Bosses are OK, despite odd requests

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CHICAGO, April 11 (UPI) -- U.S. bosses make some odd requests but most workers give them top marks anyway, a survey released Thursday by CareerBuilder indicated.

Bosses are prone to asking employees to perform tasks that are not in job descriptions, the survey found.

Among the off-the-page requests, employees said they were asked to be ready to delete all computer files at a moment's notice, come up with a science project for the boss' daughter and be a surrogate mother for the boss.

Respondents said bosses have asked their employees to buy illegal drugs for them, bail out co-workers from jail and post favorable comments about them online.

Bosses have asked to borrow money. One respondent said his boss wanted him to fire the boss' brother. Another said cited a boss' request to remove stitches. And another said the boss had requested the employee clip the boss' dog's nails.

Nonetheless, CareerBuilder reported 66 percent of workers in the survey gave their bosses an A or a B grade -- 26 percent awarding their bosses an A and 40 percent a B.

A fifth of U.S. workers indicated the boss deserved a C, which is considered average. Nine percent gave the boss a D and 6 percent indicated the boss flunked outright, awarding an F.

"The study shows the majority of workers have a good relationship with their bosses, where they feel supported and valued," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.

However, "if your boss is asking you to do something outside of your scope of work responsibilities, it's important to have open communications around what is appropriate," Haefner said.

CareerBuilder said the survey was conducted by Harris Interactive and included 3,690 responses received from Feb. 11 to March 6. The margin of error of was pegged at 1.6 percentage points, CareerBuilder said.