National Bosses Day

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By Diane Forrest

I have had several bosses in my life.  My first boss was the father of the children I babysat for.  He was a nice man who owned a skating rink.  On Fridays I would babysit his kids, and on Saturday I would work at the rink behind the concession area.  I don’t remember much of him as a boss, I do remember that when I babysat, I only made a dollar an hour, however when I worked at the rink, I made minimum wage.  I liked that part.

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Once I started driving, I stopped working at the rink and got a job working at a grocery store after school.  My boss was a burly, grouchy man, but he was very fair, and encouraging.  He regularly promoted me, and allowed me to change departments and learn different parts of the store.  I worked there for several years, and during that time, my parents had moved out of the area and I was living at the college dorm.  He looked after me like I was his daughter and taught me many lessons that I still carry with me today.

Bad Boss
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When I finished nursing school, I started working at the hospital, and my boss there terrified me.  She was constantly trying to find fault with me, even though I consistently received favorable comments from patients.  Once she even wrote a disciplinary sheet against me for getting hurt while helping a patient who was falling out of bed. This was at a time when staffing had been cut, there were no available staff members around to help and my boss told me I should have called a code to get more help.  A code would have indicated a heart attack.  I was so upset over this action even the doctors went to bat for me.

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I guess I was raised in the era where you feared your boss. They were like the principals in the adult world.  People you tried to stay away from and not get noticed. The relationship I have with my boss now is not like that.  We were friends long before I started working with him, which makes the transition so much easier.  I still do my best so he doesn't sneak up on me and hollar at me, but I’m not as scared of him as I was the burly grocery store man.

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Today is National Bosses Day.  Patricia Haroski, a secretary from Deerfield, Illinois, originated National Boss Day in 1958 in honor of her white-collar father, who helped all of his children with good advice throughout their careers.  It has traditionally been a day for employees to thank their boss's for being kind and fair thought out the year, however there is some who say it’s just a "Hallmark holiday".   So today, remember your boss with a smile and thanks, or even some homemade cookies or a coffee mug.  Let your boss know that you appreciate him and the fact that you have a good job.

Happy Boss's Day to My boss!  Can I have a raise???

(Sure, just as soon as Google starts paying us…=})

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