Have you ever seen the show Undercover Boss? It originated on CBS but has been picked up by TLC. The premise of the show is for the owner of a company to wear a disguise, go undercover in their own company, working a variety of positions that their employees hold, talking to them to learn about their feelings concerning the company, and to reward them at the end of the show. Typically, the boss learns some things about their own company that they didn’t know were happening and they see problems needing resolved. A few times, they find stores that aren’t producing well because the employees are less than desirable.
What I have found interesting is that most of the bosses make a seven-figure salary per year but know almost nothing about how to work. When put on a line or having to do something as simple as stocking a shelf, most of the bosses are incapable at best, inept at worst. Suddenly, they realize how hard their employees must work to make the company successful. And they demonstrate that they have the physical endurance of a sloth! One would think that they would be mortified for the episodes to air and everyone in the world seeing their lack of skills and ability.
The show, though, highlights a good idea that the National Day Calendar celebrates today. The Monday after Labor Day is called National Boss/Employee Exchange
Day. For those willing to accept the challenge, bosses/leaders/supervisors will swap spots for the day with the common laborer. The common laborer is probably thinking, “This will be a breeze!” However, the truth quickly comes out. NOBODY has it easy.
The popular idiom is that the grass is greener on the other side. But the “other side” has its own set of challenges and problems. Those sitting in a corporate office may not get their hands greasy or drench their clothes in sweat but when the whistle blows and the laborer goes home, the job stays in the factory. They don’t carry the burdens and weight of the corporate world home. Sure, the white collars could be making 2,000% more income than the blue collars. But are they happier?
Before being so quick to criticize someone else, we need to walk the proverbial mile in their shoes. We need to swap spots. Pastor Robert McLaughlin of Grace Bible Church in Seekonk, Massachusetts writes, “You never really know a man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”1
Romans 12:15-16 says, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. (16) Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.” Isn’t that exactly what Jesus did for us? Didn’t He walk that mile in our shoes? Consider some important verses!
Philippians 2:3-8 says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (4) Look not every 
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. (5) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (8) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
In Hebrews 2:9, we read, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”
Rather than being so quick to assume we know what someone is going through and that they have it so much easier than us, take some time and put yourself in their shoes. Understand what they are dealing with, and you will be able to help them better. Remember – Jesus did that for us!
“For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18”
1https://gbible.org/daily-message/dont-judge-man-walked-mile-shoes/
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