'My lady boss is a big problem'

Dear Tita,

I am working with a big company here in Bacolod. Our lady manager Mrs. Reyes (not her real name), has been good to me and has given me the opportunity to succeed in my career. I have struggled a lot just to finish my college course and it took me a long time to find work.

Luckily a friend of mine who knew about an opening in this company, helped me. I know I can do the job as I am a workaholic and my performance rating is high. For the past three years, I worked hard to prove myself. My lady boss said she was impressed with my ability and has given good reports about me to our head office in Makati.

I am hopeful that I will be promoted soon as I am helping my parents and my younger sister, who is now a college freshman. However, recently, I began to discover some things which have been bothering me. I noticed that a certain guy has been calling Mrs. Reyes a lot. Sometimes he comes to the office and their body language tells me that there is something going on.

He is good-looking and charming and makes her laugh a lot. She is often out of the office and I suspect they are together. Whenever she goes out, she tells me that if anyone looks for her, she is with a client.

There are so many things pending in the office that need her attention, but she doesn't seem to have the time to attend to them. She keeps instructing me to take care of these things but I am worried because it sometimes involves decision making which I don't think I am qualified (or authorized) to do. This is her job.

Our head office has been calling our attention to some mistakes, which they now blame on me. But the truth of the matter is that she is neglecting her work and we are all affected.

Her husband is such a good man that I feel sorry for him. He is very kind to us and treats us to snacks whenever he comes to the office. The poor man has no inkling of what is going on. He loves his wife very much and is so proud of her accomplishments. He keeps telling us how lucky he is to have such a perfect wife. I feel like a traitor when he calls the office looking for her because I have to lie to him. Even my co-workers have noticed what is happening. I am so worried about the outcome. I know someone will get hurt and I might be involved in this mess. I have been lying to the head office and to Mrs. Reyes' husband. If the whole thing explodes, I might be blamed for covering up for her. I could even lose my job! Please advise me what to do. I can't talk to Mrs. Reyes about this as she is my boss and I am just her assistant. What should I do?

WORRIED EMPLOYEE

Dear Worried Employee,

This certainly is a dicey situation. You can not talk to your boss about her private affairs but you could surely talk to her about the problems in the office. She should be informed that the head office is complaining about the performance of the branch here. Ask her what should be done. I'm sure she is astute enough to know that she has to wake up before this thing explodes in her face. Sometimes people who are madly in love, are so blinded by their emotions that they are unaware of what's happening. Hopefully, you can help her realize how precarious things are before it's too late. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for a job opening elsewhere. While you have done nothing wrong, it's best to be prepared for the worse.

TITA

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