The Boss Project by Vi Keeland

“That’s good to hear. I liked him a lot. He has a quick wit and dry sense of humor.”

“You can say that again. Will likes to bet on random things. Last year he came in on New Year’s Day when no one else was here. He collected all the personal photos from every employee’s desk, scanned them into Photoshop, and superimposed his own face on every kid, spouse, and dog. He egged me into betting who would notice last.”

“Oh my God,” I cracked up. “Who was it?”

Merrick shrugged. “I’ll let you know when we finally have a winner. Two people still haven’t noticed. It’s been almost seven months.”

“That’s hysterical.”

The waitress stopped by and asked if we were ready to order, but we hadn’t even looked at the menu yet. Merrick told her to come back in a few minutes.

“Do you have a favorite thing here?” I asked, looking down at the menu.

“I usually get the pub burger or the turkey club.”

“Mmm… Both sound good.” I set my menu on the table. “Want to order one of each and share?”

Merrick smiled. “Sure.” He drank some of his water. “So how do you like the job so far?”

“It’s definitely better than I thought it was going to be.”

“You thought it was going to be bad?”

“I thought it might be hell. The guy hiring me told me he was only offering me the job because I was incompetent, some of his staff recently got into a brawl, and they don’t want to see a therapist. Not exactly a rosy picture.”

Merrick tilted his head. “Yet you took the job.”

“I thought I might be able to make a difference.”

“It must be nice to have a job where you get that satisfaction.”

“Are you saying you don’t find your job satisfying?”

“It’s a different kind of satisfaction. I love the adrenaline of my job. I love to discover a needle-in-the-haystack small company that’s going to do big things, get in on the ground floor, and watch them take off. Having financial independence is definitely satisfying, but making more money for a bunch of already rich people doesn’t leave you feeling like you’ve made a difference in someone’s life.”

“What made you go into your line of work?”

“If I’m being honest, I went into it for the money, and I love the rush of the game. What about you? What made you become a therapist?”

“I went to one when I was little, and he helped me a lot. After my mom finally left my dad for good, she put me into therapy.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s okay. I’m not ashamed of it—not anymore anyway. I was when I was little because I thought people only went to doctors when something was wrong with them. But as I got older, I realized getting help doesn’t make you weak, it makes you strong. That’s actually part of the mindset that needs to change about counseling. There’s a stigma about people who need treatment for their mental health, and that stops a lot of people from seeking help. We don’t look at people differently because they go to the dentist or cardiologist, but we do if they see a psychiatrist or therapist—as if only certain parts of the body should be treated.”

“True. But I also wouldn’t have asked you to talk about your cardiologist appointment. I was apologizing for getting too personal, not because you went to a psychiatrist.”

“Oh.” I smiled. “Maybe I jumped up on my soap box unnecessarily there.”

The waitress came back and took our order. When she left, our conversation flowed back to the office, and I had Merrick explain the authority of each of the floor traders and all of the different levels of approval that were in place. I also had him walk me through who had the ability to hire and fire who, and what recent promotions had been made. I was trying to collect all the different stress triggers, so eventually I could help determine how to manage them.

“Anything else you want to know?”

“Actually, I do have another question. It’s more personal than the organizational structure, though.”

“Okay…”

“How many weeks of vacation did you take last year?”

“I’m not sure. Why?”

“One of the things I asked the first few people I met with today was where they went on vacation last year. I wanted to make friendly conversation and get people talking openly. I was surprised to learn that none of them went anywhere, except a weekend trip or two. Your team is highly compensated, and people who make seven figures or more tend to spend money on lavish vacations and summer homes.”

Merrick nodded. “In order to really take a vacation, you need to disconnect from the office. That means you have to trust someone else to manage your portfolio while you’re gone, which isn’t easy to do. Or you have to work while on vacation, and that doesn’t go over well when you’re supposed to be on a family trip.”

“But then they never get a break from stress, and we know chronic stress causes memory impairment. If you don’t disconnect, you become less productive at work over time. I took the liberty of asking Joan in HR for a list of vacation days taken over the last year versus how many days they were entitled to. What would you guess is the average percent of allocated days off people are taking?”