I am bossy

I am a little slow sometimes to catch on to trends. 

It's not my fault. I blame the herky jerky, "trending" hashtag planet we find ourselves inhabiting. 

It's exhausting.

Actually I'm not slow. I'm just busy, like most everyone else. That's a "b" word. A "b" word that is okay.

See, when all of this stuff started mushrooming about banning the "b" word (first spotted by me in Facebook, which pathetically is one of my daily news sources -- and I am an ex-journalist for crying out loud), it caught my eye right away.

I was like, yeah! Quit calling women bitches! Yeah!

Although the older I get, the less that label bugs me. Still it is hurtful and demeaning and assertive women should not be criticized for being bitchy just because they're not letting someone walk all over them.

Besides, when someone calls you bitchy for doing your job or fulfilling other responsibilities, they're the one with the problem, not you.

End of blog post.

Well, not just yet. A headline popped out at me the other day I realized the "b" word was the word "bossy". 

Cue that scratching noise that a turntable needle makes when suddenly dragged across a vinyl record.

Huh?

Okay, I will concede that "bossy" isn't the nicest thing to say. And it's not nice to call people names.

But I've been telling my sister her whole life she is bossy. And she's just fine! (Right, sissy?)

And now you're gonna tell me not only is that wrong, there is a whole campaign about it?

And is my sister mad at me?

Let me tell you about being "bossy". Had I been bossier as a young woman, a whole lot would have been different. And better. I would have bossed a lot more losers out of my life and done so more quickly.

I would have been talked down to less. Not sexually harassed. Probably wouldn't have been scare to speak up about a lot of things.

Look, I get it. The "bossy" police aren't telling women to be less assertive. They just don't want others tearing down women who are strong and assertive. #banbossy is a gimmick to get the conversation started. Which it has.

Knowing I am wrong about stuff sometimes, I took this discussion on my run this morning and asked my running friends for their thoughts. They're all amazing and smart women. No wallflowers in that group.

Maybe it was the 4:30 am hour and they didn't feel like arguing with me, hehheh, but they agreed. 

We kinda like being called bossy. I boss people around all the time.

And it works a fair amount of the time.

It would have bugged me when I was younger. But everything bothered my paper-thin skin back then.

But now?

Call me bossy and I'll consider it a compliment. That means you're listening and hearing what I am telling you. 

And that I'm the boss. Woohoo!

But just in case... I better give my sister a call.