Buddies with the Boss

[Blade_Raver]

Don't dip your pen into company ink....

[hecubus]

I think it all depends on whether you and your boss can separate work from friendship. My manager at the movie theater I worked at was one of those types of managers. I had known her (I'll call her B) for several years before she became my manager (she worked at one of the other theaters in town.) When she became manager, she and I gradually became good friends. But B never played favorites and treated me like any other employee, except, maybe, for the fact that I joked around with her more than some of the other employees. In facet, we had a running gag about how good of a "suck-up" I was (alwasy told her she looked nice, threw a lot of other compliments her way, etc.). I never did it to curry and favor. It was just a running joke between us.

At one point, when I had moved up to assistant manager, I made the mistake of stepping outside to have a smoke while I was still punched in (a BIG no-no). B had left already, but, as it turned out, she was driving past the theater while I was outside and saw me. The next day, she called me into her office and demoted me.

In spite of this, we remained good friends after that, and remain so to this day. (I finally left the theater in '98, several years after I was demoted)

So, I guess the point of my long story is that, yes, you can be friends with your boss, as long as you realize that friendship and work are two totally different things.

[KiaKat]

I'm pretty good friends with one of my employees, and if our GM hadn't given her notice, I'd like to think we were moving along to a position of friendship.

But the reasons I'm friends with them is the same reason I consider them good workers. They're attentive to detail, creative, willing to work their butts off for the store, and offer great customer service. There's no favouritism amongst us, and very little attitude to the rest of the employees. It's a pretty close-knit staff, overall.

[Nephy]

I am friendly with all of my employees. It's hard not to be when you spend so much time together.

I admit that I play "favorites" with some of my employees, but that is only because they are hard workers, and will do most anything asked (time permitting). I figure it's a give and take kind of thing. They go above and beyond for me, I'll go above and beyond for them. If they help me out with something that's not part of their job, I will help them when they need it.

It's most evident with time off/flexible scheduals. I let them leave early, come in late, or switch days if they need to, and I can always count on those employees to have my back and stay late to get things done, or come in when someone else calls in.

I don't expect my employees to bail my ass out if I don't ever help them.