Image © 1999 www.arttoday.com I am fortunate in that I have a very good boss. He is German originally and has a wonderful sense of humor. I know that the one time I was arranging some business cards for him, and he came to me (we'd been waiting for about 2 or 3 days for the proofs), stuck his head over the partition, which is nice because he doesn't just barge into my office. I looked up at him, and you could just see his head, which looked rather disembodied, hanging over the partition.

"Sherri, will you be my nag?"

Of course, for a moment, I was completely flabbergasted. I had no idea what he was talking about. He must have seen the total lack of comprehension on my face, because he said "yes, the business cards. I don't know who you dealt with, so I can't ask them myself."

Of course, when you get asked like that, how can you refuse?

But I would say that one of the best things about my boss is that he is completely self-sufficient. He is a touch typist, so he can handle his own documentation. He is more than willing to make himself a cup of coffee, and doesn't expect me to run after him the whole day with coffee and whatever else he might need. If he does need something then he asks me for it, and listens to my response.

He respects me, and has earned my respect, he listens to what I say, he lets me do my job and knows his, he realizes that I am a person and not a robot, but expects great things from me, because he knows what I am capable of.

I could sit and tell you so many stories about him, but I'm only going to tell you one more.

Yesterday was Secretary's day, and he had a meeting over lunch that he couldn't get out of, so he came to me afterwards and handed me 2 boxes of chocolates. But what was really sweet was what he said -- "These are to say thank you, not just for the past but for the year ahead. Sort of to say thank you for all the work that you're going to do, as well as what you've done."

Now that just blew me away...I've had some horrible bosses in the past. Then he wanted to know what I was still doing at work. Apparently there is a rule that I don't know about that says that his secretary only works half day on Secretary's day, so I got the afternoon off.

And boy did I enjoy it...now I've just got to plan for Bosses' day.

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