A lot of people that the main character of my cartoon "Working It Out" is based on one mean boss that I had back in Chicago. Truth is, while this manager was a great inspiration in the beginning, Mr. Jamison is really a product of my experiences with several bosses, along with boss stories from some dear friends. Yes, the Mr. Jamison character did get his start in Chicago, but the character has grown so much since those days. Each time that a friend or associate tells me a bad boss story I'm mentally taking notes to apply to my cartoon. Granted, had a few bad bosses in my day. Mean ones, sadistic ones, backstabbbing ones, even flat-out racists ones. All of that has fueled the fire for my cartoon. I used to get upset when an unreasonable boss terrorized various newsrooms that I worked for, but now its something that I seek out. On the flip side, research for the Jamison character can be difficult if the boss is...dare I say...competent. Strangely enough, my current boss is actually quite good. Nice, thourough, fair and understanding. Basically everything Mr. Jamison is not. I had to find other avenues for my reasearch. Luckly, though good bosses exist in corporate America, they are vastly outnumbered by the Jamison types. I just hope they keep the material coming.
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