It’s Friday afternoon, 4:30 PM.
Yup, you guessed it. A whole new file to process comes in and your boss tells you it is due before you leave today. You know processing will take over an hour and you are in a hurry to get to your son’s Friday Lights football game.
What do you do?
1. First, set an environment with your boss when you begin to work with him or her on your normal work hours. If there are days where you need to leave early let him know at the beginning of the day.
2. Ask your boss, or who ever gave you the file, why it is needed so fast. Will it really be a problem to get to it first thing Monday AM?
3. Is there someone else who could complete the work, especially someone in a different timezone who still has a few more hours in their day?
4. As a last resort, refuse with explanation and let your boss be aware of the situation. Why? You don’t want to get into a habit of being a “sucker” for last minute work as this will not be the last. Set your parameters now for people to respect you later.