Bruce Springsteen and the Tale of Two Bosses

Character, class and the assistant who got tickets to see "The Boss" in concert

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Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography Born To Run is a fantastic read or in my case, a fantastic listen. Not only can I hear “The Boss” tell great stories of his life, but I can feel the tone, emotion and energy in every vignette.

But I gotta be honest, before I picked up this book a few years ago I didn’t really know why he was such a big deal. I knew his songs Born in the USA and Born to Run. I knew he was from New Jersey and that he was a musical legend. But other than that, I was pretty ill-informed. I’ve since become a Springsteen fan and am now listening to his back catalogue to catch up on his incredible music that I’ve missed all of these years. After hearing about his life, I’m in awe of his grit, drive, artistry, excellence, love of all the women in his life, and overall impressed with his character.

When I think of character, I think of a person who I hold in high regard or someone who is known for a particular good trait and behavior. I’ve been lucky to work for and with a lot of great people over the years in the entertainment business, but reading this autobiography, I was reminded of the tale of one of my former bosses you might enjoy.

Many years ago, the BIG boss in our office offered me tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in concert. I wasn’t available for the date and so he offered the seats to one of the assistants (let’s just call her assistant Annie.) Assistants get amazing tickets all the time from their Hollywood bosses who can’t go to shows. Going to live events is part of the job in the entertainment industry, and we’re fortunate to get backstage passes, VIP seats, green room access or even luxury suites. If an agent or executive can’t make it to an event, it’s customary that the assistant can go in their place. It’s a nice gesture and attempts to compensate for the low pay and overtime that assistants work frequently.

Now, before this lucky assistant could even say thank you, Annie noticed that the tickets were general admission and not VIP (translation: she’d be standing the entire time and would have terrible parking). In addition to being bad seats, as he walked out the door, Big boss said, “Go ahead and make the check out to my wife.”

I overheard the conversation from my office and was stunned. I thought to myself. “BIG boss is a very successful man and a millionaire many times over. Was he expecting assistant Annie, who isn’t making much money to pay for her own gift to see Bruce Springsteen? To make matters worse, the seats were terrible! This can’t possibly be right.”

Assistant Annie came to me asking for advice. She loved Bruce Springsteen and was happy to get the tickets for free, but it wasn’t worth the money for the tickets, fighting rush hour traffic on a weekday, cost of parking, etc. It was a tough pill to swallow, especially when previous bosses had be so generous. I know this sounds like a jerk thing to say, but once you’ve experienced really great seats, it’s hard to go back.

Personally, I couldn’t believe for one second that BIG boss meant to do this. I always thought he was a generous man and wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. To that end, I helped assistant Annie craft an email that went something like this:

Dear Big Boss – Thank you for the Springsteen tickets. He’s one of my very favorites and I’d love to go. Unfortunately, $120 isn’t in my budget. I hope you can find someone else to buy the tickets.

I was so pleased with how the email was crafted. It gave Big Boss an out to say, “Oh my gosh, of course you don’t have to buy them. They’re yours.” He could have saved face and been generous by then giving her the tickets. Instead, he said, “No problem. I can find someone else to use them.”

The next day, without any shame, he asked assistant Annie to send a messenger to Lucy, who happened to be the assistant of one of BIG boss’s celebrity attorney friends. He mentioned that he wanted to surprise Lucy for all of her hard work.

“Is this really happening?” I thought. “BIG boss is asking his own assistant who can barely afford to live in Los Angeles on such a small salary—and whom he wanted to pay for tickets—to send a messenger (which cost about $40) to deliver $120 tickets as a gift to someone else?”

Sure enough, Annie did her job and Lucy was thrilled with the gift. Sadly, Annie and I discovered the true character of BIG boss. I don’t know what it says about a person of great means to lack not only generosity but also sensitivity to another person’s situation (especially when he knows exactly how much money she makes.)

Have you ever been shocked when someone revealed their character? Would love to know your thoughts. Feel free to download the app and leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!