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New bosses are a nightmare - trying to impress them; working out what will send them into a homicidal rage and what will have them rolling over and purring like a kitten; remembering not to call them "mate". A new boss is the very worst thing about starting a job.
But what if you stay exactly where you are, but your old boss doesn't, leaving a vacancy to be filled by your new boss? That's arguably worse: your cosy little office world, complete with in-jokes about the canteen, a pleasantly lax attitude and an implicit understanding that it's perfectly OK to spend half of the sales meeting discussing the contents of that week's Heat, is ripped from under your feet.
Alex Patterson, who works as an executive assistant for a financial services company, knows that feeling. "I got on really well with my old boss," she says. "She was very good at her job, but very laidback. She valued the personal relationships she had in the office and liked everyone to get on well, so she was happy to have people chat and socialise. As long as the work was done at the end of the day, it wasn't a problem."
The atmosphere changed when Patterson's new boss arrived. "You couldn't argue that he was bad at his job, or that he was unfair or unfriendly, even," she recalls. "His attitude was just that the workplace was for work and that was it. I found it very difficult to adjust. I thought: 'You know, everything worked fine here before, I don't see why we have to change the way we do things.'"
Jenny Ungless, career coach for jobs website monster.co.uk, agrees that getting used to a new boss can take time. "Everyone hates change," she says, "so you're bound to feel a bit ruffled by a newcomer to the workplace, especially if they want to introduce new ways of doing things. And it's quite likely that a new boss will want to put their stamp on things and impress their superiors by doing just that."
Of course, you, as the long-term employee, are at an advantage. You know everything about the company, from the access code to the loading bay to the whereabouts of the Hobnob stash. Your new boss, on the other hand, is wet behind the ears and desperate for any information that will help them settle in - which is where the temptation to mould them in the image of your old boss comes in.
"It's almost irresistible to use the 'we never used to do things like that' line on a new boss," says Ungless, "But you should really try not to, because it's one of the most irritating things you can possibly say." What about a few gentle nudges here and there? "All office relationships tread a fine line between giving people the information they need and the information you want to give them," agrees Ungless.
"There's an element of manipulation to a lot of it. But you should try to stand back and remember that your relationship with your boss is only a part of the bigger picture - which is the success of the company as a whole. Your new boss isn't necessarily doing things wrong."
You are going to feel as though you're on your best behaviour for a few weeks. "You should stand back, observe how your boss likes to work and adapt to that," says Ungless. "You can obviously be a useful source of information about how the office works, but you should really try not to abuse that position. Just be alert to their personal style and ask them questions about what they want."
Remember, too, that your new boss is doing his or her utmost to put their mark on their new office. Whatever extremes of behaviour they exhibit in the first few weeks, chances are they'll be moderated in time - and that will probably happen a lot quicker if you don't put their back up by moaning about the glory days of your last line manager.
That's certainly what Patterson found. "As much as I hate to admit it, there are some things he actually does better than our old boss. And in time he loosened up a lot in the office. But then there are 12 of us and only one of him - we gently led by example!"
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