What would a smart person say to a supervisor when he or she says, “Thanks for your hard work”?

2bebetter
5 min readDec 17, 2023

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It is very difficult to get along with a supervisor. You have to be thorough in every aspect, or else you will offend him if you are not careful.

When you are a supervisor, you are almost always dealing with your true self, meaning that you can see what kind of person he is.

If he’s a generous person, that’s fine, but if he’s a very sensitive and mean person, it’s very difficult to get along with him.

How would a smart person respond to a supervisor’s “You’ve been working hard”? Don’t say it’s fine.

Photo by Redd F on Unsplash

What not to say

Don’t say it’s not hard work, but it should be.

If you answer this way, it will erase the effort you’ve made, and people will discount your efforts and think that you’ve done it easily.

Supervisors will think, “Well, you said you didn’t work hard, so I have nothing to be polite about, you should do it, why should I miss you? I’m not going to be able to do what you need to do.” This is not an appropriate response.

Some people will be polite and say,

“You work harder,” which is also inappropriate. “Work harder” is a word of condolence that only supervisors can use for their subordinates or seniors, and it is not up to the subordinates to determine whether the supervisor is working hard or not.

If the subordinate to the supervisor said “hard”, most supervisors will be unhappy, even if some supervisors will not show, but also in the heart of the thought: “I worked hard, then you do this subordinate in what to do?

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Highly Emotional Answers

Let’s discuss this in 2 scenarios, different scenarios are answered in different ways.

Just a small favor

If it’s just a small favor, this sentence is just polite, you can reply to him, “xx you are busy first, you can call me anytime!

Not directly reply to his thanks, because it is not a big deal, but to show that you are willing to help him at any time to complete trivial things.

2. You accomplished something great

If you really have a lot of credit, the supervisor said so is to show good, want to pull people over.

You can answer:

“Thank you for your concern, with you I learned a lot of things, this hard nothing, if there is not good place, I hope you point out more.

Express modesty and positivity.

“Thank you for your concern, there are really a lot of tasks in the past two days, my ability is not enough, but my attitude is enough, I worked overtime until 2:00 am yesterday.”

Point out your own workload, so that the shift was not in vain.

“Thank you for your concern, hard work is hard, but with you I have a high morale, and I’m very happy! It’s worth it to have these words from my supervisor, I will continue to work hard in the future.”

I will continue to work hard in the future.” I showed my attitude of continuing to work hard and even gave my supervisor a compliment.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Different replies for different supervisors

If you want to be more clever, you can respond differently to the supervisor’s personality:

If the supervisor is a standard type, then you can answer:

“Thank you for your concern, in fact, I have learned a lot of things in the process of doing this thing, if there are areas that are not good enough, I hope that the supervisor can be criticized and corrected. I hope the supervisor can criticize and correct me if I am not doing well enough.“

If you are a strict supervisor, then you can answer:

“Thank you for your concern, this hard work is really nothing, I am worried that the work is not done well, afraid that you are not satisfied.”

If the supervisor is a moderate, friend type, then you can answer:

“Supervisor, do you want to treat us to a big meal?”

Joking around like this will make the relationship even closer, and if the supervisor does treat us, we can all have a good time together.

However, if the supervisor is a mean person, don’t say that, because he or she will feel that you are forcing him or her to buy a meal.

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There are so many rules in the workplace, but fortunately, many excellent writers have written books on the workplace, so those who want to learn won’t be left without a place to learn.

If you don’t know much about ethics in the workplace, you should take the time to learn, so as not to lose out.

Shirasakura used to say, “Thank you” to her peers. I thought it was a kind word, but my supervisor at the time told me that I shouldn’t have said it.

If you make things easier, your life will be smoother, but if you’re so good that your boss has to respect you, you may not have to take care of these little things.

But knowing how to behave is not just for your own benefit, it’s also about not letting others be offended by our behavior, or else you’ll have to pay back, and someone will come along to mess with you.

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