Beach Ball Part deux

So where were we…
(Re: “I was thinking a bit about my reluctant acceptance of people who have authority over me.” Posted 1/27/05)

Right, I had just finished washing out the trailer for my Boss, who apparently missed the finer details of the job I had done.

It looked very much like this writer was not going to last much longer than a year or so with this oil company at this rate. I was off to a very rocky start, and I had no one but myself to blame. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape; as it turned out, it was more like Wonder Woman’s lasso. Let me explain.

There is no question there are endless stories in regards to my first supervisor...the string on the belt, the missing Pea Jacket and the Greek tanker crew are but a few. And never let us forget, the connection between Saint Bernard puppies and sex; but, once again, I am rambling on.

So here I am strolling through the pipe yard with my Boss. He is explaining to me that I am the only employee who does not like coming to work in his department.

…(Visions of grandeur or what?)

He then tells me that he will make my life miserable and have me fired.

Well, the first part worked… for a while.

As we continue our little jaunt, I realized I am hosed. I am also providing great entertainment for my co-workers who are watching the ‘Boss to Employee’ chat.

I decided there and then, if I ever got to be a boss, I would remember this shining example of leadership.

Oddly enough, love that phrase. It reminds me of years later when I was running the same department in Southern California and one of my employees, who had been in the group for over 35 years. He was a very quiet, sullen man who generally thought anyone above an hourly employee was an idiot. He was more prophetic than he knew.

Shortly after arriving there I explained to my troops, that I also had started my career with “looks like a logo for Chrysler…Oil Company” in the storehouse at Cherry Point. He looked up and said, “Did you know ‘fill in the blanks’?” (It should be explained here that my walking partner in the pipe yard had in fact come from the same refinery I was now working at.)

I looked at the employee and told him that yes, he (‘fill in the blanks’) was my first boss and he was an idiot. We bonded on the spot. Of course, those were the last words he spoke to me for the remainder of my tenure there, but hey, bonding is bonding.

…So back to the original story…

I have to find a way out of this or I could see myself spending the rest of my career working ‘swing’ shift, the issue counter and the tool trailer. What ever could I do?

I know, let’s go to a party.

I am invited to a party in the local town and decide it would be a good time to blow off some steam. So while at this social gathering, I run into an old friend of mine from Seattle. I am amazed to see her and we spend, what seemed like hours, chatting the night away. At one point, she inquires into what career choice I have taken. When we last met, I was playing in a blues band in Seattle. Many would argue here that I was merely playing ‘at it’ as opposed to actually knowing what I was doing.

I tell her I am now working at an oil refinery and so on. She looks a little surprised and asks if I know so and so? “But, of course,” I reply “he is, in fact, my Boss.” She smiles and tells me that my Boss is one of her ‘regulars’. Clearly confused, I asked what actually does that mean… like do you cut hair or something?

“No, no,” she responds, “I work at the Golden Doors Massage Parlor in town.”

I begin to see a light at the end of said ‘tunnel’.

“Oh, and you work there, doing?” I inquire.

“Mostly getting old guys off,” she replies.

She then informs me that of all the clients she has, my Boss is probably the oddest. He, in fact, is only able to achieve ‘launch off’, as it were, while wearing a dress. Interestingly, they keep a dress at the establishment just for him.

The next Monday I am a ‘newborn’ man. I possess what I consider the most powerful tool known to man, Knowledge. Sure enough, at some point during the day, I have to go see my Boss for more of his patented Pep Talks.

I walk into his office and sit down. He begins to say something and I interrupt with the following.
“Hey, we have a mutual Friend.”
He looks a little surprised.
“Carol, who works at the massage parlor...”

A sly grin comes over his pudgy little face as if suddenly, we have bonded.
“So you go there to?” he asks, as if we are now officially Lodge brothers.
I wait a moment as he savors the thought of a ‘newfound pal.’

“No, I don’t go to ‘dives’ like that… so, what size dress do you wear, dude?”

It was a few years later that he retired and oddly enough, he never felt the urge to have another ‘heart to heart’ chat with me again.