This can be an effective strategy, but exhausting. The reward for doing all your work, is more work. Some managers will keep adding tasks until you start missing deadlines. That way, they know you are fully allocated.I guess what I’m realizing is if work is the predominant life arch when you’re working full-time, then the way to be happy is to always have your to-do items done and done well.
There is a meta game to play, where you understand the priorities of the individuals and the organization, then leverage them to manage expectations. Or use them to further your own means. Consider the case where you want to see less of the guy originating your issue above.
Say that asshole faculty member is promised a response with in 24h. Their dumb request comes in on day 1, you refer it to a 3rd party on day 2 for input, letting faculty member know. 3rd Party gets back to you on Day 3, you give faculty member that update on Day 4, promise to complete on Day 5. Maybe on Day 5, your boss comes to you with urgent request.
You let her know "hey, i've got this thing for asshole, it's already been awhile because I needed 3rd party input, do you think it can go behind urgent request? Then I can finish urgent request today. Yes? Would you mind giving them a heads up?" Now the asshole task is pushed to day 6, and your boss has implicitly approved the 6x increase in turn around time.
You get to punish asshole and look like a team player, who both cares about quality and is putting the organization first. It's not as direct as calling him unreasonable and walking out, but the game doesn't allow for many of those.