Non-elastic hours
I think the distinction here is if the boss habitually demands things like this, he/she is not leading, they are dictating. When they dictate, there is no room for an employee to take initiative and show what they can do outside of the box that this particular boss prescribes.
The "in order to get ahead" focus of this post is to get noticed by the company. In order to get noticed, the boss needs to be the type that appreciates a situation and balances assigning work with a focus on seeing what you are capable of instead of trying to bury you in work. Truly understanding an employees capabilities requires that a supervisor places an employee in situations with known outcomes, but room to show initiative.
Bottomline, if your boss is like what is described here, find ways to get noticed by others... like the boss's boss. Same techniques apply.
