Benbow, are you drunk?
That isn’t necessarily an unusual question, but it was a bit jarring at the time since it came from my boss before noon on a workday. And it was shouted across the newsroom in front of all of my colleagues.
And I didn’t think he was kidding.
The man behind
the question was a guy by the name of Arnold Miller, the managing editor of the first newspaper I worked for in Ohio.
Miller, who died in 2006, was a journalist from the old school. He smoked bad cigars at his desk and chewed on them after they went out. He liked to write about boxing.
We were an afternoon newspaper and Miller personally edited all the stories destined for Page One right before lunch. If you were lucky, he sent your stories back to you with his questions all marked up in red grease pencil.
If he was in a hurry or you were on his list, he just started bellowing questions at you from his office. He expected you to come running to his desk, notebook in hand, with the answers.
Asking me if I was drunk was Miller’s way of saying that he had issues about the clarity of my writing. I wish I had said something clever at the time like, “No, but give me a couple minutes and I’ll take care of that for you.”
Instead, I just loped over to his desk and answered his questions as he completely rewrote my story on his battered manual typewriter.
I had to reach back to Miller in my work history because I wanted to write about the movie “Horrible Bosses” that opened Friday.
I’ve worked for The Herald for more than 32 years and only had a handful of bosses, so citing more recent examples of bad bosses might be considered poor judgment on my part.
I haven’t seen “Horrible Bosses” yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
I think the recession has really brought out the worst in bosses, even the good ones.
Because of financial problems, some good bosses have been forced to do some pretty horrible things. Some horrible bosses also have been forced to do horrible things, but they likely enjoyed it more.
I think at least some have used the economy as an excuse to add undue stress to the lives of their employees. There’s a lot of “if you don’t like it, find another job” going around out there these days.
Have you being hearing something to that effect?
Do you have a good boss that has been doing a few bad things?
Is your boss truly horrible?
Or is your boss a wonderful man or woman who has maintained a great workplace despite the poor economy?
Either way, I’d like to hear from you so I can share your situation with Herald readers. For obvious reasons, I won’t disclose your full name in the paper. But please email me or call with your experiences.
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
