Here's what happens at my current job: The boss assigns me 5 tasks. I ask him what is the priority (offering my guess). He tells me the priority, and I do th

Here's what happens at my current job: The boss assigns me 5 tasks. I ask him what is the priority (offering my guess). He tells me the priority, and I do them in that order, and he understands that the low-ranking stuff might not happen for a few days. Here's what happens in a toxic environment: My boss assigns me 5 tasks. I ask what is most important. He says they are all equally urgent. The 2nd example shows an ignorance of how programmers work. You do one thing, finish it, then do the next thing. If you try to do 5 things at the same time, it'll take much longer than doing them in order. What you have to do is make sure your boss tells you what is the most urgent stuff, and let the less urgent stuff slide.