Linda Goodman's Sun Signs (19 page)

If your company just hired a Gemini as your superior you can expect some changes to be made in short order. The slowest form of communication around the place will probably be emails, and he may require a few more buttons on his telephone than her predecessor. Your new Gemini boss won't be on the job a week before she's inquisitively poked around into every area of the operation. As soon as she learns what's being done and how it's being done, she'll want to know why. The answer, “We've always done it this way,” will cause her bright eyes to turn to ice cubes that could freeze you at thirty paces. Gemini is not even slightly interested in or impressed with tradition. When she's told something is an old custom, that's reason enough for her to change it. The typical Mercury boss will have the furniture moved around frequently, drive her assistant into a fit of the fidgets once a week with a new idea for a filing system that will work more efficiently, and change the work schedules back and forth until she finds ones that clicks with her.

There's one thing you can count on, and one of the few things you can count on consistently with a Gemini. She will never be monotonous. She'll seldom be dogmatic either. Her opinions are flexible. You can't mislead her or confuse the issue, because her quicksilver mind will instantly reduce the frills, penetrate the smoke screens and expose all sides of the question with crystal clarity. That means she also exposes office intrigues with little difficulty. Sometimes you'll swear he has eyes in the back of his head—and an extra pair of ears there, too. Speaking of her anatomy and such, it's even hard to credit him with just one pair of feet, since there will be plenty of occasions when she appears to be two places at once.

Never fear that your Gemini employer will hate you or be your enemy. Few people interest her long enough for that kind of intensity. You won't be in her thoughts for more than an hour or so at a time. That's not long enough to work up any violent feelings, for or against. Besides, he has a pretty fair understanding about how the other person feels.

It may puzzle you to discover that, although your Gemini employer is an individualist in every way, she may not treat you as an individualist. It seems inconsistent, but then this is a dual sign, with more than one surprise. I don't mean that she won't respect your individual opinions. She will. It's just that she doesn't always see you personally as an individual. The Geminian mind is so abstract that he often sees only basic designs in both objects and people. All kinds of people are fascinating to her, but she tends to categorize them according to their abilities, ideas and potential.

Yet this odd viewpoint doesn't make her unattractive as a human being. Quite the contrary. Even though her approach is far more rational than emotional, she likes people so much, they just can't help liking her back. Without the constant challenge of human contact, she would dry up and float away. Mercury demands that she be gregarious and live vicariously or be miserable. You'll rarely see her by herself. She may classify people by types and remain detached emotionally, but she needs them around.

Your Gemini boss will probably have considerable powers of persuasion. She can wheedle you into or talk you out of most anything, simply by dousing you with a bucket of that irresistible charm and wit of hers. But it's a compensating talent he was given by the planets at birth, that hides a basic coldness of nature. Gemini lives in vague, airy palaces in the sky the average person can't reach. Her true character, despite her surface warmness, is cool, aloof and lonely, in the final analysis, searching for something inside herself more than from others, no matter how frequently she seeks their company. Yet, she's not unsympathetic. Her manner can be gentle and compassionate, but at the same time, she offers sympathy and understanding the same way she offers love and friendship—from a distance.

She'll have an excellent sense of humor, and you can win her over with a joke more quickly than with tears. She's not overly sentimental, but she'll always see the ridiculous side of things. A sense of humor is a prerequisite to true intelligence, so it's not surprising to find it in the Mercury people, though sometimes it may be tinged with sharp sarcasm. There will always be a slight whirl of confusion around a Gemini-run office—and constant activity. But she won't be the one who is confused. Gemini sorts it all out and clears the muddy waters of all the gunk. Her quick eye and trigger fast brain work in perfect synchronization. The eye will probably have a twinkle in it. She'll be the company's best salesperson, make speeches and entertain a lot. And she'll probably travel so much, she may keep a suitcase ready to fly at a moment's notice.

Enjoy this boss while you can, because Geminis get suddenly bored after they've made financial or business successes, and they rush off to the next challenge long before retirement time. Before she goes, learn what you can about her strategy. It's really fantastic. She's an expert at double talk. She'll run around an argument in circles, mix you up, turn you around, then win you over to her side before you realize what's happened. Yet, as clever as she is in competitive situations, she's still an incurable dreamer, and a smashingly good storyteller. Pay no attention to what nationality she says he is. Whether she was born in Israel, Australia or Afghanistan, every single Gemini in the world is Irish at heart. How else could he possess such a wonderful gift of blarney? Notice all those green sweaters she wears. What did I tell you—pure County Cork.

Do you have some employees around your office who talk fast, move fast and think fast? Do they look young and act young, forget about their ages? Are they unpredictable, restless, original and impatient? What a smart woman you are! You've gone and hired yourself some Geminis.

