For crap's sake

[holly_evolving]

If the question is, "how can I get this report today?"
And the answer is, "you can't get the report today."
Your reply should not be, "but how can I get this report today?"

It will make me angry, and I will wish harm upon you.

Comments

[cullyn.livejournal.com]

Ack, you sound like my Director. You see they were sneaky; didn't ask "when" or "if", they asked "how". It's "boss-speak", a very acquired tongue =P. I get this stuff all day and I haven't killed a man yet. Now that's a miracle.

[holly-evolving.livejournal.com]

I don't stay upset for long...because the answer to "how can I?" is "you can't."

[wolf-nd-shadows.livejournal.com]

A lot of places work under the Scotty Principle: always overestimate the time a project needs so you can get it done early and look like a miracle worker. Because of this many people take up a Kirk stance of using charisma to get you to push it through faster so they can treat you like a miracle worker. I've actually used similar tactics in the past to get impossible tasks done.
the problem here is that the person obviously misjudged you and didn't realize you're not the type to play games.