Retly， I was asked by my boss to form a **allgroup to work on a project. As the first meeting drewnear， I found myself thinking hard about， no， not thetopics that would be discussed， but what type of food weshould eat. The meeting was to be held during the lunchhour and， given these cost－cutting times， there was nobudget for I thought it would be o have somesnacks， and I spent quite a bit of time ——— at work andeven i night ——— tossing ideas in my my boss gave me the assig， I’ m surehe didn ＇ t foresee me exerg my ***in cells oversomething as trivial as food. I mean， if it were a man，his mind would have been focused， strictly， on t he taskat hand. But food and women bosses almost alwayse together. In my many years of w life， I’ vehad my share of female bosses who were always bringingfood to the office， urging everyoo gather ned by thousands of years of the woman ashomemaker and prepareer of f***ly meals， the modernw woman still ’ t help but regard food as ameans of bonding and creating goodwill. So， in the of? fice， women use food as a form of cele***tion， a sign ofthanks and a way of saying sorry. As an e**loyee， I’ve always weled the food， of course， but I’ vesometimes questiohe motives. Is she trying to buymy acceptand to get me to like her？ Does she thinkI＇ll overlook her professional shs just becauseshe’ s me free cake？ Now that I＇m what is termed a “ supervisor，” I re? alize that I’ m doily what my previous womenbosses did. And， I wonder， what are my colleaguesthinking？ The workplace is a ruth***s and hostile world. Ithas also beeural habitat of men， who are taughtfrom an early age to value power and women， who generally place more value on the “softer” aspects of life， like unication aion? ships， ehis world， many are filled with fear. Thisis even more the case when they reach positions ofpower where they influence what goes on arou hey are always asking themselves questions whi’ t even appear in the minds of men. How yoube assertive and not aggressive？ How do you pursueyour ination towards creating a pleasant， stress－freework enviro and not be taken franted or bul? lied？ Most of all， how do you assert your authority overmen and not hurt their egos？ How do you tell offsomeone who is old enough to be your father？ It’ s notan easy path to tread， and I don’ t know of many fe? male bosses who have succeeded and who have avoidedearning a bad reputation.I asked a few colleagues ——— men and women——— what they thought of female bosses and this wasthe sensus： They like to be liked； they are we lfareoriehey are demanding； they are uable；they are insecure； they have a harder time dealing withfellow women. All relationships， though， boil down tochemistry ultimately. They are depe on theperson， not the gender. When I think of my favouritebosses， past and present， I realize I judge them notonly by how co**etent they are， but， morei**ortantly， also what they are like as human beings.I know I will make efforts for those who have bee， fair， good and kind to me. At the end of theday， those attributes， I think， are really what matter ina boss， man or woman.热词空间budget n. 预算vi. （ for） 编预算vt. 规划a. 低廉的homemaker n. 持家的fù女， 主fùfemale a. 雌的， 女（ xìng） 的n. 雌xìng动物； 女子 （本章完）