Suddenly I see

I went to see "The Devil Wears Prada" yesterday and was surprised by how much I loved it. Having a vast collection of bad boss stories myself, I enjoyed seeing how far the boss was willing to push, what craziness she was going to demand next.

I had many a Saturday ruined by a bad boss. In the cities, I was called into the science stacks in July (sauna-like conditions with that musty-book stank) to sit around for an hour and then photocopy one article for my boss. Heavens forbid he operate the copy machine himself. He could sprain something! His other assistant was there as well. I did what I was told, but wrote every incident down and eventually manipulated my way into the charge of another supervisor.

My second professional job, I had to hide from my boss every Friday afternoon or else I would be working on Saturday. If he found me, I would have a rock solid reason for needing Saturday off: Volunteering to bring orphans to the zoo, spending the day building houses for Habitat, donating an organ to a good friend. Since I didn't actually do any of those things and am a terrible liar, I worked a lot of Saturdays. I do wonder if, had I been passionate about my work, I would have been thrilled to work with my boss one-on-one on Saturdays. Shouldn't I have jumped at that opportunity?

Now, because of this movie, I am wondering if I thought myself too good for mundane tasks. Have I ever been passionate about my work, whatever that is? That answer is yes, but not consistently, and never about science.

Now that I am my own boss, I am thinking about becoming a crazy boss to myself. Could be just what I need...