Best Boss in Regular Stuff

After 30+ years in the work force, I’ve had a lot of bosses. Some good one, some bad ones and some horrible ones.

I had a female boss who was unbelievably racist. A male boss who hated me because I was overweight (karma ended up getting him good but I’ll save that story for another time).

But the best boss ever had to be John. This was a defense contracting firm and I was hired to be their office manager and defense security officer.

At the time, my daughter and I were back living with my parents for what I thought was going to be a short time period. I had been offered and accepted the job when my dad passed away unexpectedly. This happened a few days before I was to start working. When I called John, he was extremely kind and compassionate, telling me to take as much time as I needed. I started two weeks later.

John was a brilliant scientist, an expert in the defense field. He was 35 years older than me, a tall, distinguished gentleman. A very nice looking man. You see where this is going right?

Ok that last sentence was a joke lol. Right from the start, he had complete faith and trust in me. Maybe it helped that I was able to get my security clearance in a record amount of time which really seemed to impress him.

The administrative part of my job was a breeze for me but the security part was something totally unfamiliar. Up until my hiring, John had been doing it and he was thrilled to hand it over. He trained me well but it was nerve wracking. There was no room for error in that job and every six months you had an inspection from Department of Defense officials. Once I passed the first one with flying colors, my fate was sealed. :)

Throughout the years, John always allowed me to do my job. He never micromanaged me, he never checked up on me, he was just there if I needed him.

He was more than a boss to me. He was a mentor, a friend and something of a father figure. He was who I went to when I had questions about taxes or plumbing issues. My mother had been a typical housewife. She did the cooking and the cleaning and the kids. Daddy did everything else. She knew nothing about insurance or car registration, filing income taxes, real estate taxes, who to call when something broke, etc. So now I had to take over and learn all these things. John was a real blessing in my life in many ways.

When the company downsized and I had to leave, it was truly sad. John passed away a few years back, in his 80’s, strong and steady till the end. I still keep in touch with his son.