Did I overstep my boundaries by sharing my phone number and including my firm's name in e-mail signatures?

Question

Today, out of the blue my supervisor came to me and asked me to talk in private. I noticed he had a sticky note on his hand, it was my new phone number I had written down and had pasted to the board of other new mobile numbers from employees.

He told me that he had felt I was overstepping my boundaries, as an employee below him. To my surprise, where I thought I had posted my new phone number (a place where ALL employees could share their new updated contact number) was ACTUALLY where only the branch supervisors put their phone numbers. He believed I was trying to butt up and was trying to be like a person in a position higher than where I am currently.

He also brought up that I started to include our firm's name in the signature of my e-mails. He told me that both of these, from his perspective looked like I was overstepping my boundaries. Of course I did my best to make it clear to him that it was not my intention, and simply I explained the truth that I was just trying to give a proper flush format to my e-mails as an employee. And explained the phone number situation was a misunderstanding.

He also brought to my attention that there were other occurrences where he received that feeling but did not bring anything up specifically.

I feel as if he still believes I took those actions intentionally to overstep those boundaries, how do I make it up to him? Am I actually overstepping boundaries unintentionally? I don't know how to handle this situation.

I work in the United States in California. Originally I am from Vietnam, I don't know if I had violated some sort of custom.

Answer 1

Sounds like your boss has a problem.

To my surprise, where I thought I had posted my new phone number (a place where ALL employees could share their new updated contact number) was ACTUALLY where only where the branch supervisors put their phone numbers.

I'd have responded to this with a casual apology. "Sorry boss, I had no idea that was only for branch supervisors." Then consider it dealt with.

He also brought up that I started to include our firm's name in the signature of my e-mails.

This is just plain weird. Including your firm's name & your job title in signatures of emails is pretty much standard practice wherever I've worked. If it were me, I'd actively challenge him on this with something akin to the following:

Really? This has been standard practice anywhere else I've worked, and I see this as providing transparency and clarity to whoever I'm emailing. I will of course remove it, but this is new to me. Could you also forward on the email policy so I can check there's no other points I'm unintentionally violating?

Beyond that, let the whole thing drop, and don't over-apologise at all - that makes it worse. There's no "making it up to him", you haven't done anything wrong. At best this is just a misunderstanding that's now cleared up.

Answer 2

You've apologized and understood the expectations of your manager, so all you can do going forwards is concentrate on your job. If in doubt about future decisions like this, just do the same as your co-workers.

Over time, you'll get a better feeling of what's appropriate and what's not.

Try not to worry about it too much.

Answer 3

Both of these things seem weird to me.

1. Why on earth is there a bulletin board with a bunch of phone numbers tacked to it?
   You have a company email system (I assume, since you mention email signature) phone numbers can be assigned as part of each employees profile.
   My mobile number hasn't changed in probably ten years, it is hard for me to see why you'd have a board full of them. (maybe this is just because of the norm I'm used to, living in the USA?)

2. Company name has been required in email signatures everywhere I've worked for a while, along with first and last name.

Don't worry about it, you have apologized... just one thing left to do:

Look at the email signatures of people at your level. Create a new one for yourself based on them. Send it to your boss with a quick:

I've looked at other peoples signatures and I think this is what I should be using
can you verify this is correct?'

While you don't really owe him this, it shows a spirit of trying to do the right thing.

Answer 4

how do I make it up to him?

I wouldn't even bother. This guy clearly likes to feel like he's in power and to be above others. If he's picking up these little things as a threat or you trying to overstep your boundaries then he is clearly paranoid and has an issue with that.

Am I actually overstepping boundaries unintentionally?

Not at all, you made an honest mistake that you apologised for. It's not as if the board says "Supervisors numbers" otherwise you wouldn't have done it.

As for having your company in your email signature, in my area/country this is normal. It makes the company look professional and also your emails look more professional and neat. If he's saying this is overstepping boundaries you really want to have a think about what the future at this company holds...

