Who's the Boss?

This post is related to yesterday's Bible verse.

I'm sure we've all had our fair share of bosses over the years and maybe we've even been bosses ourselves. 1 Peter 2:18 is one of those verses which make me say, "Surely not God?" Surely God does not want us to work for tyrants who hold us under their boots? No, he doesn't want us to deliberately place ourselves under bad bosses but it's a reality of life that not all bosses will be kind and considerate. Some will be harsh.

I've been fortunate to have had good bosses in 95% of the jobs I've had. I've worked for my dad and later my auntie and cousin. They were all good bosses. Of course I'm biased but I've found working for family to be a positive experience as they tend to be a bit more lenient. Although I was only working one day a week at my auntie and cousin's bead shop, they used to give me months off at the end of the year so I could perform in a pantomime and then go home to Albany for holidays. I don't think just anyone would allow that.

I was also fortunate to have a string of good managers at the library. The first was Gill. I found her to be great to work with although I knew some of my workmates didn't like her for various reasons. I had no problems with her at all and perhaps this was because I've had one really terrible boss in my lifetime and I was grateful for anyone that was better than her. After Gill left, we had Kerry for a few years. Kerry was probably the best. You could go to her for help with anything and she'd never make you feel like you were wasting her time. When I had to go to a doctor's appointment in the middle of the day, she offered to cover my reference desk shift for me and even tried to help me go part-time when I said I wanted to write my book. She had control without being a tyrant, she was kind but not a pushover. I was sad when she left in July 07 to go and live in the US. The next boss I had was Daisy and I only worked with her for about five months before I left. She was great as well.

My point is, it's easy to like those who like us. It's easy to work hard for a boss who treats you well. Anyone can do that. It's much harder to be godly when your boss is mistreating you.

Let me tell you about my worst ever boss.

This lady takes the cake for the 'worst boss of the year' award. She was horrible....and still is apparently. It was December 01. I was 18, had just finished my first year of uni and was back in Albany for the holidays. Since I was going to be there for a couple of months, I was looking for some temporary work so I could save up for my first car. A lady who worked with my parents told me about a position going so I applied for it. At the interview, I realised it was going to be bad. This lady was not friendly or welcoming at all. She proceeded to tell me about all the supposedly bad, slack young people she'd hired in the past. I was terrified of her but I think the thought of a car was what kept me going. Nowadays I would probably reconsider whether two months of hell for a car was worth it.

Nothing I did was good enough. The boss was constantly looking over my shoulder and making me nervous. Sure, I stuffed up at times but the training I got was pathetic. I told her at the interview that I had no experience in that area but she didn't offer any decent training or support. Her family worked there as well and they weren't that nice either, except for her youngest daughter. I used to ask for the breakfast shift all the time because I knew the boss didn't work then. I worked so much better when I wasn't under her critical eye and I loved working with the other staff. They were encouraging and because they were also treated badly by the boss (despite being such diligent workers) they used to have bitch sessions about her. I was reluctant to join in because I wasn't sure if they were going to tell her what I said or something.

The boss lived just up the street from the business so even when she wasn't working, she used to pop in and yell at us. It was like she didn't trust us to keep the place going properly. So many times I used to go home in tears and shaking with rage. The boss never used to let us have breaks and I'd regularly work 10 hour days with little or no break and on my feet all day. Another new girl started after me and the boss got angry at her for asking for a glass of water. I found out later from another staff member that she had got angry with another guy who worked there (who had quit just before I started) because he came to work with a very slight crease in his shirt. He explained it was where his seatbelt had been pressing but she still went ballistic and he eventually told her to stick her job! My self-confidence plummeted and the whole experience made me very reluctant to seek further employment.

The worst thing was that the customers seemed to love her. She would suck up to them and they thought the sun shone out of her butt while she continued to treat her staff like crap. Although I have since found out that many Albany locals know what she's really like. A few weeks after I started working there, I found out that the boss had been to court because she had kicked two of her employees at her previous business. I don't know the outcome of the court case but I wish I'd found out about it BEFORE I applied for a job with her.

I have never been back into that place since I left in February 02 and I never intend to unless she leaves town. It look me a long time to be able to feel confident to apply for jobs again because I was afraid I would get another boss like her. My current boss is great, I don't often see her anyway as she works mostly from home and only pops in occasionally.

That's why that verse is hard for me to deal with. God wants us to obey our bosses even when they are unkind. It's no credit to us if we are lazy or unreliable and receive a beating....that's what we deserve. But when we receive a beating for doing good, it is commendable before God (see 1 Peter 2:19-25). We are to follow Christ's example of not retaliating. This is hard for us to swallow. If we have horrible bosses, they usually emotionally abuse rather than physically in this country. But we are still to obey them, remembering we are working for God rather than men so our light will shine before these wretched bosses and glorify God.

It's hard to put this verse into practice in our Western society. So many workplaces are big on preventing workplace bullying. At Curtin, we always used to get pamphlets telling us to see our managers if another workmate was giving us grief or discriminating against us. But what if the boss is the bully? I wonder how we can obey this verse yet still stand up for ourselves? Or are we not meant to? Obviously we are not meant to obey the boss if they are asking us to disobey God (by doing something illegal for example).

Any thoughts on this matter? Please share your experiences with bosses.