How My Boss Became My Best Friend

Hi my name is Autumn and let me give you a little back story of my life. Let’s go all the way back to the summer before Freshman year. The summer of 2016 was a rough year for me. I had been battling with very extreme depression. It got so bad to the point where I got admitted into the psych ward at St .Marys for the 1st time I was there for roughly 5 days. As the summer goes by it becomes August. I am still battling depression so I get admitted to the hospital, but this time was worse because not only did I have to go into a psych ward my mom ended up kicking me out. Let’s just say that took me a long time to forgive her for that.

Anyways let’s get back to freshman year. After getting out of the hospital for the 2nd time I went to go live with my step mom and only see my mom occasionally. Freshman year wasn’t great I was still in a really bad place which led me to go back to the hospital for the 3rd time. This time instead of going to St.Marys I went to Acadia which is another psych ward which I stayed there for 2 weeks. After I got out of there I lived with my step mom for the rest of freshman year, and most of the summer. Until the week before sophomore year when my step mom kicked me out and said I needed to fix things with my mom and move back in with her. Wow did that make things complicated.

So my mom and I and also my grandparents decided that I would live with my grandparents on the weekdays and go to see my mom on the weekends so I could still attend Oak Hill. Things were so rough and I had such a hard time being at my moms because of her kicking me out and I never really forgave her. I still went up there though because she wanted to see me and really wanted to fix things. Let’s fast forward to June 2nd of 2018. I got my first job at a grocery store. It didn’t last very long because I hated it so I quit a few months later and got a new job at Dunkin Donuts. This job was in Naples where my mom lived and that became the main reason I went up there even though I wanted more then ever to stop going up there. She was the one who brought me back and forth to work.

It becomes November of 2018, and I started my job at Dunkin Donuts and I will tell you I fell in love with all the people that worked there and it brought a new type of happiness to my life. Most importantly my bosses positivity brought happiness to me. When I started working there I became even more bubbly and even more upbeat. There were a few times though when I was having such a hard time with the fact that I had to see my mom and we would get into huge fights but my boss was always there for me no matter what. He sat there and listened to me tell him why I was so upset and he hugged me when I cried because I felt like my mom didn’t love me anymore. He also gave me advice on how to forgive her and move past our fights and just cherish our good times. I will tell you if it wasn’t for my boss I probably never have forgiven my mom. Now my mom and I have a great relationship.

There is more to the story I’d like to tell you on how I helped him get through a few problems of his own. My boss had been with a guy for I think over 5 years and it had become very toxic to the point where my boss became very depressed and down and didn’t understand why his significant other was so mean to him. For a few weeks he was so upset over how mean his boyfriend was being. I always made sure to remind him how amazing he is and how he deserves so much better. I told him how he deserves to be treated with respect. He finally got up the courage to end things with his long term boyfriend and get better and be happier. It has taken him a little while to fully move past that break up but he always knows I am here for him and there has been many times where he has confided in me and talked to me about the break up. That is not the only way I have helped him though. My boss has told me on many occasions that my positivity and my bubbly personality always put a smile on his face even on the worst days. We have helped each other sometimes but not even trying. Sometimes just being around him helps me because he always makes me smile and always knows how to cheer me up and I always know exactly what to say to get a laugh out of him. My boss and I have such a special relationship I could tell him anything without fear of being judged. I will say he has become one of my best friends. I would have never thought that my boss would have been the one to help my mom and I.

So I guess you find true friends in the weirdest places. Sadly things come to an end March 7th 2020 was my last day. I got a better opportunity at a different Dunkin closer to my house in Sabattus that gave me more hours but I’d like to think that my boss at the Naples Dunkin Donuts and I will always have that connection even if I don’t work for him. So the message of this story is that friendship has no limits and you can find the best of people in the weirdest of places.

Photo by FotoGrazio on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND