The Office Boyfriend

Everyone should have an office boyfriend (or girlfriend).

It doesn’t matter if you already have one outside work, trust Miserable Middle Manager, it is not cheating!

So what is an office boyfriend?

An office boyfriend is a colleague that you like, that pretends to like you back, and that you admire somehow. Either you like them because they have charisma, have the job you dream to have, are good presenter or because everyone in their team love them - although they don’t seem to do shit!

The office boyfriend doesn’t have to be handsome, but let's face it - better have an eye candy OBF than not.

My OBF is the Big Cheese of Marketing in my organization (the BCM). He is not very handsome but he is not bad, probably in his late forties, he has mid length blond hair and blue eyes, he dresses super smart when he has important meetings, and dresses super cool when he doesn’t. He is an amazing presenter, and he doesn’t need a magic sock. Everyone loves him and respects him, although he is barely in the office. Which reminds me of my Xanaxed manager who is neither loved and respected and, like OBF is barely in the office.

How does he do that?

First I thought his perfume was the reason of his success, some kind of Lynx Effect! OBF smells super good and super strong, so he makes sure people can smell his presence in the office.
But if it was his smell, then management would become too easy, I can already imagine Chanel developing the perfume: ‘Office Flower from Chanel – your best friend in leadership’. Everyone would buy it, become a great leader and shock horror, it would be the end of Miserable Middle Manager! MMM would become Miraculous Middle Manager! Ha ca non alors!

OBF knows everyone’s name, OBF looks at you right in your eyes when he talks to you, OBF asks you personal questions and remembers your answers, so when he meets you again in a corridor, he makes sure you are the center of his attention for half a minute. OBF organizes a weekly meeting with his team on Fridays, half an hour before normal office hours. Anyone in the company who is interested is invited. Guess what, the meeting is always packed! OBF is an amazing presenter, and a master in NLP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming)

OBF  is my hero, he is a no nonsense manager, and he is a bigger star than Johnny Dep in Miserable Middle Manager's eyes.

OBF hates Tuesday mornings, so this post is dedicated to you OBF.


I wonder if OBF has ever been a middle manager?