Telling a boss you're walking on eggshells feels like honesty, but it usually just moves the eggshells to their side of the desk. Once you say it out loud, the dynamic flips - now the manager has to worry about YOUR emotional state and whether any feedback will set you off. that's a bad spot to put someone in, and it rarely gets the outcome you actually wanted.
Now, if the boss explodes at any criticism or can't take feedback at all, then yeah, that's a real problem worth addressing. Doesn't sound like that's the situation here.
It reads more like the goal is getting the boss to back down, and the eggshell talk is the lever. Seen this play out enough times to know where it goes: the manager starts censoring themselves, feedback gets softer and vaguer, and the actual work problem never gets fixed.
respect and ego management matter, obviously. But you still have to demonstrate you can absorb some pushback and let the small friction go.
There are better ways to hold your ground without announcing you're sensitive. If the boss says the checklist might not generate relevant items, ask which ones they think aren't. or show up ready to defend every line as if it matters - and cut whatever can't be defended. What the boss is probably doing is poking at whether the workload is being inflated with stuff nobody needs. If there's any truth to that, scrutinize the list harder before the next conversation. Don't make them coach you through trimming your own work.
And if it's pure ego on their end? They'll review the checklist, flag what's good or bad, or just accept it and move on. Either way, the fight was optional.
