Mid Boss

I'm the Mid Boss. That's someone who's kinda-in-charge-but-not-really. We get sh*t piled on us by The Boss, and then we try to pass some of the sh*t down to the Peons, but unfortunately, as the Peons have little to lose, we find that, inevitably, the sh*t sticks to us. That's us, the Mid Bosses of this world.

Still, there are worst places to be Mid Boss-ing. I'm back in Holland/The Netherlands, and I'm now in charge. I report directly to The Boss.

Being a Mid Boss doesn't only mean reporting to The Boss. There's also The Boss At Job 2. And TBAJ3. They all want a piece of your ass to kick, and you have no choice but to oblige. Or quit. Which, in my circumstances, is not an acceptable option.

Still, there are perks. This Mid Boss is flying off to Malaysia and Singapore for a 1 week stint of business (with a serious dose of pleasure, hopefully), starting Friday!

Close Call

The Boss, let's call him My Boss (MB) had a call from His Boss, let's call him Big Boss (BB). No, really, this guy is Huge on the Boss Hierarchy.

So MB gets this call from BB. BB is pissed off about something that has occurred in Russia. No, it has nothing to do with Polonium radiation or sushi. In fact, one could argue that it has little to do with us.

But BB was pissed, and the Little ShoeShiners (LSS) around him were taking full opportunity to kick MB's ass.

It was 7pm, I had just wrapped up the day's work at another client. MB calls me. And he sounded pissed off. There goes my "early" night off. MB wants some files. And he wants 'em yesterday. I decided it may be prudent to go pay MB a visit, to see how the shit has hit the fan and how we can clean this shit up.

So I arrive at the main client at 8pm. I was scared shitless... did I f*ck up? Did I completely miss this event in Russia? What's this gonna do to my chances of going to Ozzie? Or NYC? Or Silicon Valley? What about my bonus??

MB was definitely pissed off. He was kinda impressed that I took the initiative to go sort shit out, but only just. So I sorted shit out as MB and my colleague were having trouble finding the relevant documents. I explained that we did procedures A, B and yes, we did C too. No, I don't believe we f*cked up. But please explain what the heck's happened.

In the end, MB agreed that no FUBAR occurred on our end. We did everything we had to, no questions about it. But it's not gonna be enough to clean the shit-scarred fan... we still missed the "Russian Event." Let's hope our contingency plan doesn't find more "Russian Surprises" or we will be SO screwed. Even though we did everything right.

Welcome to the corporate world, BlackSheep. This shit is what you signed up for.

The Sheep's Sevenlives

I discovered "the community" late last year when I picked up Style's infamous book. I was sceptical at first, but the name David DeAngelo struck a bell. I remember occassionally flipping through an article written by him on askmen.com. I googled Style and quickly realised he was the real deal: PUAs existed. What the hell was I doing at uni??? I should've been first in line to sign up in the community!

I guess it's never too late. I'm still a frickin' AFC (that's average f****ing chump) at 26, with only one long term relationship under my belt. I get AA (approach anxiety) with every HB (hot babe) that I meet, I run out of things to say at parties, I constantly get AMOG'ed (alpha male of the group blanking me out), I'm a wallflower in social gatherings, my peers are getting married and I'm struggling to start a 2nd relationship! I'm frustrated, depressed and desperate to improve my confidence, my game, and most importantly... my life.

So I trawled the web, looking for a way to climb out of the AFC pit. This year, I will change things. I will fix this problem. I will join the PU community. I will sarge and I will wing and I will learn. I will stop being an AFC. I will sort this aspect of my life out.

That is my resolution for 2007.

(and passing my last exam to become fully qualified!)