The first time I said I couldn’t take on extra work, the temperature in the room noticeably dropped. Nothing dramatic happened, but the vibe changed. There were fewer asks, fewer check-ins, a sense that I’d violated an unspoken rule. It made me question whether boundaries are actually respected here or just tolerated until they’re inconvenient. I know I can’t say yes to everything forever, but I also don’t want to damage my reputation. Do boundaries really hurt you in this profession, or is that fear bigger than the reality?
Boundaries exist if you work for good people. I’m sorry that happened
Like all things in this profession, it depends. I said no to work at one point early in my career and had it raised later at my yearly review. But at the time, I didn’t have a good check on how busy the rest of the group/office was. Now I try to keep tabs on others and respond with that info in mind. If others are slow, passing the work to someone else makes sense, but if you’re slower than your peers, saying no isn’t a good look. Our group has boundaries and you can say no to work but it’s important to understand your work environment.
Something else to keep in mind is if whomever is offering you work is specifically looking to work with you. If that’s the case, saying no can be understood as a rejection of that opportunity. If you can, ask questions about what they’re asking of you and make a compromise - “I’d be happy to but need to clear X, Y, Z off my plate that’s due tomorrow first.”
It totally depends. If you said no because you didn’t want to work more than 40 hours in a week (not saying you did, hypothetically though) then yes I’d be pissed. If you’re already billing 200 hours a month then it’s probably okay unless the rest of the group is billing 250+ hours. It’s okay to have boundaries but those boundaries have to be realistic with your comp. and practice.
Based on their reaction, whether accurate or not, they likely think that you should or could be doing more.
It depends how many hours you were billing when you said no? Well above 200, then maybe okay, depending on the pace of the group, but under, give me a break.
This is an insane take.
The whole concept of having boundaries and pushing back on work didn't even really exist until like 15 years ago.
Many folks who have been in the game for awhile bristle at the notion that someone would enter a field that's known for long hours and then push back. I would never have done that, because that's what I signed up for, and that's what the money's for.
I can't believe you used ai to write a fishbowl post