> My boss at this point understands that he's often putting me in a double or triple bind, but is obligated to do so and is never going to get approval for not

> My boss at this point understands that he's often putting me in a double or triple bind, but is obligated to do so and is never going to get approval for not doing so; My attempts to acquire verbal directives as to priority are met with "figure it out" and a grin. But then he's also extremely forgiving about accountability, doesn't attempt to apply metrics, because he understands that I'm going to be working on it all day anyway. Seems like at this point, you two have trust which has been built up based on respect/maturity, evidence of honesty/sincerity and delivery. You two are more or less a well oiled machine.