It's odd how similar actions can have drastically different effects. At one particularly bad job (my only bad job?) fresh out of college I had a boss who took a

It's odd how similar actions can have drastically different effects. At one particularly bad job (my only bad job?) fresh out of college I had a boss who took a special interest in me and hounded me non-stop. Earnestly trying to address his concerns never seemed to improve the situation...what finally did it was when, after months of prodding, I completely lost my cool and snapped back: "This is bullshit, Larry!" A pretty similar act of insubordination with drastically different results. My situation improved after that for the remainder of my time in the group.