the author exited her position when her body told her to!

“The physical warning signs started soon after I was hired. During my chaotic onboarding process, I noticed my hair shedding significantly. As my responsibilities piled up over the next few months, I had increased difficulty sleeping. I began experiencing episodes of heart palpitations, lightheadedness, trembling, and shortness of breath. My counselor later told me that these were anxiety attacks. My body was communicating, but I wasn’t listening.”

After leaving my second toxic work environment, I didn’t have a job lined up. In fact, I left in a huff. I regret that to this day. Not to say you shouldn’t leave until your dream job is waiting. But I would at least find something temporary so that you don’t experience the added stress of how to eat!

Finding another position in a different field, even if it is a lateral move, or even a step down, just might open the door to something different..A career path you had never even considered before.

I believe the key is to keep an open mind and be flexible. You never know where life will take you.