I’ve worked for the same company since I was 22. I’m now 44. (Oh, my word…I’ve worked for them half my life…this is the first I am putting that together.) In that time I have filled just three positions and have had four bosses—Don, John, Dave, and Mark. Today I will meet my new boss, Bob.
(I’m sensing a pattern here…)
I have liked all of my bosses and I’ve worked well with all of them. And by worked well I mean that they supported me when I needed it and left me alone most of the rest of the time because they trusted me to do my job.
I’ve never had a horrible boss. I’ve never been micromanaged. I’ve worked independently from home for nineteen of my twenty-two years with the company. My past two bosses especially, whose combined supervision of me lasted twenty years, were a couple of my favorite people, even though they were very different from one another.
In my time as a working person, I have never had to manage people. And I wouldn’t want to. I like to be the one doing the work, not the one making sure others do the work. I like to teach people things—I was a tutor for years and I’ve taught writing workshops for the last fifteen years—but I don’t want to then come along behind someone to make sure they’re doing it right.
But I bet some of you have had horrible bosses. And I bet some of you have been a boss or a supervisor of some sort. I bet you have some stories.
And I bet that we can create a story using a boss as a jumping off point…
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