Need advice on dealing with an imposing coworker

[Little]

Need advice on dealing with a coworker.  He is higher on the food chain than myself, so I need to use caution.  Our workplace is divided into plant and office.  He's the plant mgr.  I'm on the office side, an exec. asst.  He is never outright rude, but I feel he doesn't respect me.  Recently he started making decisions that intrude on my job.  Mostly small stuff, but I have the feeling he is pushing to see what he can get away with.  Latest example:  He asked the company that supplies coffee to the plant break room to begin supplying it to the office break room.  It wouldn't be a big deal, but I've been buying coffee for the office break room for years and just last week purchased a case of my boss's favorite brand.  The coffee delivery guy he hired showed up today asking me to sign the receipt and informed me he'd be bringing coffee for the office break room next week.  You can imagine my surprise.  This may seem a small matter, but his slowly encroaching on my job bothers me.  This is not the first thing, nor the most important, but it's a good example.  I sort of feel like he's trying to cause me to react badly and discredit me.  If cornered on it, he's the type to excuse his behavior with, "I was only trying to help."  I can't outright confront him because his position is higher than my own.  Assistance dealing with this guy?

[msmarieh]

I do think you need to have a conversation with him. The first thing I would do, is shake the chip off your own shoulder. Give him the benefit of the doubt that he really is trying to make life easier for you. Go in to the conversation with that assumption. Think how much more pleasant the conversation becomes when you do so.

I would say something along these lines: I really appreciate that you were being helpful in ordering supplies for the office break room, however, since i am responsible for the budget for that department, you can understand that I need to stay aware of all changes in vendors. Going forward, I'd like to have a conversation on these kinds of things so that we aren't duplicating our efforts. After all, we all want the company to succeed.

Marie