So I walked into the office that morning knowing this new boss was gonna be trouble. Heard the stories, saw the emails – total ass. Just knew he’d try something at this first meeting. My palms were kinda sweaty, NGL. Went straight to the bathroom, splashed cold water on my face. Stared at myself in the mirror. Told myself: “Don’t let him see you sweat. Don’t snap back. Just get through this.”
The Setup Phase
Grabbed my notebook, not the laptop. Didn’t wanna hide behind a screen. Purposefully showed up two minutes late – not enough to piss him off proper, but enough that he saw I wasn’t tripping over myself to please. Room was all quiet when I walked in. He was already at the head of the table, looking smug. I just nodded. “Morning.” Sat right across from him. Made direct eye contact. Didn’t smile.
He starts talking. All buzzwords, chest puffed out like a damn pigeon. Starts asking rapid-fire questions, clearly trying to catch someone off guard. My turn comes. He leans forward, all condescending. “And what exactly do YOU bring to the table?” Classic power play. I took a slow breath.
What Actually Worked
Here’s the play-by-play of how I handled his crap:
- Stayed stupidly calm: When he interrupted me mid-sentence (twice!), I just paused. Didn’t flinch. Waited for him to finish his little rant. Then quietly said, “As I was saying…” Kept my voice flat.
- Brief. Boring. Blunt.: Answered his crap questions short and direct. No fluff. No trying to be clever. Just gave the facts. Dry like toast. Took the fun out of his interrogation.
- Let him ramble: When he went off on some corporate gibberish tangent, I just went uh huh… yeah… okay. Tapped my pen once on the notebook. Looked slightly impatient (but not disrespectful). He noticed and wrapped up quicker.
- Pushed back once, quietly: He gave me some ridiculous deadline. Instead of arguing, I said real steady, “That timeline feels ambitious. Walk me through how we hit it?” Made HIM justify the crazy. He backtracked fast.
- Zero warmth, total professionalism: Ended with a polite but dead-eyed “Appreciate the clarification” instead of “Great meeting!” or any fake niceness.
The Aftermath
Left the room feeling like I’d wrestled a bear. Was shaking a little once the door closed. Drank two coffees back-to-back. But here’s the weird part:
- He hasn’t messaged me directly since.
- He gave my actual project plan the green light WITHOUT changes.
- Caught him kinda side-eyeing me in the hall later. Didn’t look smug anymore. Looked wary.
Look, this guy’s still a prick. No doubt. But showing him immediately that:
- I won’t cower
- I won’t get baited into drama
- I communicate on MY terms (calm, direct, slightly bored)
…changed the game. He wanted a reaction. He wanted fear or anger. I gave him nothing to work with except a wall of quiet competence. Seems like he’s decided picking on me first isn’t worth the effort. For now. We’ll see. But round one? Didn’t lose. Call that a win.