I’m usually pretty charged up after the Branch Management Meeting, but not today’s.

LKK, head of regional accounting, operations control and compliance, who is also my boss, has been known to be a grand taiji master around for many years. I have to admit that he has been kind to me, bought me a few lunches, and even gave me a crystal card holder for Christmas. In return, I work hard putting dedication and much thought in my work, offer my personal resources to improve workflow, and also go out of my way to ensure that other areas under his purview but out of mine (like accounting policies and re-classification of assets) are carried out smoothly in the best interest of the bank. I even do some of his admin work (which I hate, like scanning his documents), teaching him how to use Excel in private, and wording his emails and writing his reports to help him. I also show my appreciation by buying him lunch and occasional tea breaks, a Christmas present and some Chinese New Year goodies during the festivities.

I try to take things positively in that he’s giving me exposure to widen my scope. For menial matters, I tell myself that it’s trivial and shouldn’t happen too often. He must trust me enough to let me construct his reports to his bosses, the Board of Directors in Stuttgart. I dread coming to work almost on a daily basis but convince myself that I am fortunate to have good rapport with my boss and that I should learn as much as I possibly could when the opportunity is presented to me. I do try, and for my first 2 months in the bank he was a crucial motivating factor for me to plod on.

The first signs of displeasure emerged a few weeks back, which I brushed off as a one-off. Then the frequency intensified. It seemed like I was made to do newspaper cuttings, scanning, and monotonous filing, keeping track of his calendar and mails and even prepare his speech for some seminar he’s speaking at. People even jokingly commented that I have now become his secretary. Not that I think I’m too good for my job, but this is certainly getting too much for me to handle. I dislike it.

It could be a case of familiarity breeding contempt. He takes advantage of the little extras that I did not seem to mind doing and it evolves into a full blown issue. In addition,
1. He smokes heavily and carries a very strong, pungent smell and likes to come to my desk and bend over to talk to me. I have to hold my breath.

2. Sometimes, he has foam at the edges of his mouth when he talks. I’m always afraid it will fly and land on me.

3. He likes to come to my desk and eat my tidbits (that I don’t mind that much, really).

4. He always cuts my sentences and later realize that he spoke too soon. He's the kind of boss that needs his ego rubbed.

5. He likes to make me sit in his room while he types and makes me vet his stuff. It often takes a long time and I would be spending on average 20 minutes sitting at his desk doing nothing but stare into his screen. I have a lot of my work to do on my own.

6. Typical scenario: I sent him my draft and email explaining my workflow, I get called into his office again to explain everything to him again, he messes my stuff up, and I end up having to resend the documents again. I think it’s a freaking waste of time. This morning, he told me ‘reconsider’ a project which I spent 2 weeks working on, which he bid me to work on in the first place ‘on high priority’. And then I’m told to ‘reconsider’ it today. It pissed me off.

7. I have to emphasize that I hate him messing up my stuff which I pour my heart and soul and time and life into preparing. For instance, he changed something I saved on the shared directory then everyone whom I sent the hyperlink to came back to say that they couldn’t open the document. Makes me look dumb.

8. If he can spend 20 minutes demonstrating how he wants the shared directory to be organized, couldn’t he spend the same 20 minutes just doing it? Maybe it’s beneath him, but I do think that it’s extremely inefficient, inflexible and the methodology employed utterly outdated.

9. He makes me prepare all sorts of stuff and then take the credit. It’s reached a new level today because he ambushed me during the Management meeting. My own boss pulling a fast one on me. I basically had nothing to say because he spoke on everything I was supposed to report. The German Head of Asia Branches teasingly called him wishy washy during the meeting cuz he kept having to make reference to other managers including myself during his report. Naturally, since he didn't actually prepare any of the work himself. Luckily, I managed an addendum to not appear so stupid in front of all the senior managers. And after the meeting, he acted like it was all normal.

10. There is more, I’m just so tired of continuing. But there is definitely more…

Yes, bosses hire people to make themselves look good. And ultimately, LKK will be the one writing my appraisal. Someone told me these are just typical lazy-boss tactics, and that was how he clung on to his position all these years. Don't get me wrong, I still think that he's a nice old man with vast experience in the banking industry with a vault of tacit knowledge I should draw on. I just don’t like how it is presently.

Maybe, he sensed my displeasure a little. He asked me once why I looked so sour. I would usually propel into a full blown sulk by now but I have to maintain my professionalism. My so called motivating factor in this German Bank has evolved. Maybe so have I.

Dr. Hämer told someone that he has already arranged my promotion for the end of this year. That’s great news... provided I can survive till then.