responsibility too. I once inherited an employee who had a six-month backlog of stuff he was in charge of processing. In a month, his replacement had cleared out the backlog and was totally caught up. (More evidence for why it's so important to hire right.) So yeah, it really does depend on who the "one" is! That said, of course there are unreasonable employers and good employees who are given work that even a super star couldn't handle. And when that's the case, that's when you do what Jamie talked about. And if your boss won't budge, then you leave. But in my experience, if you have a track record of being good and you're able to explain the situation in terms of its impact on the business (which is where a lot of people fail in this situation), most -- not all, but most -- managers will work with you on how to prioritize, etc. The only effective way I've ever found to refuse work is to present the case to your boss as to why it's better for the business that you not do it (and even then, the result you usually get is not so much a removal of work but a reprioritization): "Boss, if I take on Project X, I won't have time to finish Project Y on time." "Boss, if I take on Project X, I can't give Project Y the time it deserves. I'm afraid something might slip through the cracks, and we all