Like the majority of the populace, bosses, too, are often cogs in that unthinking unfeeling corporate machine — no more and no less than the worker bees — unaware of how the system operates and what it requires and demands of the unwilling, unknowing participants.
In all fairness there are good bosses and bad bosses and OK bosses and awful bosses, mean bosses and nice bosses. But they’re all bosses. They all exercise some control over you, and they are first and foremost beholden to the executives. This means that 99% of the time, even if you have the best boss in the world, he or she will still sell your ass out if that order comes down from on high.
There is some irony in the fact that “Boss’s Day” falls on a Saturday. Either that, or it’s a cruel joke, because no man could in good conscience urge you to take time out of your weekend, your free time, after you’ve put in 40 or 50 or 60 hours already this week, in order to genuflect, celebrate, and pay homage to those with superior station in life.
This year on Boss’s Day,don’t send him or her an e-mail, or a card, or a box of chocolates. I want you to celebrate. Really, really celebrate.
It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you don’t honor this bullshit “holiday”. Go take the kids to the park. Take your wife/husband to a nice dinner. Go for a bike ride. Have a picnic. Rake some leaves. Crack open a liter of whiskey and get schnookered. Block that workspace out of your mind for the entire weekend. Instead, go spend time with people you care about and who care about you, doing something you want to do.
This is your life, take back as much of it as you can.
The very word *boss* is appalling, unless you’re talking about an early 70′s Mustang.
In my architecture business I always charge my clients 25% of the estimated total cost of the project up front with the balance due upon completion of said project. In the early days of my business I failed to do that a few times and trusted the client to pay the total due upon completion, to my dismay. By not charging the deposit I lost the professional respect of the client and they would further abuse the relationship. I learned the *cruel to be kind* message and always charged a deposit. It stems from the *vested interest* perspective. If a person has little or nothing vested they will probably abuse it.
The employee / employer relationship is based on this idea, that the employer has the employee by the balls and there is nothing the employee can do about it. If the employee doesn’t like anything about his work he is free to take it down the road and this causes an imbalance in the relationship.
To keep the math simple, say an employee earned a flat fee of $1000 per month for doing a task and he charged $250 up front each month with the balance, $750, paid on the 30th day. The employer now has a vested interest in the business relationship and will work *with* the employee toward their common goal of getting the task done, expediently and efficiently.
The diff is that an employee works *for* his employer and an entrepreneur works *with* his client. That’s a powerful difference, and that up front deposit is the fulcrum of balance, a constant reminder to all parties that the relationship is just that, a balance, requiring attention and effort.
By the time I was 30 years old I had had 33 jobs and none of them lasted very long.
In hindsight I believe it was because of the very nature of the employee/employer, master/slave relationship. I wasn’t meant to be ruled, but I will work with anyone toward a common goal. 24 years in business and 26 years in marriage is the proof.