Rachel's sage advice

I've been having some difficulty at work with a guy I'll call E. He seems to think he's my boss and is trying to get me to do things that my actual boss and I are refusing to do. It is causing a lot of tension and stress in my life, and I tend to come home tired and discouraged at the end of the day.

Yesterday Rachel asked me what was the matter, and I gave her an abbreviated version. Her advice:

"Do you have the Solutions Wheel in your head, Mommy?"
Drew replied, "I think they should have the Solutions Wheel at work."

Rachel continued:
"I think you need to go to work and say, 'E, if you keep spoiling my life I'm gonna ignore you. But if you don't want me to do that, you've gotta stop spoiling my life and do what I want you to do.'"

Then she added,

"'E, I think whatever you say or not, I don't think you should make me do all this. You're not my boss. Peter's my boss.' And then you should go back to your desk and finish your work. I don't want Peter to know you were getting distracted talking to E."

What's causing the tension is E's insistence that I fill out paperwork that is time-consuming and doesn't serve any purpose except to cede power.

"You know what I would say?" Rachel said. "You should only answer some of the questions, and maybe E will change his mind and maybe you'll be able to work things out."

"That's excellent advice," Drew said. "I think we should have preschoolers running things!"

"Well, I'm not old enough to be a president," Rachel cautioned. "Remember, I'm not a grownup. I'm not the President and I'm not going to take Mommy's place for a long, long time."

Rachel ROCKS!!