Mid-Boss

The past two weeks have been hell. I've been working on this project for over a month now, one that was assigned to me by our Big Boss. In video game parlance, a boss is a foe that you meet at the end of a level, like Bowser from the Mario games. You have to fight through hordes of enemies to get to the boss, who is usually tough to defeat himself. The video game comparison isn't really about the Big Boss since I don't consider him a foe. It does, however, apply to the Mid-Bosses.

A Mid-Boss is a foe that is weaker than the Big Boss but is usually a challenge himself. Some games have a Mid-Boss that appears in the middle of a level while some have several Mid-Bosses that need to be defeated before the Final (Big) Boss can be fought. In my case, it's not really fair to say that the Mid-Bosses are my enemies but, throughout the course of the project, they haven't been supportive either. In some instances, I think they were downright antagonistic.

When the Big Boss gave me the project, he mentioned specific objectives and asked me what my approach would be. I gave it to him. He liked it. When the Mid-Bosses started dipping their hands in the pot, things got out of control. I found myself trying to meet multiple goals given by different people. Input was coming in left and right. My objectives had sub-objectives. When I went looking for clarity, someone tried to shut me up. Even worse, that same person wanted to put words in my mouth. I literally felt like I was being deprived of independent thought, that some fascist was telling me not only what to do, but what to think. It was insulting.

But I went on. And before I continue, don't expect a happy ending. This isn't a success story. The project is nearly complete. Save for a few edits here and there, it's almost out of my hands now. The end result became something that was completely different from the objective given to me by the Big Boss. I just wish that when he sees it at the end, I can put up some sort of defense for what happened. Projects used to be fun. Now they're just ways for the Mid-Bosses to flex their collective might.