No feelings please… Respect your Boss!

The other day the husband returned home from work on time after eons. 

They've got a new recruit and the team has now some breathing space, he said.

"How's the new person?" I asked. "Young chap. Fresher..."

"Please. Please. Please... Respect him," I pleaded.

"Of course, I do!" the husband was puzzled. "Don't play The Boss," I threatened. Now he was completely lost.

Bosses - they come in varied specifications - men, women, fat, thin, tall, short, long haired, bald head,   bristled, moustached... but essentially they are same. Barring a few. In my 18 years' experience in 7 organisations across two countries I've had just 3 bosses who wouldn't make it to the omnipresent 'Boss Breed'. My salutes and respect to the three great leaders.

Include them in your prayers for their wellbeing and sanity 

Today, lemme write only about 'The Boss Breed' here.

I have a request - Please don't hate this breed. That doesn't mean you ought to love them. If you think it's necessary to harbour any feelings at all, then please pity them. Never forget to include them in your prayers. Most of you would be already doing it. But include them in your prayers for their wellbeing and sanity. Ask the Lord God Divine to bless them. To bless them with maturity and a sense of security, too. They need abundance of both.

Especially those...

Boss Floss #1: Who do not know how to end a compliment or a remark with a period. Compliments for them are on these lines..."Excellent job. Well done, but you could have done it quicker." Remarks go like this... "You are a senior, how could you have let it pass, it's not acceptable listen, I know how hard-working you are, but..." [Breathing exercise must be made mandatory at workplace to teach them when to pause. Breathe-in. Pause. Breathe-out. Pause.] 

Boss Floss #2: Who always point out your mistakes and mention about the volatile market scenario in the same breath until they have an emergency and you become the perfect candidate who knows it all. [They’ve all mastered in fear pyschosis] 

Boss Floss #3: Who always have to resist and hold up your leave application no matter how and when you present it to them. When you apply a few days before you need it, you are given a list of others on the team who have already applied during the period. 'No overlaps, please. Change your dates'. Now you think you are wiser and apply four months in advance the next time, and you are asked to first ensure no one else plans to go while you are gone. [Signing without resisting is injurious to their esteem!] 

Boss Floss #4: Who raise their voice at juniors at their slightest error while they let go graver and serious overlaps by others like a meek lamb. I overheard one swearing at a junior, 'I feel dirty cleaning your shit' - irked at having to edit an article written badly by the latter. One of my previous editors, over the two years I reported to her, never once okayed a headline I wrote.  She always asked one of her cronies to redo my work. One day, passing my work to her trusted aide, she muttered, 'Useless good for nothing ******' [They believe they single-handedly sustain the company] 

[Earlier in my career, I had a boss who taught me English grammar with a cigarette in hand. Read the fun here...]

Boss Floss #5: Who consider themselves God's gift to the profession. No matter how rotten their proposal or how irrelevant their idea is, they will huff into your collar until you give in to them. [Remember your kindergarten rhyme yes sir, yes sir three bags full sir. Peace.] 

Boss Floss #6: Who do not know to differentiate between personal attacks and general banter in the name of making conversation to bridge designation gap. 

Boss Floss #7: Who do not realise their staff also have only two hands, one head and a life just like they do. Forwarding a dozen mails to be actioned all within the same deadline and then asking for explanation why they aren't done is not an act of authority. Even a secretary can do that.

Ask the Lord God to bless them with maturity and a sense of security  

I can go on…

Until we learn to RESPECT one another. Respect the other person who is working with you. No matter how inexperienced, how junior, how senior he/she is. Oh yea, it's pathetic to see how office boys are treated. They serve tea, water, wash the cups [lipstick-stained and cigarette-smelling ones, too] and they do not deserve a look. Forget a smile. Respect folks.

If he or she is with you now it's for a reason. Trust me. The Universe, thankfully, doesn't act like you whimsically. Just consider them to be a soul who's sharing the time and space with you at this phase in your journey in this lifetime. We are all constantly moving. We will all one day walk the bent and disappear from one another’s sight.

Make an attempt to understand this simple logic, and see how the equation changes.