My father had been a minion for his company a long time. Of course, there were issues, but no matter how my father tried to assail his boss of his competent to handle a larger role and/or responsibility, things just didn’t work out in my father’s favor. Consequently, the situation ended up with my father viewing his ceaseless efforts as futile: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” was my father’s relentless reply to his boss’s bigoted ways.
The adage, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” seemed to stick to my father’s life like the plague of locusts memorialize in the Bible. Still, my father didn’t give up. He continued monthly campaigns of meeting his dowager of a boss with common sense solutions.
Nevertheless, the strained relationship between the two entities didn’t relent. My father’s boss didn’t want to accept any bargaining agreement that could have been negotiated. Consequently, the heated disagreements were often counter-productive. This was because of the racial disharmony between the two entities.
The disagreements between my father and his boss began to meld somewhat over the years; still, the racial animosity that was quite apparent stayed with the two entities until my father was named head of his department. This made my father’s mode of behavior change; my father’s boss began to gradually unlearn the damaging effects that racism had had on their relationship.
The process was laborious and tedious: Each day would be documented with the futility of my father offering his common sense solutions under a vein of hopelessness. Still, my father would continue his efforts of making sure his boss understood his premise — “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
Consequently, my father’s boss came to us one day with the intention of retrieving the title to an estate which had been giving to my father’s boss by his widow: This riddle of ownership had been giving to my father when the legal antecedent to the title was brokered. Nothing was said. Yet, thereafter, the relationship between the two men became like combatants.
Thank you, Roger. This is a sad story but your father's persistence and courage are inspiring.