The Chieftain

Published on by Susi Bocks
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Mike Martin had a reputation for being a hard boss. Not just your run-of-the-mill difficult but the exceptionally prickish kind. The people who worked for him took a lot of abuse – along with condescension, irrational demands, and a gross amount of unwillingness to compromise.

Quitting him meant you wore a badge of honor and ended up in the “I survived Mike Martin” Club! No more taking his shit, and your life would return to sanity once more.

Hurray! He just lost another employee. Poor unable-to-take-no-for-an answer Mike, pretty soon he’ll be an empire of one fending for himself.

Justice.

20 thoughts on “The Chieftain”

  2. Lol I worked for a Mike like boss. I celebrated the day I left. Then went to work at his brother’s business (his brother didn’t speak to Mike either, since he used to worked for him too. )😂 Now Mike lost his business, karma gets you sooner or later.

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    1. I’ve had two now. I vow never to work for another! lol As for karma, one can hope that he gets his due but I’ve seen too many people, bad ones, end up with a seemingly perfect life.

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      1. He’ll get his due eventually, it 4 years for my Mike to get his. Well you should see the red flags immediately. Some don’t get it, treat your employees right and they will work hard for you. I hope you find one that treats you with respect. 💛

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  4. Excellent. Little Needy Lord Fauntleroy Kings make for little kingdoms. You’ve also dug out and dusted off a big Abrazos smile of a memory. I worked for a Mike Martin type Early on in my career, until that one day In a meeting:

    MM: Jordan, I need you to stop taking notes and listen to me! The minutes should cover that.
    JH: You know Mike. I firmly feel that everyone’s good at something. You as well, Mike. Even. You. You’re really good at being a dick.
    MM: You’re fired!
    JH: Thank you for saving the step. Now I don’t need to put in for vacay.
    (And I got up and walked out)

    I’ve encountered this type in various forms. Control freaks. Over-confident Drivers rather than Leaders. I’ve realized something, though over the years, now that my perspective means there is no Principal when you’re an adult, no one to get you in trouble but yourself… and (Winston Churchill’s, if you stop to address every barking dog… and Anais Nin’s, And the day came when the risk of remaining tight in the bud was greater than the risk it took to blossom)… what I’ve realized, is that AS MUCH as this type of person lords over people. If you just turn off your ears so the volume doesn’t shutter-shake-shimmy you, and just watch them, just feel them. They are just really effin NEEDY when you drill down into it.

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      1. Nodding. Yes, Now, I have a repertoire of wonderfully quippy superficial gimmicky things to say to cut them off at the knees, so they bleed like the Black Knight in Monty Python & The Holy Grail:

        JH: “Oh wow. Just wow! Yes!
        MM: What’s wow? You liked that?
        JH: MM, I think you just expressed THE most concise and clear version of that concept I’ve ever experienced, except for one, tiny, little detail.
        MM: Yes?
        JH: You’re just flat wrong.

        🙂 You have me rolling now laughing, Susi!

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          1. 🙂 Yes. It. Is. The laughter is priceless! I guess we call it the Mic Drop now?

            I guess I’ve always had a fetish or simply intolerance for cruelty, and for deflating the bully. Heck, even in kindergarten I psyched out a 2nd grader a foot taller with a fake gruff voice when he was picking on some girl (yes, that I was crushin’ on) and then popped him in the nose. His dad chased me down the street to my house where my Dad came out, was told the story, and how that was violent and he ought to teach me about the error of my ways… his response? Priceless… “Ah sir, that was in no way violence. Jordan’s a good kid, and for 5, surprisingly discerning. That was Not violence. That was a consequence. Back atcha for your little one. I suggest he discern responsibility and have a greater awareness of his surrounding. If he did, he would have seen it coming.” 🙂

            Good influences.

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          2. After 25 intense years in the martial arts years back, I will say these two things about “violence, though:
            “Why move 3” when blade is only 1/4” wide?
            “Confucius say, Man who have mosquito land on testicles, quickly learn that violence is not the best course of action.”
            🙂

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