One important rule I have held to is that I have kept work out of this blog. If I am taking their money, I take their orders and show them loyalty. If I want to be disloyal I can simply resign. That's the way it is.
I had that very discussion after a somewhat heated argument with one of the big bosses and when it was over we shook hands and that was that. Fair enough!
He was a straight shooter and although he was hard nosed he was generous and very often threw me a bone if I went above and beyond.
Anyway one day I was in somewhat of a snit and we had a little spare time. I found a snoose can kicking around and cleaned it out and my partner, a computer genius made me a label for it.
The empty snoose can was now relabled. Instead of Skoal it said 'Give a f***' on it. I tossed it on the counter and smiled at it from time to time. It floated around the galley for quite some time.
Various customers, mainly dockmen and gaugers would see it and chuckle.
One day the big boss dropped by and of course he noticed it. My partner turned ashen. The boss opened it, looked at me and said, "It's empty!"
"Dammit," I shot back. "It's my last can, too!"
With a grin he asked me if he sensed an attitude problem. I replied with a grin, "Yeah, but it's just a little one."
I thought he would die laughing. For a minute he was no longer a higher up in a suit, he was an equal, just another guy trying to make a living.
After he settled down a bit he simply said, "I want one."
I told him to take that one because I could whip another one up the next time and he pocketed it.
A couple of years later in an unrelated discussion with one of the office guys he mentioned that the can was still on his desk and once in a while he'd use it on some pretentious idiot.
I could write a book about things that have happened in my career of working on the water because the entire industry draws a different breed of people.
No comments:
Post a Comment