o, You Are Not the Boss

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

The Baron and his fiancée, Lady Angela of Alpine Castle, had a well-balanced social life in Lilliland. Lady Angela liked to be hostess at regular dinner parties at her castle. The guest list included friends from Lilliland. Usually there were about eight couples at the dinners.

The conversation was usually friendly and light, talking about hiking, sailing, or skiing experiences. But, as of late, the conversations began to take on a negative tone.

One couple, who were regulars at the dinner parties, were William and Gloria Hadden, who had been married for ten years and usually seemed to get along very well.

As of late, they would argue at the dinner table about who was the boss in their marriage. Everyone at the table felt very uncomfortable about this event that seemed to occur from time to time.

Finally, the Baron and Lady Angela agreed to exclude the Haddens from their guest list for future events.

Several months later, Gloria Hadden spoke with Lady Angela and asked why she and her husband were not invited to the dinners anymore. Very politely said, it was because family arguments were an embarrassment for everyone at the dinner.

Finally, the Haddens began to resolve the question of “Who is the boss?” William said that if the topic is outside the home, his opinion would prevail and if it was something inside the home about the running of the household, children, dog, household expenses, etc., her opinion would prevail. They decided to give it a serious try.

Since Lady Angela heard about this effort to not argue in public anymore, she and the Baron invited the Haddens back to the dinner parties.

After several successful dinner parties, it seemed to work and the dinners seemed to be more enjoyable for everyone in attendance.

The Baron said that the idea seemed to work for them, but it probably would not work for every couple. Every couple had to work out their own resolution to the dilemma of who is the boss?