Dealing with a boss who's being petty?

[BakedSardine]

Just ranting, but curious what you guys think.

Long story short, I'll say that I have a good relationship with my boss (actually my Director, who my manager reports to) in that we've never had any real issues, I really never bother him with BS and get my work done. I do know he plays favorites and thinks another manager at the same level as me is "indispensable" which I think is based on nothing other than her good looks, but that's neither here nor there.

So here's the situation. After some lobbying several years ago, I lobbied for an iPhone to replace my Blackberry, which was a the standard work phone at the time - my reason for this should be obvious, as the Blackberry was useless for everything other than checking text emails. He finally approved it and the iPhone is now the standard issue phone for the company. Being an early adopter, I still have the iPhone 4S (64GB) while everyone else pretty much has the 5c or 5S depending on when they upgraded.

My phone was up for renewal in January and knowing the iPhone 6 was coming out, I held off on my upgrade until that became an option. So it is now available on our internal procurement system and we have two options - a 16GB 5S and the a 64GB iPhone 6 (there is also the 6 Plus, but I don't need or want that). The only difference is that there is a $100 difference in cost to our cost center between the two models.

2 weeks after I submitted the request, I had my 1 on 1 with him and he said "I'm having my admin look into why they don't offer the 5S in 64GB anymore." Ok, whatever, I told him at that meeting, if it was the $100 difference he was concerned about, I was fine eating that cost myself by not submitting my next $100 of mileage, or whatever. So that was now 2 weeks ago and I just emailed his admin for a status, as it has now been 4 weeks since I submitted my request (keep in mind I was eligible, but corporate policy, for a phone upgrade 10 months ago). Still awaiting a response.

I've even offered the olive branch by saying if it's not approved, don't order me the 16GB because I'll have to evaluate if I can even get by with that.

My assumption is that he's somehow not willing to approve it without making me twist in the wind for a while because he has an iPhone 5 and would not want a subordinate to have an iPhone 6 before he does. Well, I have a meeting with him in 2 weeks, so if it's not resolved by then, it will get resolved there!

/rant

 

[Albino Boo]

Hmm you are complaining that your company is not instantly spending $750 odd on a new phone when your current one works perfectly well. Its a phone and having a row over phone will not improve your career prospects. Complaining about not having a phone upgrade will not make your boss look petty, there is a significant danger that the reverse will be true.

 

[Galletea]

This doesn't sound especially petty to me. Businesses are always looking to cut costs and save money, and while you offering to take on the extra cost might seem like a fair trade off to you, that extra cost is still going to appear on the books before you can pay it back by not claiming on something else. So if there is a cheaper option the company is always going to be looking to go for that, and if your manager is subordinate to someone else, chances are he'll have a budget for his department and expenses will be questioned, and if he hasn't found the cheapest option, then it will be him that has to explain why the company is making unnecessary expenditures.

Adding to this that you have already delayed until the better phone has become an option I'm not surprised he wants to see if the older version is still available, after all, if you went for your upgrade as soon as it became available then he might well see it as you taking advantage of the system to get the better phone.

 

[Batou667]

As somebody who uses a phone that is capable of 1) phonecalls and 2) texts and doesn't even have a camera, I'm struggling to find any sympathy for you.

Still, the solution seems obvious: make sure your boss gets the same model phone as you do so he doesn't feel outdone. How you can engineer that situation is up to you. Perhaps "accidentally" mistake his phone for a biscuit and dunk it in your coffee during your next meeting?

 

[mad825]

I'm reading this rant and wondering why does this mobile phone need upgrading? Better still, the day I have an argument with my boss about a mobile phone is a day I'll be checking my privilege levels.

 

[BakedSardine]

I'm reading this rant and wondering why does this mobile phone need upgrading? Better still, the day I have an argument with my boss about a mobile phone is a day I'll be checking my privilege levels.

1) We have a regular upgrade schedule - every 2 years is corporate policy to keep technology current. I'm going on 3 years.
2) We are a over a $20B company.
3) I was just in a contracting meeting with this boss where he let a vendor delay and talk circles around something they were clearly violating in our contract (potentially worth millions of dollars to our company) and never flat out called them on it, yet he's wasting weeks questioning our procurement area on why we don't offer the 5C anymore (probably because it's only available in an 8GB model now). Makes me question his priorities.
4) I was very clear in my request that, currently having a 64GB phone, if they would only approve a 16GB model, to let me know so I could evaluate if I'd go through with the upgrade or just stick with what I have. A very easy "out" if he wants to deny it.

 

[BakedSardine]

I obviously misunderstood the question - I get it now. I sense he doesn't care what phone you use and probably has bigger fish to fry, like that vendor you mention. Try to corner him about it an inescapable situation, like a lift or the toilets. With some people you've just got to keep pushing them.

Ah, but see, that's my point. He's NOT addressing the vendors like he should, which is potentially costing us millions of dollars, and instead wasting time on how he can save $100 on my phone.

 

[Albino Boo]

I obviously misunderstood the question - I get it now. I sense he doesn't care what phone you use and probably has bigger fish to fry, like that vendor you mention. Try to corner him about it an inescapable situation, like a lift or the toilets. With some people you've just got to keep pushing them.

Ah, but see, that's my point. He's NOT addressing the vendors like he should, which is potentially costing us millions of dollars, and instead wasting time on how he can save $100 on my phone.

He can save even more without upgrading the phone. You want a new phone thats fine and dandy but you are not entitled to new phone because you want one. You have admitted to gaming the system to get get the latest model, having a row about it will not make your boss look petty, it will make you look petty. Just forget about the phone your career prospects will improve.

 

[BakedSardine]

I obviously misunderstood the question - I get it now. I sense he doesn't care what phone you use and probably has bigger fish to fry, like that vendor you mention. Try to corner him about it an inescapable situation, like a lift or the toilets. With some people you've just got to keep pushing them.

Ah, but see, that's my point. He's NOT addressing the vendors like he should, which is potentially costing us millions of dollars, and instead wasting time on how he can save $100 on my phone.

He can save even more without upgrading the phone. You want a new phone thats fine and dandy but you are not entitled to new phone because you want one. You have admitted to gaming the system to get get the latest model, having a row about it will not make your boss look petty, it will make you look petty. Just forget about the phone your career prospects will improve.

FYI phone was approved. It was not gaming the system - I could have gotten a phone in January for the same price. The only difference is that now it's an iPhone 6 and not a 5S.

 

[Albino Boo]

FYI phone was approved. It was not gaming the system - I could have gotten a phone in January for the same price. The only difference is that now it's an iPhone 6 and not a 5S.

You waited then 10 months, why not wait another 10 months

 

[f1r2a3n4k5]

It strikes me that if I was the Director going through my list of priorities, this would fall just about dead-last. Probably under "Organize my paperclips."

That's just how I see it. Cause approving the iPhone 6 is extra work. Checking to see if it can be approved is extra work. Seeing if it is acceptable to have an employee partially cover the costs of a non-approved phone seems like a tedious amount of regulation checking and extra work.

In all likelihood, he probably forgot. Or sent a couple emails and moved onto other more important things. And since you mentioned it DID get approved, I would say he likely wasn't being petty at all. But rather, putting in the proper requests in the proper channels and giving the situation time to shake out.