So I just started working in a new job this week. Today was my 3rd day at work, and my manager asked me to create a slide deck to summarise a research paper.
So I worked on it and at 1pm i gave her update saying that I will submit the deck either today or early the next day. She said she needs it by today, so I said ok. At 3pm she asked me when I can have the slides ready, I told her by 6pm, and she asked me why it takes so long. I was confused since I interpreted “by today” as end of day. Then she told me that if she didn’t give me a deadline, I should just ask for it. I informed her that I did try to align the deadline with her, but she responded by saying that she needs time to review my slides. And she even went on to say that while I need to ramp up on knowledge, she wants me to start contributing asap.
Firstly, is it wrong of me to interpret her initial deadline as end of day? If she didn’t give me a specific time to submit the slides to her, am I supposed to read her mind? Was I wrong in this case?
Secondly, it’s my 3rd day on the job. The research paper was new to me and I don’t want to produce a copy-paste job just to submit it. I had to digest the source material first, and at least give a thoughtful summary no?
This issue has bothered me quite a bit. Her tone was not friendly during the exchange (completely over Teams chat as I was WFH). Should I clarify or clear the air with her when we next meet in office? My first impression of her is that she won’t take any feedback well. Or should I just live with it, and potentially she will do something else I deem unreasonable in the future.
What should I do to continue working with her?
Here are what netizens think:
- Not a great manager, 3rd day and expect u to contribute either your role has no learning curve (means u are replaceable anytime) or to her this is really a simple task (meaning she can complete within 1-2 hrs herself). Talk to her and clarify, if she is still unfriendly, prepare to quit. Never quarrel with your RO, just exit.
- my wise friend once said, “when boss wants something when is the deadline? it’s yesterday!” when she said today, it means she must reviewed it , send you any comments to change and review it again. the process might go a few rounds. perhaps you can ask her for a private conversation of 5 mins over coffee or starbucks. let her know you are sorry and how can you improve and any area she can assist to bring you up to speed. don’t make it all about how she made you feel. you are an employee not her bf/gf/bff/bestie. if she realised she went too far, she apologise if not then move on or put it behind
- If it means today, means today. U shouldnt be focus on the output but on the timeline. Do what u can by the end of today and jus submit. This is corporate world, not school where u need to be graded. Jus think, when u order from a restaurant, they serve u in 10 mins right. Cannot be if u wan a particular vege that needs 2 weeks to import and they arrange it for u.
- by today means, instantaneously