This is a very difficult but annoying subject and no doubt many of you have faced this.

Does your boss disappear without notice? Does your boss leave the office without telling you?

My boss has quite literally vanished this morning and it's rather embarrassing as I cannot inform others of his whereabouts.

I just wondered how on earth you manage someone like this who just roams from building to building, meeting to meeting, when there is nothing concrete in the diary until later in the day.

Being new is difficult enough without having to come up with all the answers. Maybe employers should provide us with a crystal ball as part of the many props we need to do our job.

Gee

Put a notice up near your desk letting everyone know that the ESP band on Citrix (or whatever you use!) is out of order but that normal service will resume when the little man gets back (i.e. your missing boss!)

Jess

Ha! We found him, in another building, in another meeting. He just forgot to put it in his diary.

You mean he didn't come by and say, Gee, I'm off to that meeting, should be back around xx. At which point you could have checked the diary (which you already know well anyway) and query the meeting that's not there.

Temped last year in a major financial institution and the boss I worked for disappeared one day and of course the big boss rang - the one who when he did, you asked how high and to where, looking for him. No idea where he was but eventually found him, on our floor level, in a mini meeting with some other folk - he was using a quiet corner to have an informal chat. Afterwards, I asked him if he could please let me know where he was so that I was never put in the embarrassing situation again of not knowing where he was when big boss called. He didn't do it again as long as I was there. He knew I was furious.

Jackie, Peer Moderator
www.iqps.org

Well jackie I shall be having a word when he reappears this afternoon. You can imagine how I felt being the newbie!

My boss now always tells me when she's off out or to a meeting but I've had the disappearing ones and it is so frustrating when you don't know where they are, esp. when someone (higher up?!) is after them.

I've always let it be known that "their office" ie Mr Vanishing Act (and me) will appear much more professional if we know where we are. After all, they wouldn't want to not know if you were off somewhere without telling them, would they?

Totally Gem, that's exactly my point.

Well as you can imagine, my boss was very apologetic and knew he had the meeting in his head not his diary. I will have to train him better but I'm still the newbie so have to tread carefully.

My boss did that when I was new in the job. I think he was testing me. I tracked him down through our "EA network". He was in an impromptu meeting on another floor with some folks from the previous meeting. Now, he swears I paid his dentist to implant a GPS tracking device in his fillings. I always know where he is, even when he is traveling. I am blessed that we work together well and he lets me control his calendar most of the time. Once he saw that when I schedule his time, he really is more productive, I was pretty much in control:) It just takes time.

Well test or not, I ain't really in the mood for playing games. Not my style but I do know what you mean.

I would say the first 3 - 6 mos in the role are a dance. You are both figuring out what each other are made of and how you work best together. Give it time. Be positive. If it is meant to work out, it will. Hey, what's that saying, "Don't sweat the small stuff, because it's all small stuff":)