The Boss is Alright

The summer after my senior year in High School I desperately needed a job. The economy was in recession and my parents had spent the college money they’d saved on divorce attorneys.

I signed on with every temp agency I could and finally got sent out to interview for several possible jobs at a machine shop. I arrived and was shown in. The boss was an English expatriate.

“We filled the positions with capable candidates this morning. Good day,” he said succinctly but politely.

In my own defense let me say that at 16 I honestly didn’t know that wishing someone, “Good day,” like this was a polite way of saying, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“That does sound like a good day, sir,” I said, a little too cheerfully.

There was a stupendous silence.
“Yes, good day,” the Boss finally said.

“Uh… yes,” I said getting more and more confused, “so what can I do for you?”

The man was clearly not happy and getting angrier every second. My brain was locking up. I was at a loss for what to do or say.

“I can learn most anything,” I say. “I can type, I can draft…”

“I said, GOOD DAY!” he said boiling over.

At this point his admin, a well-dressed young man, also English, comes to my rescue. He comes over to me and discreetly whispers the situation. My hopes sink.

Trying to maintain a brave face, I take a deep breath, “Now I understand. My apologies, and good day to you too, sir.” I nod to him, the admin, then don my cap and hustle for the door, utterly humiliated.

“OK, you’re hired, dammit!” the boss says just as I reach the doorway.

I spin around daring to hope, “Uh, thank you, sir, for what position?”

“I don’t know,” he says gruffly. “We’ll find something.”

And that was my first job as a Purcell Temp placed at Whittaker Controls in Los Angeles.

The British have a reputation for being polite and I guess the boss just couldn’t stand the thought that he had been rude, even inadvertently so, to a young man who was nothing but eager to work.

I gave that job my best. Before long the boss helped me to become a junior drafter. That job enabled me to go to college. I’ve been a bit of an anglophile ever since.

Not to mention that, OK, you’re hired, dammit! has to be the best job acceptance ever.