Found a simple trick for asking my boss questions without sounding dumb

My first real job was at a small warehouse here in Portland, and I kept running into this problem where I'd get stuck on something, ask my supervisor a question, and totally blank on what I actually needed to know. He'd give me this look like 'why are you asking me this' and I'd walk away more confused. After about a week of this I tried something different. I started writing down my question and then adding one sentence about what I'd already tried to fix it myself. Like 'the scanner wont read this pallet tag and I already replaced the battery and restarted it.' That one little change made a huge difference. My boss actually started giving me real answers instead of just telling me to figure it out. Has anyone else found a good way to ask for help without coming across like you have no clue?

2 comments

2 Comments

patkelly27d ago

Not me, but my buddy Mike had the same problem at his first IT job. He started doing this thing where he'd ask his boss "hey, can you show me the right way to do this?" instead of "how do I do this?" lol. Said it made his boss feel like a mentor instead of just being pestered. That little wording change saved his reputation more than once. I think there's something to making it sound like you want to learn rather than just need an answer handed to you.

jake_dixon27d ago

Worked great until @patkelly’s buddy had to ask how to tie his shoes.