Good stuff, Wade. Correction, GREAT stuff.
Once upon a time in the (not very distant past) I had a subordinate that was obese. I had a boss that held this against him. He was around 480. That is not the story, though. His weight WAS a story, in the sense that he had endured a lifetime of prejudices, rejections, etc.--- and emerged (at the point in his life where I was privileged to know and work with him) as an incredibly insightful, tolerant and gracious person. Everyone liked and respected him. He was a father of four children...his wife had dumped him...I could go on and on.
Yet he not only endured, he thrived, as he had an inner dignity hewn (I can only speculate) through overcoming those prejudices.
My boss fired him for an extremely minor infraction of a company rule. My boss was never at this particular location, (maybe once a month, cameo appearance) and never saw how well liked and respected he truly was. All he knew was that he was fat. Here comes the hyper-hypocrite part...
The bitch of it?
My boss was a devout Christian. Huge "deacon-whatever" at one of those mega-Baptist churches. He was the regional head of "Promise Keepers." He ran an openly Christian-based retail chain. Company vision: "To please God with the quality of our work." He was also a pilot performing many, many "angel flights" weekly.
After I called him every single name in the book I could think of, I resigned my position---I had JUST been promoted by this man a couple of hours beforehand, with a 30K raise to boot. (This was just after I had got out of the service)
Some fucking Christian. Christian unless you are overweight, I guess. I wish I had taken the time and trouble to go paint that on his twin beech before leaving his employ.
Like I said, I hate a bully, in all forms and guises.
I don't know what happened to my overweight co-worker, but I only hope for the sake of his next employer that he was wise enough to recognize what an incredible gift God had bestowed upon him via some burgers and such.
It made him a nice person. You know, like you.
"dfosterf" wrote: