Oh no! Not again!

[bluefire21]

I'm sure that we've talked about this before, but what is the most outrageous, disrupting, and inconvenient waste of time thing you've had to do for your boss?

Last night DH and I had to bail out his boss for the 4th time.   "Why did you bail him out again?" you ask.  Simple, if boss can't work because he's in the clink, then DH can't work.  He's also DH's best friend for over 20 years.  I literally got 1/2 hour sleep because we were driving all over Dallas, TX trying to find a bondsman who was open and would help us.  

What hacked me off is that these were just for unpaid/ not taken care of traffic violations.  The guy makes money hand over fist, so why can't he just take care of these instead of making us "save the day".  I guess I should also mention that they are almost always done by 3pm or earlier.  So time is not a factor.  

I'm just curious to see if anyone else has had such a problem.  There, now I feel better.  I just had to vent a little bit.


Ellen (I'm not sleeping, I'm just checking to make sure the keyboard is drool proof.) in TX

[misslynn]

You know, when you say "bail out" I didn't know you were speaking literally, I thought you were just getting him out of a jam.  Sounds like you were successful, I hope he was appreciative and that you can get some sleep tonight.

I guess my thing for my boss would be programming his cell phone(s).  He got a new one about 2 years ago, I had to program it with all his #'s (400+ #'s).  Then he got a new one about 6 months later, I had to program it as well, but then he decided he didn't like that one so he kept using the first one.  Then he got a Treo, had to program that all up, but then he didn't like how it programmed so I had to completely re-do it.  Then he decided he only wanted to use it for e-mail, not as a phone.  Last week he got another new phone and yes, I programmed all his #'s in there (at least he's actually using it).  I have tendonitis in both wrists and it kills me every time.

[adminbydesign]

A LONG  time ago, I held the position of executive assistant to  the owner of an engineering consulting firm.

His wife went away for two weeks on a trip to Europe, and I had to go to his house every work day at lunch and let his wife's dog run in the yard for 15 minutes, then put the dog back in the house.  Then I picked up something to eat on the way back and ate it in the car while driving.

I also had to fix his lunch every day in the office kitchen, which wasn't so bad, except he never offered to let me fix my own lunch from his store of supplies.  He did bring in his own lettuce, tomatoes, canned goods, etc., so at least I didn't have to go to the grocery store for him.

I was a single mother and needed the job, which paid a bit above average, but I found another job within a month after the dog babysitting incident.

I've never had to bail a boss out of jail, but I did have to take cash and make bail for one of our employees (twice) when I worked at a construction company.  Boss was "too busy" and he needed the guy back on the job!!

[geminigirl]

My last boss (a multi-millionaire) brought in a 20-year old lampshade that he'd burned a hole in, as he'd had too bright a light bulb in it.  It was one of a matching pair and, because he didn't want to replace both lampshades, he had me researching online, looking in magazines and visiting local stores to see if I could find another one like it.

I must've spent a good 5 days solid on this little "project", including driving into the city a couple of times, trying to find a match.  

Finally persuading him that I'd never be able to find a match, he had me order two of something he "quite liked" only to have me return them to the store as they weren't quite right.

In the end, I just left the burned one in a corner of my office and it eventually disappeared - I think he took it home.  It's probably back on the lamp, knowing him.

Another time I had to spend the afternoon at his house waiting for the Aga (woodburning stove) man to show up ...

Oh, and once I had to take the train into London and go to Kensington High Street to pick up something from some outdoors equipment shop ...

The list goes on :-) and on ... and on ...

[officeguru]

Gotta tell ya... never have had to do anything that strikes me as odd or over the top for anyone I've worked for/with.... and I've had family for bosses!!  

Suggestion for the one who has to constantly program Boss' cell phones... and maybe you have already tried this... see if the service carrier is capable of transferring the phone book from one phone to the other via their website.  That is what my boyfriend and I do anytime we get a new phone (he's a steel fabricator/welder... tends to be a rough environment for phones/laptops).  And if it doesn't seem like it's possible from their website, give their tech service a call - they may know a way to have it done.  400+ numbers is a bit much!!!  

[bluefire21]

Yes, I did have to bail him out of jail.  He called me yesterday evening to appologize.  He said that DH would get a bonus on his check for our time Sunday.  Hopefully he will.  

Thanks for your support.  Now that I've had a few hours sleep, I feel better.  I'm ready face the week.


Ellen (Happy Tuesday!) in TX

[flyingfingers]

Mine pale by comparison to caring for someone's dog and bailing someone out of jail, but here they are:

I once worked for a very "intense" professor.  His office was on the third floor of a building and some construction workers were using noisy machinery on the ground. I had to go tell the workers to not make any noise while he was in his office.  They just rolled their eyes and kept on working.

Another boss was wearing a new pair of pants and discovered that the back pockets were still sewn shut.  I had to cut the pockets open while he was wearing the pants.  I wasn't crazy about having my hands that near his rear, and was afraid I cut his brand new, expensive pants in the process.  It worked out OK--I still work for him six years later.  

[dettu]

I've been pretty lucky, but I know someone whose boss made her clean dog...ahem...p**p off his shoes. I'm serious.

Different generation. I would've said no.

[joysmile60]

Misslynn - The next time he gets a phone, have the phone vendor transfer all his info from one phone to the other.  They will do it for a nominal fee (about $10), at least that's what I do now.

I hate to think of you entering all those numbers again!!!!


Joyce

[misslynn]

I know, every time he gets a new phone I think to myself, "That should last him a while, I won't need to do that again for a while."  And then something happens where he gets a new phone again.  When he got the Treo, I was going to do that but they said they don't transfer from regular cell phones to Treos because the formatting is different.

BTW, I got a call from bossie today that his contacts list in his Treo needs to be updated (delete people that left the company, add new people, etc.).  Yikes!

[claudiamag]

I once worked for a guy for fancied himself an "art connoisseur".  He would go to little gallery openings around town and pretend to know something about art (in reality he was there to pick up women).  He usually never bought anything at these galleries, just looked.  The one and only time he bought anything, he had the artist deliver the paintings to our office and made a huge deal about getting everyone in the office to come and see them - they were paintings of chickens.  Actually BADLY painted pictures of chickens.  I had no idea why he bought these paintings - until I saw the artist who delivered them to the office.  She was this cute young thing, just starting out and this was her first sale.  She was also about 20 years younger than this guy.  Anyway, boss insisted I take the paintings to get framed immediately and that the artist go with me to choose the most appropriate frame to highlight the art.  Before we left for the frame shop he called me into his office and asked me to try and get to know the artist a bit more, perhaps become her friend and talk about what a great guy boss was.  In essence he wanted me to see if I could get this girl to go out with him.  As soon as we got in the car, the girl confessed to me that she was a little creeped out by this guy but was excited to make her first sale, plus he promised to introduce her to some of his "friends who would also love her art" (he had no friends - art-loving or otherwise).  I told her to run.

No, I no longer work for him (but I can get his number if anyone is interested).