i was listening to easy fm (former nation fm) breakfast show yesterday which is hosted by ciku – is she a former standard pulse magazine editor?. the budding show host has made a name for her show in the overcrowded breakfast show circuit through her popular calls that busts cheating spouses.

easy fm breakfast show is on the rise after a ride down the ratings when munene nyaga and ngatia left. sports newscaster bernard otieno didn’t do the show justice and talia tried. my 0.02$.

she initiated a discussion on why women snoop when they are left at jamaas homes. she admitted herself having snooped and found more than she bargained for and so did other calling listeners.

i had thought the problem is a reserve of certain persona non grata who are forever banned from setting foot in my place unaccompanied. this followed my discovery that whenever i left such persons alone in my place they had an uncontrollable curiosity to go through my stuff.

“you told me you were done with tracy, why do you still have her photos”, i was once confronted.

“why should i not, she is part of my past and we didn’t murder each other”, i answered back.

then something hit my mars brain hard.

“how did you know i still have them?” i inquisitively asked the venutian.

cunningly, she boomeranged the guilt on me.

“you still love her, you do not love me!”, she said amid sobs.

what logic! but it worked; calmed me down and love had to be affirmed.

“it’s not like that. you do know that i love and cherish you and no one has ever or will ever take your place in my heart” i assured and defended myself.

“really?”, she sought my genuine confirmation.

“yeah”, surely there can be no better answer to that.

i continued to justify retaining my x-file photos., “besides i think it’s a high school thing to poke on an ex’s eyes in a still photograph or cut them out in a group photo or burn them”

“then return them or else …” she said firmly and slyly while stroking my chest with her index finger.

before i could respond she walked away to the kitchen, a winner smile splashed over her pretty hideous face “where is the pizza you went to buy, i am feeling soo hungry”. i could not follow up on the evil of snooping. i felt like adam after swallowing the forbidden fruit from eve’s tender hands; cornered, won over and naked.

it started with registration of a christian religious party called agano (kiswahili for testament), predominantly backed by the presybeterian church of east africa (p.c.e.a). then came pastor ndura waruinge - of the mungiki fame - eyeing the langata seat which landed him in remand at the kamiti maximum prison.

the bug has now hit tele-evangelist bishop doctor margaret wanjiru of jesus is alive ministries going for the starehe seat. her former love life has come to embarrassingly haunt her. in the meantime her every move to correct perceptions have had her sinking deeper into the public humiliation sewer. her comrade in faith, telecaster pastor pius muiru has a larger vision of not only wrestling the kamukunji seat from the fiery government chief whip, norman nyaga, but has a higher vision of beating president kibaki at the game. some section of the sponsoring party (rap-k) leadership has denounced him and said that he is not a member of the party.

they will not be the first in this political road. the current and former parliaments had their own share of church leaders turned politicians. however this time, high profile pulpit enthusiasts has stirred the mood of the country regarding church ministers getting political.

reuben kigame, a christian apologetics preacher and musician insisted that bishops and pastors should keep off politics since even in the old testament, there was always an office of a king and that of a prophet. former anglican archbishop added that church ministry is a full time job and church ministers should not be actively involved in politics. he said that church ministers are supposed to spread the gospel and not serve tables as stated in acts chapter six.

there have been many counter arguments on this debate. should pastors, reverends and other men and women in church ministry run in active politics? what will happen to their followers and how will they juggle between the two worlds and be effective in both? how will they handle those that do not confess the same faith as them? will they compromise to accommodate them? why can’t they just identify an able leader in their congregation and sponsor them to run for elective political office? should they resign their church positions before running for political seats? are they sincere in their quest for political power or are they after self-actualisation?

having reached the church summit in terms of fame, spiritual power, wealth and having members holding them in awe and wonder, have they reached a flat and are in search of another high?

Boss four:
Interview: he just fell short of shooting me
Learning curve: no excuses, deliver now, I don’t care how
Terms: he had no control over this process; he was dissatisfied with the perks he got
Non-work interaction: this was a reserve of the favourites
Discipline: petty at best; all the trivia were documented in your employee file. Reprimanded you anytime, anyplace, anyhow and shouted you down at your excuses.
Motivation: you never get it right, threatened to get rid of me all the time, till I got rid of myself. He lowered my self-esteem thoroughly.
More: a micro manager at best, he had to know every call you made or email you wrote. What you said, the response and why you did not ask this or that. You had to account for every single second of your day. He was untrusting and tracked my every move. “JP, how come you are not in your desk”, he would ask often. One day I was in the gents and I answered, “I am in the holy cubicle”. The uncontrollable noises just proved a point.
Senior: Boot licked. Blamed his juniors for all failures and would put you in the firing line when with his seniors.

