@gailcalled; Great term.
One of the truly great books that I read was “The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey”. The basics of this book are about identifying what chores in your life are actually yours, and which ones you have taken on that really belong to others. It’s a very short but powerful book, and only takes a few hours to read.
After reading that one Saturday afternoon, I went back to my desk on the following Monday and realized that more than half of the work I had really belonged to my co-workers, and bosses. I returned most of it, saying things like “I’m sorry, but I just can’t seem to get the time that this requires, so I am returning it”, or similar statements. No on objected, since I was helping them do their job. After that, I quit accepting other people’s tasks and found I could focus and excel at my job, and I also found I had more time than ever before.
A second point is that I took some sales classes in college. One sales tactic they taught was to physically hand your target client something, which could be a brochure or similar item. While they have that in hand, they cannot walk away, close a door in your face, etc. Whenever a salesman comes to my door and starts out by trying to hand me something, I put my hands in my pocket and just avoid accepting it.
My point for mirza is identify what his job is. Do the job well. Don’t accept the job of his boss. If it’s dangerous to pointedly refuse to take the job, putting his hands in his pocket may be the next best alternative.