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This is my second confession (heh, haven’t kept a count since elementary

school).

I kind of hate my boss.

Now, I’m nice to everyone. I give people the benefit of the doubt, and try to

remain civil even if or when they prove to be disingenuous. And I am nice to

my boss when he interacts with me. This ensures that I have no problems with

him. Frankly, I think that it’s the only reason he doesn’t have a fit when I turn

down his crazy requests.

I’ve seen him ask people to work double overtime, unpaid. I’ve seen him ask a

coworker to come in after the office has closed for the weekend. I’ve seen him

try to coerce the custodial staff into cleaning his house for free.

I’ve seen him issue reprimands and warnings when an employee turns him

down with the slightest hint of sarcasm or any tone filled with less than

complete apology.

My coworker and I (let’s call them St. Clair) will swap stories over break about

the crazy shit we’ve seen him do. Today, he almost made a new employee have a

heart attack when he decided that she’d broken office policy by failing to

organize the paperclips on her desk by colour. He actually worked up a sweat;

St. Clair said his brain was about to boil over, since his facial expression hardly

ever varies. It’s almost mask-like.

St. Clair jokes frequently, and a bit too loudly for my taste. Our boss is

constantly on a witch-hunt for anyone who’s speaking ill of him, and I’m afraid

that one day someone’s going to rat St. Clair out...

But I’ll admit, the long subway ride home becomes funnier when I think about

some of her insults.