My Favorite Boss

I cried when she told me that she was retiring. In her office, on the other side of her desk, I just let the tears fall down on my lap. Though she didn’t verbalize this at the time, I believe she was a bit shocked by my reaction. I rarely ever cry in front of anyone. Honestly, my intuition told me that she was going to retire soon. I just knew the time for her retirement was coming. There are some bosses that you just bond with in a unique way and that’s how I was with Renee. She helped hire me for my first full-time job. I knew how she wanted things done and any mistakes I made, I was quick to correct them once I discovered them.

What made me sad was that several of my coworkers didn’t like Renee. Their disliking of her kind of baffled me. Renee was genuinely caring and wanted the team to be excellent. She was a great leader in my book. She just wanted people to follow directions and get stuff done. That seemed simple enough to me. Working in an office with women is challenging enough but I have always felt awkward when there are two women in a working environment and they don’t like one another and everyone knows it. Can’t we just get along and focus on our jobs and the overall good of our team?

I remained friends with Renee after she retired and, of course, I got used to the new supervisor. He was drastically different but he was probably a better supervisor for the team at that time. His name was Nathan and I cannot say my connection with him was as close as it was with Renee but he was amazing in some aspects too. He always seemed optimistic and full of confidence that the team would excel, individually and collectively. One thing that I didn’t appreciate about him was how he would kind of interrogate me about certain interactions I’d had with students, especially when the students complained. College students can definitely file some complaints about, well, you name it, and they’ll complain about it!

Of all my supervisors I’ve had working at the college in student services, Renee has been the one that has been my favorite. She was thoughtful, detail-oriented, willing to be an advocate even when it was difficult, and she was dedicated to the students. I still go visit her and her husband from time to time. They have invited me to their house over the years and we always have a great time, enjoying fun conversation, and we play board games. I feel so full of gratitude that Renee helped hire me for my first full-time job because I know that it was what opened up the career I’m still working in today, eleven years later. I wish that everyone could have had a boss like Renee. I sure wish that my coworkers would have thanked her more and been more receptive to her acts of kind. It was their own loss at the time and my window of opportunity to connect with an amazing person!