One, two, buckle your boss's shoe

A lesson on what not to do

Two things. One, I’m going to tell you something, and two, I’m not telling something else.

I’m telling what I did, but I’m not telling how old I was when I did it.

“Terri, you’re old enough to know better.” ~ Diane Mork, my mother, who also was a master gardener (in addition to being a truck driver) and gave me this plant ten years ago, which I still have.

The reason I’m not telling you my age when I did it is because it’s truly embarrassing. I can tell you this: I was old enough to know better.

You’re old enough to know better.

As the oldest child of four (and only girl sibling) I heard that phrase from my mother a lot growing up: you’re old enough to know better. Presently, I am 62 years old and I certainly am old enough to know better on most everything.

I’m old enough to know when someone is lying. (Hence, my voting pattern.)

I’m old enough to know when someone is sincere. (Hence, my hiring pattern.)

I’m old enough to know that I need to own my mistakes. (Hence, my writing pattern.)

I’m old enough.

And yet, I did it. I’m not telling you when, but I’m telling you what. This is what I did.

I was in my well appointed executive office (with pretty furniture I’d personally paid for) talking on the phone with another state-wide leader on the team. We were discussing urgent matters for the next week, and how to communicate them with other team members. It was an important and genuine conversation, for the purpose of advancing our greater mission.

My boss walked in unannounced during the conversation. My boss sat down and stared at me while I continued the phone conversation. Confused, I put my phone on mute and asked my boss if they needed anything. My boss put their finger to mouth as if to shush me. Still confused, I continued the phone conversation with my boss staring at me, obviously wanting something but I didnt’ know what. The phone colleague didn’t know that my boss was listening to our conversation. Our plans were by no means secret but I’ll admit I was offput by my boss’s behavior and I ended the phone conversation short.

What did my boss need? Was there an urgent media request? An immediate website change? An emergency communication? An unexpected resignation?

No.

This is what my boss needed: they needed me to buckle their shoes in preparation for an evening gala that had nothing to do with work.

Ever the compliant, work-ethiced employee — I buckled their shoes. It was 5 p.m. on a work day and I bent down and I buckled my boss’s fancy party shoes for their evening social.

My mother would tell me that I was old enough to know better.

My mother was right.