10 phrases you can't say to your boss

Being honest is the best strategy for behavior at work. However, there are exceptions to any rule, and you need to understand where the insidiously thin line between rational sincerity and its evil antagonist — shameless utter frankness. 

"It's important to be careful with what you say to your boss, as even the slightest slip can cost you your career," says Ryan Kahn, founder of HR company The Hired Group.

"It's a great practice to take a short pause before giving out something like that, which you may regret later. And if you think that later you may regret what you said — most likely, it will be so. It's better to wait a little while until your thoughts are formulated to such an extent that they will be framed in an acceptable form and endowed with a clear meaning," says Lynn Taylor, an expert in the field of HR. 

But in addition to the quite obvious ones — such as ambiguous jokes and obscene insults — there are some other phrases that you should not say to your boss. Here they are: 

Bravo, excellent work: you have thoroughly read the service instructions, read the contract 14 times and are ready to fight them off from any treacherous attempts to change the sacred list of your duties. But if you are asked to help with something, and you also have enough working time for this, with such a phrase you will make it clear to the boss that you only care about your personal success, and you just don't care about the results of the team's work.

Of course, it is possible that you are just trying to be funny and make funny jokes, which is certainly commendable. However, a sense of humor is a very relative thing, and this phrase in any case will expose you as not too professional an employee.

Sometimes you just need to help your colleagues from other departments in something, without asking yourself what exactly you will get for it. Bosses rarely treat well those who do not know how to play in a team, and your help will certainly not go unnoticed.

You should never threaten your boss with your dismissal. Firstly, it will rudely demonstrate your lack of professionalism, and secondly, your supervisor will understand that you are extremely unreliable as an employee.

No one likes know-it-alls and upstarts (even themselves). If you have encountered a similar situation at one of your previous jobs and you have an idea about how you can cope with the current task, please do without formulations bordering on reproachful comparisons.

Oh, this Valera, it's always because of him that everything is wrong with you, but you are well done, you work perfectly. How do you think yourself: does it often happen that your work is performed poorly solely because of the mistakes of other employees? Everyone can make a mistake, but shifting the blame to others is an extremely slippery slope. At the same time, if you admit your mistake and let the boss know that you have realized everything and are ready to correct yourself, this will put you in an extremely favorable light.

Telling the boss nasty things about colleagues is at least not very polite. In addition, the manager may think, and are you not throwing mud at him while he is at a business meeting? In any case, it is better to refrain from discussing colleagues with the boss.

"Yes, I will reach the CEO!" - you shout mentally and shake an imaginary fist in a fit of quite real anger. In fact, this is a situation with zero probability of winning, except in cases when they want to illegally dismiss you or deprive you of the money owed to you. By appealing to higher-level bosses, you will most often only anger your supervisor and spoil relations with him.

A supervisor-subordinate relationship can sometimes turn into a real friendship, but sharing the details of your personal life at work is not a good idea. Even the walls have ears, and do you need to create an extra reason for slippery rumors?

The neighbor's grass is always greener. If what is happening in the team does not turn into blatant favoritism, it is better to focus on your own career. And stop being nervous about anything already.