Boss-Talk

When I was a kid, I used to play make believe games with my brothers and sister. In one game we had make believe names for each other. The favorite character was Bossy. He was the, you know, bossy one.??The reason I’m telling you this is, that I’ve noticed that over the years each boss I’ve had, has had some unique phrase that they used during conversations. This phrase, that they used as a filler, was like an old girlfriend/boyfriend thing.??You know they have a little imperfection, like a wart or mole that is so cute. At first, but the more you see them, the more irritating it gets until, well you know, ‘break-up’.??For instance, the boss I have at present, tends to say, “Whadda ya think?” all the time. He doesn’t really want to know, mind you, he just is using it as filler. To kind of bridge the gap between nothing to say and being bossy.??Another boss I used to have would say, “You see what I mean?” and the expected answer was always ‘yes’, even if you didn’t see what he meant. You see what I mean???Another boss was good at saying, “To be perfectly honest with you…” and then he’d say some mundane thing like it was a great point. At first I thought he was taking me into his confidence, but then I not only noticed that he said it to everybody, he sometimes didn’t say it which made me think he was lying. After all if he wasn’t, he’d have said he was being perfectly honest with me.??Then there was the boss who always said, “At any rate.” I’m not sure what that means, all by itself. But she would say that whenever she shifted topics or ran out of something to say on one subject, or she wanted me to leave her alone. I finally figured.??So when I heard, “At any rate,” I knew it was time to drop what we were talking about, she didn’t know what else to say or it was time for me to leave. But I was never sure. At any rate.??So, I’m boss material and I’ve decided what I need is my own pet filler phrase. It’s hard to choose. I’ve decided not to go with my old standbys, “Welp” and “Okay”. Nor do I want to use, “Okie dokie.” I’ve tried these and they just don’t instill confidence in my employees.??So I’m going to go with “give it your best shot.” And severaI others all together, I think.??I mean, to be perfectly honest with you, whadda ya think? You see what I mean? At any rate, give it your best shot.