Taking a Stand: It’s tough to have voters as a boss
So you think your boss is a jerk? I guess we all get that feeling once in a while, a sense of frustration over this or that, wondering what the heck the boss could be thinking when certain decisions are handed down which affect us negatively.
However, how would you like to work for bosses where you have to constantly kiss up to them to keep your job, a job where you have to act like you have something in common with every one of your employers? Better yet, how would you like to have bosses who would fire you because another applicant is their friend or simply because they want a fresh face in the position? Would you want a job where people call you in the middle of the night, complaining about everything imaginable, a job where you could be fired if you simply failed to do one item in a hundred?
Sure, maybe your employer is a jerk, but I know of one boss who is worse than any corporate weasel — the public. There could be no tougher bosses than the voters. They have a blue-million different agendas and they will turn on you at the drop of the hat. And, if you don’t do exactly what they want when they want, you’re fired. No taking it before the labor board, no appeals, you’re just out on your ear.
Talk about the boss looking over your shoulder. Public office means you’re under the microscope every day of your life, constantly being scrutinized and criticized by your bosses, some of whom are barely competent enough themselves to get out of bed in the morning. Yet, they still possess the power to hire and fire so you can’t afford to tell them just how idiotic they are.
Last time I looked, there was no idiot test at the polls. All you have to do is be registered and have a pulse to vote, and even then, half or more of the bosses fail to even go to the polls.
What other job do you have to come up for re-evaluation every four years? And, each time around, you have to kiss up to the voters, saying the things they want to hear. You even have to spend your own money to campaign to keep your job.
We had folks literally breaking bones trying to please the public in this last election. A politician must not only say things the public wants to hear, they must also become a showman to capture the eyes of the voters. Failure to participate in an event could mean your job if you’re a politician.
Face it, the best person doesn’t always win. There’s a lot of factors which go into getting elected, and often, ability to do the job isn’t one of them. However, with that said, I still have the utmost respect for anyone who will even seek public office due to the sacrifices that must be made.
Many people constantly associate the word “politician” with something negative. However, I say it’s quite the opposite. We, the voters, are the ones who paint them into a corner, making them appease us and tell us what we want to hear. Just like you would do in an interview for a regular job with a prospective boss, a politician is going to try their best to impress the voters.
Come on, how many times do you tell an interviewer things they don’t want to hear when you’re applying for a job? If you did, it’s a pretty sure bet you won’t get hired.
But, when you get down to it, elections are the American way and part of our great freedoms. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
However, next time you start to bad mouth a person running for political office, just remember all the trash they have to put up with just to run for the office. How many of us would put up with bosses so petty to keep a job? If nothing else, the folks putting themselves forth for election have guts and the patience to listen to thousands of people trying to pull them in thousands of different directions.
(Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at news@southernstandard.com.)