Well, I lost the coin toss.  So my husband got to choose my son’s costume this year.  Which is the reason we sent a perfectly normal, happy preschooler out of the house on Halloween night dressed as the Edmund Fitzgerald.

I don’t think the other kids knew what to think of him. All the Disney-Princesses-Named-Ava and Pirates -Named-Joshua seemed to regard him as a member of similar, yet not entirely familiar, species. We the parents are used to such looks, and feel it builds character.  Kids just feel the rocks hitting them in the back of the head…

So there I am, developing a stripe. And I show my bosses.  (Notice the plural.)

My co-workers are used to the boss-speak,  And often have their own translation.

Sometimes we like to play little tricks on the bosses, in an ongoing effort to salvage a bit of our dignity.  By the end of the day, I was ready to seal the deal on the little stripe project.  So I busted out an oldie but goodie.  It’s called ‘Show-Them-The-Same-Thing-But-Tell-Them-You Made-’Subtle Updates’.’  This is most effective when paired with a small snippet of their own language.

In the end, I get paid by the hour.  So everyone wins.