Essay

Boss trouble

By Mike Dwane

音声ダウンロード

I’ve been having awful trouble with my new boss. Nothing I do will satisfy him no matter how hard I try to please him.

Since I started working for him a month ago, he has made my life hell.

Short, bald and fat, he has terrible personal hygiene habits and a nasty skin condition. I have never seen him doing any work for himself and all he seems to do is eat or sit around all day ― that is if he’s not taking a nap while everybody else is working flat out. Talk about leading by example!

As for his personality, he is extremely impatient and will not be reasoned with. He is prone to terrible temper tantrums and gets so angry and shouts so loud that I usually have no idea what it is he is complaining about or what he wants me to do. I just can’t figure him out.

And this isn’t just a nine-to-five problem either. At any time of the day or night, he is liable to call me with some fresh complaint. The way he acts, it is as though he has never heard of lunch breaks, weekends or bank holidays ― or any time off for that matter.

If I ask him to give me five minutes to attend tosome other errand of his, he will just stare at me with a blank expression on his face or continue screaming at me and anybody else within earshot.

His tyrannical behaviour is such that it is beginning to affect my home life ― and that of my wife. I have even been losing sleep, and probably hair, over the stresses of having to work for this guy.

So, you might well ask, why don’t I just tell him to get stuffed and quit? I only wish it were that simple. The truth is mine is a job for life, although not in the sense of the Japanese salaryman tied to a company.

In case you haven’t figured it out already, my new boss is my 4-week-old baby boy and we love him very much.

He has a 3-year-old brother so I guess I knew what to expect. Long hours and no time off are part of the contract when you get into this kind of business.

Still, that doesn’t make the first few weeks any easier but one day soon I expect he will smile for the first time and all will be forgiven.

ボスに悩まされる

筆者は１ヵ月ほど前から新しい上司にひどく悩まされている。とにかく短気ですぐ怒る上に、どんなに頑張って働いても自分のことを認めてくれないのだ。ここまでくると転職した方が良さそうだが…。

The Japan Times ST: October 24, 2014