The Cliche Boss

A couple of years ago a friend of mine was venting about his boss. The thing that drove my friend crazy was that, like many managers out there, his boss managed by cliche. For example, he would berate someone who was struggling with the stress of the job by saying, " if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen." If an employee asked for help with a project, he would say, "too many cooks spoil the broth." I know what you're thinking, how original, right. This guy should right a book or something.

The problem my friend and I have with people like this is that the truly believe that a person can learn something new from a cliche they have heard a thousand times before. Worse yet, perhaps they think because he or she is the all-powerful manager, the phrase should mean more coming from them.

Normally, I would have advised my friend to come down hard on this guy the next time he used a tired cliche by telling him that he needs to come up with some new material. But since I was feeling particularly tolerant this day, I suggested that my friend calmly talk to his boss, letting him know that this style of management bothered him. What a mistake! His boss blew up. "How dare you criticize me , who do you think you are?"

Needless to say, my friend came back with his head hung low saying "What am I going to do now, this guy hates me." Knowing that he was unhappy at work and that his boss had it in for him, I suggested that he have some fun before this guy forced him to leave because as you already know, "desperate time call for desperate measures," (excuse gratuitous cliche.) "It was now time to fight fire with fire," (ridiculous, isn't it?)

From that day on, I suggested that he try to answer every cliche his boss used with another equally true cliche that meant the exact opposite of his bosses message in an effort to prove how pointless it is to lead one's life by cliche. And so it began.

Boss: "He who hesitates is lost."
Friend: "Yeah, but only fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

Boss: "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
Friend: "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

Then he got creative.
Boss: "One bad apple spoils the barrel."
Friend: "Now is that the same apple that keeps the doctor away and are you sure not comparing apples with oranges."

This kept up for a little while and as you may have guessed, my friend some found himself unemployed as a result of conspicuous downsizing. I felt terrible, but amazingly , he didn't. He felt he did the right thing and thanked me for helping him stand up for himself and seeing the light. He decided to start his own company and I have never seen him happier. The icing on the cake is that the other employees took up where my friend left off and begin to challenge the cliche boss at every turn. Since he had no style of his own, he was soon rendered ineffective and found himself unemployed. The moral of the story is to be your own person. Don't live your life from dead cliches or quotes, almost all can be discounted by another cliche or saying. Say what you believe, do what is right without worrying about validating by proving that someone said it before you. You will find that people will take you more seriously because you are genuine and original.

And as for the cliche boss, I guess he could say "What goes around, comes around."

Learn more about this author, Daniel Vincent.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Testimonies: Best and worst bosses?
We want to hear your view. Write now!