My "I'm fine" answer at work backfired big time last Tuesday

I told my boss I was fine with taking on two extra projects because I didn't want to seem weak. Then I ended up working until 11pm three nights in a row and snapped at my roommate over dirty dishes. The difference between pretending I was okay and actually setting a boundary was huge. Has anyone else had a moment where saying you're fine made things worse?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray35612d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, I read something similar! It was about emotional labor and how we're taught to just absorb stuff at work instead of speaking up. That whole "keep your head down" thing just builds up until you explode over something dumb like dishes.

corablack11d ago

My friend Jenna did this exact thing at her old job. She kept saying she was fine with covering for people who called in sick until she was working six days a week. Then one night she came home and the neighbor's dog was barking and she just lost it completely. She screamed at the poor dog through the wall for like ten minutes. Her roommate filmed it and showed her later and she was so embarrassed she quit that job two weeks later.

charlescraig12d ago

Read this thing from a therapist online. Said people who always say "I'm fine" are just building a bomb that goes off later. Sounds about right from what happened to you.

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