No Good Deed

So, I did something today that seemed to work well. Everyone was very happy about it. Everyone except my boss. I didn't think it was a particularly big or interesting thing, just nice and useful, so I forgot to mention it to him. That was apparently a big problem, because apparently it as a Big Thing, and I should run Big Things past my boss first.

Fair enough, I guess. I just didn't think it was such a Big Thing.

So, I came back from doing this nice thing, which I think worked well, feeling tired but victorious - only to have my boss act as if I had done something horrible, verging on reprehensible. All because I had forgotten to mention it to him, and all because I didn't think it was such a Big Thing.

But, I have to admit that I often don't mention things to my boss, because I don't know which of the things I'll mention will turn out to be a Big Thing, that somehow required something I didn't know I was supposed to do. And, then, I'm made to feel like a moron because I didn't know it was a Big Thing and therefore required this, that and the other.

I sometimes feel the only way I can win, in my job, is to not tell anyone anything and hope they don't notice what I'm doing. My clients like what I do, and I like to think that's a Good Thing. I just don't think any of it is a Big Thing.