The head honcho…

Administrator, big cheese, leader, boss…the head honcho in charge.  I wonder just how many people fantasize about being the boss of their company.  Working with insubordinate co-workers is just part of life, so I often find myself wondering what I would do if I were in charge.  You know the people I am talking about.  As I write this, a few come to mind at my work place.  These people would rather be anywhere except at their job.  They are truly unhappy people and undisciplined for the most part.  Every rule that your boss has in place they defy just to prove that they can and still walk down the hall like the world owes them something.  They are doing your work place a service just by showing up.  You know these folks.  You are probably thinking of a few right now.  They sit in a corner as well as talk about everything that is wrong, and do nothing but complain all day long.  They come in late for meetings and try to hide.  They are negative, antagonistic, and sometimes hostile.  When you see them walking down the hall towards you, you might secretly pretend to read some papers you are holding just so you don’t make eye contact.  It’s almost like they can infect you with their stubborn ways if you meet their gaze.

Now imagine being the boss.  I always think I would nip this in the bud.  I have solutions for these problems I see at my workplace, and I think they would work.  Some days, I go in my administrator’s office to ask a question and get the ole’ evil eye.  Other days, she looks plain worn out.  I wonder just how many complaints she deals with in a given day.  You see, my philosophy is that when I am done with work, I am done.  I do not believe in bringing it home unless I want to, and most of the time, I don’t.  There is nothing that is more important to me right now than my family, and that means staying well for them.  If I were to trade places with my boss, I know I would not be able to leave it there.  I would not only bring home my “baggage”, but I am sure I would bring home my co-workers as well.  I don’t need that in my life.

It is easy to think about what we would do if we were in charge nevertheless, we aren’t for good reason.  I would honestly tell people exactly what I think of their work habits and I know I would do it without much finesse.  If you broke the dress code, you would go home and change.  I would make you take leave to do it.  If you came in late, you would be docked time.  If you took more than your allotted lunch hour on a recurring basis, I would dock your time as well or you would have to work overtime for it.  If you played games, answered personal calls, sent texts from your phone everyday, I would simply ask you to turn your phone off during work hours or I would start charging you for that as well.  If you were negative during my meetings and did not provide solutions, I would offer you a chance to work late to provide solutions to whatever thing you were complaining about.  If you were constantly saying you hated your job on your social network of choice, I would give you the option to leave or be fired.  End of discussion.  I am sure I can find people who want your job.

Yup.  I am convinced I would be a terrible boss.  I would do exactly what I said, and for that, people would not like me.  I would not play games with you, or hint around that you needed to improve your work ethics “or else”.  I would not send blanket e-mails to my entire staff hinting that you were wearing something unprofessional and should not wear that again.  I would not imply that people should not take longer than their 30 minute approved lunch which includes “transit” time.  I would simply ask you to stay later since I noticed you took longer and I am sure you don’t mind making that time up.  On the other hand, I would commend the ones that follow the rules, arrive early, get to the meetings on time, and love doing their job well.  They would be allowed to ask me to leave 15 minutes early for this or that as long as they are still arriving early.  I would show them the same consideration they showed me.

“Coming together is a beginning.  Keeping together is progress.  Working together is success.”  ~Henry Ford

Comment