Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes people give you a task they know you will fail. That is because they want you to fail.

Sometimes we are all dysfunctional. In government and business and everything else, sometimes, some persons give tasks to other persons while wanting them to fail.

The giver of the impossible task puts the failure of the worker in their back pocket. Sometime in the future, the giver of the impossible task pulls this failure out of their back pocket and proclaims, “Oh, you’re so good? What about that time you failed me? Let me remind you!”

Of course this is immature and childish. I could use many more negative adjectives to describe this behavior. It exist. Recognize it.

What do you do if you are the recipient of the impossible task? Several options:

1 Play along with the gag.

2 Quit the relationship

3 Be candid and say something like, “Excuse me. Do you expect me to be able to do the impossible? Is there something happening here that you want me to know? Let’s remove the veils and have an open discussion.”

I like #3, but it often leads to, “You’re fired.”