On the way home from work yesterday, your jerk boss nearly got a ticket.
He was running late because the conference call you were both on went 30 minutes longer than planned, and in his haste, he went through an intersection as the light changed.
The cop parked in the gas station either hadn’t noticed or didn’t care, and his heart raced from the close encounter as he sped home.
When he got there, his wife was waiting outside. “Where the hell have you been!? We’re going to be late.”
“I got stuck on another one of those damn calls. Almost got pulled over, too. Get in, let’s go.” He puts the car in reverse, backs down the driveway, and races off.
There’s not much parking left at the school when they get there. He drops his wife off at the front and goes to find a spot.
When he catches up with her, she’s in the hallway outside the theater, waiting at the door.
“It had already started, we’ll have to wait until the end of this piece,” she says softly. The door attendant nods and smiles apologetically.
When the last notes fade and the applause begins, the attendant opens the door. As they slip inside, they see the boy who finished playing leaving the stage, and they breathe a sigh of relief that they’ve arrived in time.
It takes a while to find a seat in the dark, and as they are getting settled, the next performer emerges, and the audience claps politely. They arrived just in time. The little girl displays a snaggle-toothed smile as she makes the long walk to the piano bench near the center of the stage. Your jerk boss smiles back at her and claps loudly.
Afterward, when the house lights come back up, he spots his brother and his brother’s wife down front. Coming up on them, he clasps his brother’s shoulder and says, “Hey, she was great!”
“Hey! I’m so glad you made it! She’ll be thrilled to see you.”
They wait for her to come from backstage and catch up on the news in each others’ lives. Football season’s coming up, the big family picnic is next week, work’s going pretty well, and no one’s seen any good movies lately.
Eventually, there’s a tug at his sleeve, and he turns to find his niece beaming up at him proudly. He picks her up and gives her a big hug, “Hey runt! You were great!” He puts her back down, and she laughs at him and hugs his leg. After a while, they head to the parking lot, say their goodbyes, and head home. What a cute kid, he thinks.
At the viewing, many years from now, she’ll have a lump in her throat and a warmth in her chest. Stories about him abound–about his forgetfulness, his unique sense of humor, his temper, his frankness, and his warm heart. As she listens, she’ll consider herself blessed to have had so many good times with his and will be overwhelmed. As she starts to cry, she’ll step outside to be alone and her husband will let her go. He’ll explain to the others softly, “She just needs a moment to herself. He was her favorite uncle.”
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9 responses so far ↓
1 Melissa // Aug 7, 2007 at 6:16 pm
You’re right. You’re very very right. It’s helpful to put things in perspective that way. Nice post.
2 Chuck Westbrook // Aug 7, 2007 at 8:30 pm
@Melissa– Thank you. I realize I took a departure from what I usually do on the site in a couple of ways, but for some reason I wanted to do that today.
I had a couple of bosses that I viewed with vitriol (and justifiably so in many cases), but the fact remains that they are humans.
The flip side of this post is that many of the people we care about might be thought of as jerk bosses. I almost wrote a more straightforward post exploring both sides, but today the jerk boss got all the love.
3 Naomi Dunford // Aug 9, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Hi there…
I just came across your blog and Dugg this post. On my way to add you to my bloglines. Awesome, awesome blog. Will get my poor, unfortunate employed husband here immediately.
4 Chuck Westbrook // Aug 9, 2007 at 6:35 pm
@Naomi– Thank you. Sincerely. You know, when I wrote this, an eerie silence hung over the comments section for a long time.
I can understand why, too. It was very much a left turn from previous posts. Regardless, I stand by it, am proud of it, and am pumped that you found the site through this post.
Thanks for the Digg, too. I’m shattering my traffic records for this little blog. It’s like the perfect storm. : )
5 Eric B // Aug 10, 2007 at 1:14 pm
It would be nice to hear the othersides. The employee’s side and then, the truth.
6 Collin // Aug 31, 2007 at 8:38 am
Just a quick note to say thanks for this. I arrived at the blog about an hour ago via Bush Mackel and have been reading since.
This post though stopped me in my tracks.
7 Ton Heart // Sep 23, 2007 at 3:10 am
I can’t help it–all it does is remind me of the clichéd bloodthirsty dictator who keeps his handmade “World’s Best Dad” mug on his desk.
8 Chuck Westbrook // Sep 25, 2007 at 2:34 pm
@Ton Heart– Yep, it goes both ways. I wanted to leave that open, really. Who’s to say that your favorite uncle isn’t just a royal class jerk to his employees? Obviously the story is intended to garner sympathy for the boss, but it goes both ways. We’re all human. That’s probably why the cliche you referenced has staying power.
9 Caterwauling // Nov 24, 2007 at 2:57 pm
[…] news is that in different plays, we are cast in different roles. I read a really great article on “Your Jerk Boss is Her Favorite Uncle”, and while I’m lucky to have an awesome boss, it reminds you that the douchebags you deal […]
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