Once, some years ago, everyone probably went through a time when no one could boss him/her around. Even parents would have a hard time bossing their children around. Until they grew up, people matured, they learned to be patient, they learned why their parents would boss them around and they started to learn to cope up with it.  There’s always a time when one day, you and your boss have a run through. She shouts at you and bitches at you for nothing and you just have to wrangle yourself in your mind to keep yourself from screaming back at her.

Why couldn’t you snap back at her even though you know you’re right and you know she’s wrong and there was nothing, nothing wrong at all with what you did? Why, o, why did you have to wrangle yourself in your mind to keep from snapping back at her? I always wonder, what’s more important, pride or the money you’re earning?  Maybe I used the wrong word. Maybe it should have been dignity and I had to check the dictionary twice before I could consider it.

Recently, I went through the same situation. She was a new employer of mine and she was the one who recruited me into her work. She had all sorts of rules, even promised to train me. I am sure I followed all of her rules. I did so many things for her and I had a very low rate per article from her, she was the lowest I every had. But I didn’t quit on her because I started with her and I had too much respect for her and she hasn’t paid me yet. I did so much for her, sometimes I couldn’t do other jobs because of her, I would do 40-50 articles a week aside from my other work and even if I ran out of juice to write, I still had to.
Then, one day, I asked one simple question. To be truthful, I asked what day was she going to pay me.
She snapped back at me, like I had done something wrong.

I’m a very patient person. I really am. But when she said those things she said, I was appalled. It was like I had no right to ask that. I wanted to reply to her that I was just asking, that I just wanted to know, because she’s the only one who hasn’t paid me yet, that I’m starting to have doubts. But I didn’t. It’s killing me that I didn’t because I know I had the right to ask and besides I’m the one at risk right? I’m the one who’s going to have wasted days doing her work if she doesn’t pay me right? So why in the world couldn’t I snap back at her?  I’m not really sure if I just didn’t want to cause problems or maybe I just didn’t want to bite on her words.  This afternoon she paid me only half of my month work. And she didn’t even inform me beforehand.
Now I’m not sure how to react. Is it unfair or am I just overreacting?

Sometimes, we have to weigh things before reacting. How important the job is to you, how good is the job for you and how much you benefit from it. Is it worth more than your pride and your personality being stepped on? Is feeling like you did something wrong when you didn’t and you start to question your credibility and your judgment worth this job?  In my case, I could easily quit.I have 5 other jobs and I enjoy them better than my job at hers.  So why in the world did I hold back?It’s probably because of respect (well, I am half her age), and maybe, just maybe the other half of my payment she owes me.