Bossology

Commentary

Richard E. Noble
I imagine that if you took a survey of all workers with regards to the nature or personalities of bosses, their opinions would be consistent. Bosses are all pretty much the same – they’re bossy; they’re demanding; they are overly confident or conceited; they’re pushy and two faced. When it comes to paying those who work for them - they are universally cheap. How do bosses get like that?
It seems to be a phenomenon of human nature that you can separate a worker right from the ranks of “workerhood” and instantly he turns into a boss - bossy, demanding, unappreciative, oblivious to the efforts of underlings, selfish and CHEAP.
If you are a worker and your boss is even your mother or your father, your analysis of a boss will more than likely be the same as the above. And if you are so bold as to confront your mother or your father with your understanding of Bossology, they will invariably say; "Well, let's just see how well you do if you somehow through some miracle of mismanagement ever one day become a boss.
But in my lifetime study in the academic field of Bossology, I have found that this phenomenon is even more engrossing than what has been outlined above.
Bossology could easily become a subdivision of Sociology, Social Psychology or even Political Science.
I worked with this guy once who was the most recalcitrant, uncooperative employee that I ever meet. He argued with the boss on every point. He invariably had a better way to do everything. One day the regular boss got sick and didn't show up for a few days, and this guy was made the boss. Oh my goodness, did the rest of us guys ever have our hands full.
When Ray, the regular boss, finally came back to work, all of us peons gathered in a circle around him and sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." I remember going up to Ray and personally shaking his hand and in a loud voice so that the substitute boss could hear, I begged him never to stay home sick again.
But why it happens that ordinary workers turn into cheap bossy bosses simultaneous with their promotion has always been a curiosity to me.
Liberia is a fascinating historic example of this strange curiosity.
Liberia is a country on the coast of Africa that was "colonized" in 1822 by freed American black slaves. Some rich Americans all chipped in - The American Colonization Society. President Monroe was involved. They even named the capital of the country after him - Monrovia. It became a country in 1847 with the help and support of the United States of America. Many white and black Americans didn't believe that blacks could ever be free here in America with the prevailing attitudes so they bought this country to liberate (or deport) runaway slaves and willing black participants and volunteers. The only problem with this idea was that there was already a bunch of black people living in Liberia at the time. It was kind of like the colonization of America all over again. You know, How did we get all these Indians in OUR country?
Now what do you think would happen when a bunch of freed American black slaves were given the opportunity to run their own country?
Would you ever in a million years believe that the freed black American slaves would turn their new country of Liberia into a Southern style plantation with themselves as the plantation owners and the indigenous black population as their slaves? Impossible you say? Not so impossible. That is basically what happened.
In 1917 the workers of Russia (Bolshevik Party) took over their country from the oppressive Czar. The first worker leader, Lenin, decided that the workers weren't capable of becoming their own bosses just yet, so he made himself the boss. After Lenin died another worker by the name of Stalin took over. He decided that the workers could never really be the bosses so he made himself the lifetime boss over all bosses.
What is it with this?
In France the common people had a revolution to get rid of their brutal king and his army. They replaced their hated king with Napoleon Bonaparte - who becomes a rather harsh dictator who then tried to conquer the world. Talk about becoming the boss going to a guy's head?
I met a black person once who hated black people. I asked him why he hated black people so much when he was a black person himself. He told me that if it weren't for all those other nasty black people out there, white people would probably like him a lot better. He felt that it was because of the bad example of other blacks that he was getting such a poor deal himself.
I was reading a Social Psychologist the other day and he contended that Humans were basically kind and loving, but had been turned abusive by their societies. So all us good people have been turned bad, mean and nasty by all you other bad people.
I guess that gives Jean Paul Sartre some relevance in his claim that hell is really "other people."

Richard E. Noble is a Freelance Writer and has been a resident of Eastpoint for around thirty years. He has authored two books: "A Summer with Charlie" and "Hobo-ing America" which are both listed on Amazon. Most recently he completed his first novel "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother" which will be published soon.