Answer 5

He also brought to my attention that there were other occurrences where he received that feeling but did not bring anything up specifically.

This is why you feel he still believes strange things about you, and this is also why you don't know how to handle the situation.

He should not have confronted you with vague generalities. He should ONLY have raised specific occurrences with you. He did bring up two specifics, but he should have left it at that, not implied there were more without naming them.

In the moment when he was bringing up that there were "other instances," you should have politely and interestedly cut in with, "Could you please give me an example of these other instances?" Chances are that he'd say he doesn't remember offhand. Then you would say, still interested, "I'd like to understand this fully. Can you think what else may have given you that impression?"

Take up specifics only. No one can do anything about vague "feelings." Only about specific occurrences.

This is actually a fundamental rule regarding JUSTICE, which applies equally well in the workplace as it does in the broader society.

Now that the conversation has passed, I would skip it. But if you ever are having a "heart-to-heart" talk with him, you might ask to better understand where this came from. In the mean time, just go on with your job, and be sure to get the actual specifics for any discipline or criticism being made of you.

Answer 6

I don't know how to handle this situation.

You already have, you apologised for your misunderstanding.

Now shrug it off, keep smiling and be more careful. Don't give him any more ammunition and don't allow yourself to get frustrated or feel threatened trying to figure out what his problem is.

You're a minority, expect things like this to happen from time to time. You just shrug them off and watch your back.

Answer 7

Your boss just doesn't like you. Maybe it is because you are from Vietnam. Maybe his grandparent told terribles histories about Vietnamese people when your boss was a child and a image of an evil Vietnamese is written in the depths of his subconscience. Who knows?

Your boss is thinking and acting irrationally. Human beings, even when they are educated, can act irrationally when they face things or persons they don't like (or things or persons they like too much). There is not much you can do. He is the problem not you.

Answer 8

You overstepped your boundaries.

The boundaries exist, even if they weren't communicated to you. The boundaries may only be in your boss's head, and nowhere else. Even still, they exist.

I understand, overstepping the boundaries was an accident. Or, actually, multiple accidents. That's fine. I've overstepped boundaries before, and been instantly forgiven. I've had other people overstep boundaries before, and instantly forgiven them. Sometimes there's no way to avoid that, because the boundaries may not always be clear. Such events can be unavoidable.

However, some boundaries have been clarified for you. So, at this point, crossing those boundaries is now much more avoidable than before.

If you want to stay on your boss's good side, try to comply and even honor what he desires. He is unlikely to recommend you for promotion, or a raise, if he's viewing you as a threat or has any other reason to be displeased with the things you do.

Other posted answers seem to suggest your boss is erratically non-sensible. They may be right about that. (The whole E-Mail signature thing does seem weird about your boss, from my perspective. But that opinion might heavily reflect the culture I'm a part of.) Even if his perspectives are a bit off-kilter, it looks like he has some amount of faith in you. After all, he let you know how you're displeasing him. If he really had no hope for you, he might have just kept silent while he moved against you, in an attempt to simply terminate your job. I've certainly read some horror stories about bosses doing things like that.

Instead, your boss is basically saying, "Cut it out. Stop doing these types of things."

So, your boss is communicating with you. Not only did he let you know some objectionable actions, but he explained why he was concerned about those actions. He has taken the time to reach out to you, hoping that you will modify the specific type of behavior that he has an issue with. That may be a very good sign.

Good, as in, you might not need to worry too much that your job is in immediate jeopardy. Maybe keeping him happy will require that you are always needing to be extra careful. Or, maybe he will be content after a bit of time, once you've regained his trust.

You should put a bit of thought into whether you want to remain under his careful eye, which has currently been disapproving of you, or if you may flourish better under a different boss (which may mean transferring to another department within your company, or finding a new employer). I'm being a bit un-specific about what your best course of action is, because there are multiple ways that things could go well or poorly. So, I've just been pointing out some things that you can think about as you make some decisions.