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A Career Fairy Tale: “The Prince and the Dog Gun”
Allow me to tell you a Career Fairy Tale, complete with moral at the end.
It is a tale of princes, lords, respect, revenge, and dog guns. Yes, dog guns.
Once upon a time in a land far away and a time many, many years ago, there was a handsome prince (yes, that would be me). The kingdom wasn’t as big on providing for all of the prince’s needs as you might think, so he got a job.
In his new job, he worked for an odd couple of guys. They both owned the business together, so it was like having two bosses. But, they were pretty easy-going bosses, and frequently not present, so it wasn’t so bad.
At times, as often happens, the bosses had a different idea of what needed to be done and how it was to be done than the prince. While our prince was young and did not yet fully comprehend that the boss was the boss (and, as a result, got very annoyed at these changes), he still managed a respectful attitude and made the changes requested.
“Don’t they understand,” the prince thought to himself, “that I’m doing all of this work for them and making them look good for their clients, despite their own efforts?”
Whether or not the bosses understood this, something was about to happen that would change their relationship forever.
THE DAY THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
One day, the prince and the bosses were leaving the cottage of work. As the bosses were getting into a carriage, they called the prince over. One of the bosses was clarifying details related to the prince’s work. The other was saying, “Hey prince! Hey prince! Look! Prince!”
At this point, I must describe what it was that Boss #2 was showing to our prince as no pictures are available to show you.
Imagine, if you will, a PEZ dispenser complete with a dog head. I’m not sure what type of dog’s head it was, but just pick your favorite breed. Now imagine that the dispenser has a trigger on it. When one pulls the trigger, the dog’s mouth opens and it makes a squeaky “woof” sound.
This is a “dog gun”.
And this is what boss #2 was showing to our prince. And squeaking it. Repeatedly.
So, the conversation went something like this:
BOSS1: “Prince, about that script that you were working on…”
BOSS2: “Prince! Prince! Look at this! Prince!”
B1: “…I think we need to shorten the first section so that we can…”
B2: “Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!…”
B1: “…and then if you’ll add in this music bed here, I think you’ll find…”
B2: “Prince! Didja see it? Woof! Isn’t that cool! Prince! Prince!”
B1: “…the total time needs to be around…”
B2: “Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!…”
And it went on like that for an excruciatingly long amount of time.
THE SAD CONCLUSION
Keep in mind that our prince was young. And, as we all know, young people are often completely idealistic and disdainful of reality. At least, that was the case with our young prince.
So, whether it was the look in his eye, the tone of his voice, or something else, we shall never know. But our prince apparently wasn’t able to keep his newfound lack of respect for boss #2 a secret.
For a few days later, the prince was fired by a pageboy the bosses had sent. The reason? Our prince was not suitably respectful to the boss.
THE MORALS OF OUR STORY
It turns out that there are a number of young princes and princesses out in the land who aren’t supported by their kingdoms. As a result these young royals have to get jobs. For all of you, here are the several morals to our story:
- The Boss Is The Boss - Even if you are a prince, the boss is still the boss. Even if the boss has a screw loose, the boss is still the boss. Even if you aren’t able to muster up respect for the boss the size of the runt of an ant litter, the boss is still the boss.
As such, he has the ability to fire you for just about any reason his ale-addled brain can come up with. Since that is the case, you may want to do a better job than our prince in hiding your lack of respect.
- Have Compassion For “They” is “Us” - Generally speaking, things don’t work the way that they “ought to” out in the real world. People (even - perhaps especially - bosses) have many flaws. Often, people are blind to their flaws and go on blissfully unaware. And yet, those same flaws frequently will impact your work.
The best plan for dealing with these people (particularly the ones in power) is to have compassion on the people and do what you can to adapt to the afflictions. A good reason for this is that you, too, have afflictions that you, too are unaware of.
- Don’t Bring Your Dog Gun To Work - One day, when you’re the boss, do me a favor. Don’t bring your dog gun to work. It’ll help everyone respect you more and you won’t have to fire an employee and go through the trouble of hiring another.
I hope you have enjoyed this installment of Career Fairy Tale Theatre.
Enjoy the Search!
Dan
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Daniel R. Sweet
Chief Cook-And-Bottle-Washer / Technical Recruiter
FRACAT.com - Free Resume and Career Toolbox
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielrsweet
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Photo by: Maulleigh
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