For clarification, I did this with as much respect as I can muster. We are in the middle of a very busy budget season and I have regularly been working 10-12 hr days. We are down an fte. My boss knows how busy I have been, and what my important deadlines are, yet he called me today with a semi-meaningless project and said he looked forward to me getting it back to him shortly. As he was about to end the call, I told him to hold on and asked how he wanted me to manage my expectations. What other project with a tight deadline did he want me to drop in favor of this one? I ran through the list of everything I needed to get done and how long it would take, and then simply told him if I take this on, something else was not getting done. Am I the asshole here? Why do I feel like I am?