[joseyposie]

my district mgr came to me and said i was being bossy i told him i didn't realize i was. it takes me 4 hrs everyday i work to straighten jewelry cases and do mgr duties as well as mine since our mgr left us. our job has set standards of where stuff should be and never moved just replaced with the same stuff in the same place . well i have other assoc. moving stuffand leaving stuff messy. also there is no one to guide them so i am guiding them till we have a mgr. what would u do to change the district mgr idea of you. my friend said to just be quiet while he is there and to be scarce. what would u do?

[lindya]

I wouldn't go slinking into a corner just yet. This situation could be more positive than you think. What does he mean by "bossy"? A lot of the best managers are bossy by nature, they've just learned to reign in the more negative aspects of "bossiness" in order to become better at their job.

Maybe you should let this district manager know that at the moment there are certain managerial tasks you've had to take on in order to keep the department running efficiently, but that you're alarmed to hear that yourself described as bossy. Ask him if it might be an idea for you to go on a short managerial training course, as you're keen to improve your people-management skills.

[SoleMate]

Ask the district manager what you can do to be most helpful to the organization in the absence of the manager. Then do it!

It's great to keep the displays neat, etc., but if he is hearing complaints, then yes, there is a problem. It is not really appropriate for you to direct colleagues as if they reported to you. Even if what you are asking for is a good idea, if you command action before you have gotten buy-in, there will be pushback and strife. A true leader can get people to go with the program without ever bossing them around, and it takes years of experience to learn this skill. Even in the military, officers are trained NEVER to give an order unless they now beforehand that it will be obeyed. Nobody can be truly controlled, not even prison inmates, so just give up the CONTROL ideas right now.

Why not ASK your coworkers how they feel about maintaining the displays? And tell them your own ideas, then come up with a joint plan that EVERYBODY buys into. It will be a lot less stress on you. And if all your coworkers are completely impossible, then just resign yourself to them doing their thing, and you doing yours, which may involve cleaning up after them.