Fezziwig

Yesterday was Boss's Day, and though I feel like I've been bipolar in my work efforts, one of the members on my team paid me an extra special compliment last night. It was during our devotional time before we started making calls. He told the story of A Christmas Carol, and how he learned from the story that a boss has the power to make the workplace a heaven or hell.

He talked about Ebeneezer Scrooge, an old curmudgeon who was greedy and a workaholic. He didn't value his employee, and it was easy to see that he made life difficult for everyone who knew him. When taken to Christmas Past, he saw his former boss who handled work completely different from him. And by the end of the scene, he argues with the Ghost against his own former position. "A small matter," says the Ghost, " to make these silly folks so full of gratitude." "Small!...He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome, a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lives in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add or count them, what then? The happiness he gives is as important as if it had cost a fortune...I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now."

The Fezziwigs treated life with a much different approach. They threw parties for their employees like none other, with music and dancing and food at Christmas time. Everyone was treated the same and they were grateful for the contributions everyone made... Fezziwig's party was not about watching other people have fun, but entering into the spirit of a "family party" and enjoying life with others.

It hit me when he said that they knew how much I was working to make the job fun, keep them motivated and fed. For them to notice and tell me? An unforgettable Boss's Day gift, indeed.