Reply #6: Yes I was 17 years old and my boss was a land surveyor

[tularetom]

Every Friday (and a lot of other days as well) afternoon he'd go out to lunch and not come back. No one else was authorized to sign our pay checks so as the junior member of the firm I got sent over to the bar to get him to sign them. Sometimes he'd get belligerent and refuse to sign and once he threatened to punch me out. I knew if I insisted he'd eventually give in just to get rid of me.

It was a totally fucked up situation. Everybody had their own agenda and nobody was willing to concede anything to anybody else. The boss was consistent only in his inconsistency and you never knew how he would react to any situation. I worked there about a year and left when I was drafted.

You are correct - it was very similar to what we as a country are going through right now.