To think “doing your best” is often just a polite way of saying “not trying very hard?”

[EffortNotExcuses]

People hide behind the phrase when they don’t want to improve.

Not one person in particular, just something I’ve noticed crop up in different situations over time.

Or they've given up trying to get it through management's thick skulls that what they are demanding isn't possible. No point in worrying themselves into long term sickness, a breakdown or anything else that harms them (whilst management still picks up the huge salary) if they know that they will never be supported, thanked or recognised for what they are achieving but will be guaranteed to receive criticism, demands for impossible improvement, zero support but micromanagement of entirely inconsequential things.

Yes, I agree @EffortNotExcuses

It’s such a throwaway and go away remark in my situation, so I understand exactly where you’re coming from.

Who decides what’s difficult? Is it one size fits all? Some things may be difficult for one person, yet not for another.

Of course difficulty isn’t one size fits all and what’s hard for one person may not be for another. As I’ve said, I’m thinking more about situations where feedback or suggestions get shut down entirely with “I’m doing my best” rather than someone engaging with the issue at all.

If said sincerely it means the opposite.

In your case, you simply think they are lying.

Christ, not this OP again.

S/he/AI was on here incessently a while ago.

Always some kind of AIBU thread designed to make people feel shit/bicker.
Always a user name designed to suit the topic.
Always a bit vague so nobody really knew what the Dickens they were on about.
Always the same way of writing e.g. 'I'm not talking about , I'm thinking more about situations where_.
Always repeating what the poster said in the first line of their reply e.g "You can't really know what's in someone's head" or "Of course one size doesn't fit all".
Always twisting and turning and serving up word soup.

If S/he/AI follows the same old patterns we're in for more threads along the lines of 'AIBU to think that women are nicer to men?' or 'AIBU to think that people are only kind/law abiding when they think they are being watched?

It's so obvious. Someone somewhere must think we can't spot this tripe.

It depends whether the feedback or suggestions are reasonable and realistic, or even helpful to begin with.
You can make all the suggestions you want , but I still can’t be in two places at once at the same time no matter how much you want me to.

Yanbu. Somewhere along the line, people seemed to believe this is a genuinely fine response to being told what they are doing isn’t good enough, and that the discussion is finished.

A diatribe of what else they’ve got going on in their life might follow, but never any promise to actually do better.

Sometimes you can’t do any better, because you’re already doing the job of three people, or you’re covering and pulled everywhere so your own area falls behind , or you don’t have the training for it , or you can’t physically be in two places at once (yes I’m still salty about that one) and a dozen other reasons.

Work wouldn’t expect you to be in two work places at once?

Can’t say I’ve ever heard it in those circumstances to be honest. The only time I’ve known people say it is a comfort to someone else who’s having a hard time and berating themselves for not being able to handle everything better. Never heard anyone use it as an excuse to carry on poor behaviour

One would like to think so. Some managers are just that shit.

Sometimes, yes.

But as someone who currently works in an organisation where I "do my best" 24/7/365 and its never ever enough, I wouldn't mind if someone recognised from time to time that I was "doing my best".

A lot of people working in high pressure environments are very tired and burned out. "Doing my best" is subjective and environment specific. You may not be able to achieve your absolute optimal best at work if, for example, you're also dealing with a crisis at home and spinning a million plates. Or if you're ill or are caring for someone who is ill or just feel very underappreciated.

There comes a point where people "do their best" for years and years in the belief that it will eventually pay off. At the moment many people are struggling on in jobs they hate because they are finding it hard to move or they have mortgages to pay, with an awful employment outlook and high cost of living.

Sometimes "doing my best" can feel like "banging my head against a brick wall".

This one is hard for me because I have ADHD and I’ve spent decades doing my best and I’m still in entry level jobs. Very poor choice of a thread.

No doing my best means trying the hardest I can.
The only way you could think it means not really trying is if the person is lying and using it in a passive aggressive way.
Lying doesn’t change the meaning of the phrase.
Lying isn’t polite.

I’m thinking more about situations where feedback or suggestions get shut down entirely with “I’m doing my best” rather than someone engaging with the issue at all.

Of course doing my best shuts down feedback or suggestions to do better because the person can’t do any better.

If they’re telling the truth.

Is this about a specific person who repeatedly uses this and you think they’re lying?

Or, achieving their potential. That's a more positive way to look at it

Sean Connery got it right in The Rock:
”Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.”

😂

Literally and figuratively, yes, workplaces can and do expect staff to be in multiple places at once. They tend to be the places with management complaining that when they're pulling somebody up on not being there/doing one thing in the entirely illogical and timeconsuming way they think it should be done, the ungrateful minion says they're doing their best in the knowledge if they go flat out and do that one thing, they'll then be told they aren't doing five other things adequately.

Yep, mine did all the time. One of my colleagues would just keep repeating "I have one pair of hands".

This is a ridiculous thread but then maybe you are doing your best? 🫣

I disagree. I've only used or heard the term used when genuinely giving it 100% in very difficult circumstances.