Boss five:
Interview: formal, voice of reason during the interview (some interviewers die to strip interviewee naked)
Learning Curve: patient, believed in my approach to work and adopted it with others
Terms: reasonable
Non-work interaction: None
Discipline: liberal and was easy to get away with petty issues as long as you performed
Motivation: it is your job, we pay you to do exactly that!
More: He made us feel secure. He valued my skills, poached me when he changed jobs.
Senior: He didn’t give a damn about them as long as his section performed; he stood his ground when his team was blamed.

Boss six:
Interview: formal, warned me not to be too imposing going by my demands during the process
Learning curve: impatient and unsupportive during this time. It took him one and a half months to get me necessary resources.
Terms: pushed that I get less than what I deserved in the company job scales
Non-work interaction: None. No employee was within his social league. He made this clear except for an intern who was studying in the US
Discipline: Weird! Made me send an email every morning I reported to work till I discovered scheduled emails
Motivation: unrewarding, took all the credit and had a superiority complex. Blocked a pay rise I had tirelessly negotiated.
More: Impressive with an open-door policy (the door was always open) and his empathic nature. (I just needed to tell him I am tired and he will give me an off-had to work extra hours afterwards to meet deadlines)
Seniors: Made us believe the seniors were good, hones and infallible despite evidence to the contrary and the way the seniors often belittled him.

I always looked forward to the day I will climb to the top of the legendary corporate ladder and enjoy a bird’s eye view and quit the worm look. Little did I know of the challenges of dealing with lower rankings who slowly but surely gnaw away the ladder trying to topple me and have a feast of my guts.

Being just a few planks away to the top, I decided to re-look at the experiences with my previous bosses. I may learn a few lessons from my former managers. I must admit it is hard rising in the rat race and the entrepreneur way of self employment seems faster. I have analyzed them under the following categories that affected my work life:

• Interview – How the boss handled me during the interview
• Learning curve – How I was managed during my first months at work
• Terms – Influence the boss had on salary and perks
• Social – How the boss interacted with us on non-work and social issues
• Discipline – How the boss handled my erred ways
• Motivation – was the boss inspiring, motivational, rewarding, supported creativity
• More: other titbits that affected my working experience
• Senior relations – my perceived relations of the boss and his/her seniors
  

Boss one:

1. Interview: informal, I was unskilled but he trusted my quick-to-learn interview antics
2. Learning Curve: very patient, taught me every bit of the process
3. Terms: He had control of what his team earned and gave me more than I expected
4. Social: joined staff for lunch and invited us to his home. Involved us with non-company projects where we made extra cash.
5. Discipline: was firm and civil
6. Motivation: quite encouraging and supportive but used my project to get an international job
7. More: very social but made rude jokes on his juniors.
8. Senior: he made crude jokes about them in our presence but made them know what a great team he had

Boss two:

1. Interview: informal, was after my skills and so sign-up was speedy
2. Learning curve: relatively impatient but provided more than enough resources
3. Terms: sympathized but corporate job grade policy could not allow more
4. Non-work Interaction: friendly, involved me in his wedding
5. Discipline: intense pressure to deliver
6. Motivation: promised and delivered more paying opportunities when I met targets
7. More: Helped me get a better job when I outgrew my role and could not rise within.
8. Senior: He was respectful. The seniors would usually complement us, so we knew he attributed his success to us.

Boss three:

1. Interview: formal, felt I was over-qualified but still hired me
2. Learning curve: no issues since I was experienced in the tasks
3. Terms: pushed me to settle for less since I appeared desperate
4. Non-work Interaction: None at all except for the pestering on whether I am opus dei
5. Discipline: I had been warned of the ruthlessness so managed to have a clean boy profile
6. Motivation: We both knew it won’t last, so she was busy looking for a replacement as I hustled for a less-brown pasture. Job insecurity made me unproductive.
7. More: She cared I get a job befitting my skills despite the fact that I loved the job. She made me insecure all through.
8. Seniors: She worshipped them