I was eating at a restaurant when I overheard this woman complaining about her boss to a friend. After ranting, her friend said, “Suck it up, you’re lucky to have a job.”

After hearing this conversation, I realized that sometimes, no matter how nice and polite you are; your boss just doesn’t care. After all your effort, he can’t even spare you a smile or even a half-hearted “good job.”
It’s disheartening and demoralizing to work for someone like that.

So what can you do?

Find out if it’s something you did (or are still doing).

Employee Screw-Ups and Attitudes that Never Fail to Annoy the Boss:

• Yelling “Finally” sarcastically after the announcement of a bonus, new perk or any positive change that you’ve been waiting for a long time.
• Maybe you don’t yell “Finally!” but do you tell colleagues you’d rather get a check in lieu of whatever nice gesture the company is providing?
• You oversold yourself during the interview—and now you’re not living up to your promise.
• You’re a whiner.
• You’re a pseudo-mentee, asking for advice, when really you’re just looking for a chance to air out your grievances in life.
• Mistaking the boss for your sweet and gullible relative who’ll believe any excuse you give.

Are you guilty of doing any of these things? Change that and your boss’s perception of you will soon change.
If you’re not guilty of any of the behaviors listed above, how can you confirm if your boss hates you?

Read on.

Symptoms of Boss Hate and the Prescribed Solution:

Your boss constantly avoids you.

Does your boss often pretend he’s busy when you’re trying to ask him something? How do you talk to a person who doesn’t want to talk to you?

March into his office when he’s alone, walk confidently and show him you have something urgent to discuss. Say, “I know you’re busy but I’ve noticed we’re having trouble communicating. I really value your opinion and guidance in my work.” Saying this tells him you know what he’s doing but at the same time you’re not accusing him of anything. Follow that with some flattery then ask him for feedback on your work. That should put you back in his good graces again.

He’s decreasing your responsibilities or refusing to give you more work.

Who wouldn’t like a decreased workload, right? Well what if your workload decreases ’til there’s nothing left?
Managers slowly decrease workload of employees if they’re about to get fired or their work quality is poor. When this happens, evaluate yourself honestly and see if there’s anything you can do to gain your boss’s confidence. Tired of menial, repetitive work? Your boss is just not that confident with your abilities yet. To solve that, compile a list of your skills and achievements into a personal brag book and then use it to negotiate more tasks with your boss.

Lack of feedback and nonexistent performance reviews.

What’s worse than a boss who constantly criticizes your work? A boss who doesn’t give any feedback .
Luckily, the solution to this is simple. Email your boss and tell him you want to improve your performance and would love to know what he thinks of your work.

And if he doesn’t respond, at least you have an email proving you tried to reach out. That would come in handy when your boss suddenly sacks you for mediocre performance.