'Bossman' gave me life lessons, but I mostly didn't use them

The other day I was chatting with a friend about a deal they were working on when an old saying came to mind.

“It’s like this radio station owner back east told me a long time ago, ‘Everything I own is for sale,’ part of stuff he said on a road trip,” I said.

I was remembering “Bossman.”

I call a few people “Bossman.”

I managed one of Bossman’s radio stations in West Virginia.

One day he called me up.

“McGee, come on up here and pick me up. It’s a surprise inspection. I want to see what you’re doing at my station,” he said.

So I drove up to his Pennsylvania town, a little over an hour away.

A road trip for me, and on the clock.

So there I am, road tripping with the Bossman.

“Daughter calls me up. Just graduated college. Wants me to buy her a Mercedes sports car, wanted me to surprise her with the color, I told her to buy it herself,” Bossman said.

“Umm-hmmm,” I said nodding my head.

“You’d think her being my daughter she’d know something about money,” he said.

And that’s when Bossman gave me his philosophy of money and business, interrupted by stops at country stores so he could buy wine coolers which he consumed while I drove.

“I don’t understand why she doesn’t get a good used car for about $1,000. If you want to be wealthy, you won’t get there through excessive displays of wealth,” he said.

Bossman said the wealthiest people he knew lived in everyday residential homes.

“They don’t have big houses or shop at those high-dollar mall stores in the suburbs. They shop at places like Kmart, Dollar General, thrift stores, rummage sales, even garage sales. You don’t save money by blowing it willy-nilly,” he said.

Bossman went on to give me a surprising lesson on business legalities too.

“You don’t have to pay bills you don’t want to,” he said.

“What?” his words surprised me.

“Oh don’t get me wrong, pay your bills. But you’ll run into bills that you feel aren’t justified,” Bossman said.

His strategy was the bill would be paid, but on his terms.

“I don’t pay the bill. They send threatening letters. I ignore them. I get crap from their legal department. I ignore it. And soon there’s a notice to appear in court. So I go to court on the day I’m supposed to and wait for the guy to show up at the courthouse,” Bossman said.

He had my attention.

“I see him, walk up to him and say, ‘Look, what kind of money can you and I agree on right here, right now so we don’t have to go in that courtroom. And usually we work out something a lot less than the original figure,” Bossman said.

I was so amazed at Bossman’s audacity I didn’t say a word.

Here in the future I might’ve asked him if they didn’t agree, what next?

And didn’t he have to pay for the other guy’s lawyer?

So Bossman and I got to his West Virginia radio station, he talked to some of the staff then he took me to lunch.

I drove him back to Pennsylvania where he gave me a $100 bill and a bottle of whiskey.

And a couple of life lessons that gave me food for thought, but I never used.

Well, except for those good words about where to shop, and not blowing money willy-nilly.

Grant McGee writes for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him:

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