Pennysaver and He-Boss gives me a lot of different stuff to do. He-Boss is the most creative. I do whatever he tells me to do, most of the time. But some times he gives me things to do, that I really, really don’t want to do. Like last week…

Someone, let’s call him X (because I have no clue on who he/she is), is staying in Oslo for two weeks, starting today. X is gonna work for our company for two weeks, I think.  So he needs a place to stay. He-Boss asked me to check out prices a hotel nearby the office.  I checked the price on that hotell, but also other hotels downtown, because the nearby hotel was very pricy.

After some days He-Boss contacted me again. He asked me to contact the nearby hotel, beat down the price and then book the room for two weeks.  I was like WTF? Beat down the price at a hotel-room! Nobody does that, or?

He-Boss: what was the price on the nearby hotel again?
Me: Let me see… 1690 nok a night.
He-Boss: try to beat the price down a bit… and then book it for two weeks.
Me: beat down the price? are you crazy?
He-Boss: no.
Me: you can’t beat down the price at a hotel-room. And I’m really bad at doing that I have to say.
He-Boss: ok. make Pennysaver do it. She knows how to do it.
Me: yeah, she’s better at that

Then I contacted Pennysaver and explained. She said she was going to call and ask if they have a room that wasn’t that price, but she wouldn’t try to get it cheaper than it already was. She thought the price was so stiff, that she wondered if they were going to put X in the spare room they have in their house.

Now I wonder, was it right of me to turn him down like that? Is it ok for me to say no, when my boss asks me to do something? I know I’m supposed to do what my boss tells me to do, but there is a limit to what I’m doing  – even though he is my boss.

I think I have the right to stop and say no when I think he’s out of line. Don’t you agree? I won’t accept everything and I don’t think I should either.

And to set things straight, I do in 97% of all cases, what he wants.

I know I have to be careful and not say ‘no’ too many times. Because if I do say ‘no’ more and more, it would be long before he thinks less of me. And I would like to keep the kind of work-relationship we have right now.

Heh. I just come to think about moive ‘the Devil wears Prada’. I’m so glad I’m not the Devil’s secretary. She was a bitch and wouldn’t accept someone to not do as she says. After seeing that movie, you’re really happy about the way things are. Things could be much, much worse!