It’s only Tuesday and he’s taken up 3.5 hours of my time with calls that didn’t need to happen. You can feel his anxiety through the phone, which is hard to deal with when my deadlines are already insanely tight. For example, I’ve had 2 large product launches around the same time and delays/changes from R&D caused all of the marketing content creation to be backloaded onto me at the same time (I have a Gantt chart to prove it). Did I mention I’ve only been here just under 3 months?
Today, it was a one hour call about getting a shot list together for socials/press for one of the new releases. I humoured him, but won’t from now on. Nope boss man, gonna have to schedule a meeting to talk about that one. I have other priorities today unless you want me to drop what was an urgent call last week?
It happens to my coworkers too. Meetings never happen when they’re supposed to because he calls out of the blue and hoards you for at least 30 min. Our poor photographer has to do a reshoot because the boss changed his mind drastically on what he wants for a different product shoot, which is now also pushing back the object of discussion from our call just 2 hours before.
I tried to be understanding when I first started and he called for clarification after I sent a message since he has dyslexia, but he seemingly cannot function unless whatever he’s worrying about is resolved immediately. I’ve told them how we treat timelines needs to change, which is where 99% of the stress comes from because I had no time to plan and brainstorm. But adding more to my already full plate, always at the last minute and “urgent”, might just be my last straw this week.
And, a side note, he is always insanely opinionated on copy. It’s freaky. I suggested that us “claiming” something sounds like we’re skeptical ourselves and he went on a rant about the B2B audience being skeptical and how it actually appeals to them and he can explain the psychology more if I want. Nope, whatever do what you gotta my friend. These things do not matter in the grand scheme of the world, and even our marketing.