(MONEY Magazine) – IF YOU WORK FOR A DEVIL IN PRADA

What to do if your boss is mean enough to make a film about

Early in the movie The Devil Wears Prada, an aspiring journalist (Anne Hathaway) tries to explain to her boss (Meryl Streep) why she wasn't able to perform some impossible task. Streep hisses, "The details of your incompetence do not interest me," and she gets meaner from there. Sound too much like your No. 1? Try these three tactics:

• A storm closes every airport in Florida, so Hathaway can't find a flight out of Miami. Streep seethes. If your boss dwells on mishaps, sending short e-mails detailing your work helps--but it's a little like kissing up. A twist: "Tell your boss you sense she'd like regular updates on your work, and ask how often she'd like them," says Nancy Linnerooth, a Seattle career coach. "Then she'll think it was her idea."

• Hathaway's frumpy attire (she works at a fashion magazine) infuriates Streep, who belittles her minion's outfits in front of the entire staff. Don't buy a new wardrobe, but mix in clothes that show you're at least trying to understand the company's culture.

• The boss' scorn drives a tearful Hathaway to seek counsel from a veteran staffer. "For insight into what's worked in the past, by all means find someone who's willing to be a mentor," says Linnerooth. "But don't just plop down and say, 'Tell me what to do.' Have a plan to run by them."

...Plastic oh-no: 48% of consumers have the same credit-card debt they had a year ago, and 10% have more. The good news: 36% have less...

SOURCE: TransUnion Truecredit.com survey.

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