It's easy to understand why. With all that charm and guile, not to mention flashing intellect and creative imagination, you probably couldn't help yourself. Now that you've had a chance to watch these Mercury people in action, you've learned that they can take an abstract idea and reduce it to a formula better than anyone else in the office. Your Aquarian employee can think in wildly abstract terms, your Aries employee can toss out some red-hot ideas, smothered in enthusiasm, and the Virgos can organize the details meticulously. But Gemini can do all three.

Before you fire those other people, however, remember that the Gemini doesn't have the intense drive of the Aries, nor the willingness to work overtime. He also lacks the fixed and steady purpose of the Aquarian and he'll never understand the endless, devoted dedication of the Virgo. We won't cover the other Sun signs. You get the general idea. Your Gemini employee is not a one-man show, all by himself, even if he is a dual personality. He'll come closer to it than anyone else, but you'll need the other workers just the same.

Geminis share with Virgo, Aries, Leo and Scorpio a built-in ability to deal with emergencies. They can meet a crisis swiftly. The typical Gemini will make instant decisions and go into action while most of the people around him are still polishing their skis. He's easily bored with routine, happiest when he's free, so don't try to chain him down to the work bench. He'd rather do a stretch of time in Sing Sing than work for a clock-watcher. At least in prison he could turn his curious mind to studying the behavior of the inmates. I'd sincerely like to point out here that the Gemini behind bars is a lonely man who couldn't find the right niche for his multiple talents in an over-organized, conformist society. Many a Gemini forger or petty thief is basically as honest as the judge who sentenced him, and twice as idealistic. When Gemini is made to feel guilty about his vivid imagination and restless energy in childhood, then constantly criticized by the business world for being too progressive and refusing to fit into stale patterns, his high sense of moral and mental ethics becomes distorted, and he strikes out on the only original path he feels is left to him.

Most Geminis are so glibly persuasive they can talk people into buying things they couldn't possibly even use. It's never a mistake to utilize their talents in sales or promotional activities. When the Gemini's silver tongue gets through extolling the virtues of your firm, you won't even recognize it yourself, even if you're a blind egotist about your own company. Send your Gemini man out to sell the public, or to wheedle your customers and clients in restaurants and on golf courses. Or send him on the road to gather up an avalanche of good will and orders for business. If you must keep him in the office, be careful where you place him. He doesn't resent supervision as fiercely as Leo or Aries, but he will become nervous and inadequate if he's confined and unable to express himself. When this happens, your Gemini employee will break his shackles and breeze off to more freedom without an instant's regret. Now don't run in and take a hasty peek at his desk to see if he's still there. He won't fly away or disappear into thin air until he's had a chance to tell you his reasons and take his chances of winning you over to his point of view. Unless you hear differently, directly from him, he's probably as happy as a winged messenger from the gods could be here on earth, doing whatever it is you have him applying his agile mind to.

If there's an office pool of any kind, you may see your Leos, Aries and Sagittarius people doing lots of showy betting, but you can bet your old Brooklyn Dodgers button that it was probably masterminded by one of those streaks of lightning you employ who was born in June. The Gemini won't throw extravagant sums of money into a complicated bubble scheme as readily as Leo, the lion. He's more likely to risk his security in a situation where there's a challenge to his wits, where there's fast action and a quick return. His conversation will be full of phrases like “Let's give it a go,” “It's worth a gamble,” and “I'll try anything once.” And he will, too. Try anything once, that is. Twice is out. He's bored by then.

Your Gemini employee may be conspicuous by his absence or absent-mindedness (same thing), during baseball season or golfing play-offs. Most Mercury people enjoy these sports, and many of them have participated, thanks to the uncanny Geminian dexterity. There's little he can't do with the synchronization of his intelligence and his clever hands, and that can include calculating precisely how to swat a white ball over the fence or making a hole-in-one on the green. Sports often attract him as a way to work off all that nervous energy. In the long run, however, the Gemini prefers to exercise his wits and give his mind a workout, so he can bat plenty of home runs for your firm. Still, he should be encouraged to engage in physical activity. It will wear him out so he can sleep. All Geminis are prone to insomnia. Many Gemini employees who work in offices where they're required to be on the job early in the morning, can be recognized by the circles under their eyes.

Your Geminis will keep the office humming with busy activity, lots of jokes and gay chatter. But they'll get things done. The Mercury assistant may be the fastest typist in the crowd, and quick to catch your dictation. Normally, if she's a typical Gemini, she'll be able to form an intelligent, clearly-stated letter with just a hint from you about the subject matter. In spite of her secretarial talents, you might be better off to put her out in front where she can charm the people who walk in the door and run the switchboard for you. (Doing two things at once and juggling them expertly is no problem for a Mercury female.) You'll have fewer disgruntled people calling you. Not only will she sweet talk strangers cleverly, she's not apt to scramble the cords and cut you off in the middle of a call to Kalamazoo to connect you with Katanga.

I'd better warn you not to discuss raises, bonuses, commissions and such with a Gemini, if you can possibly help it. Use a stern Capricorn or a dogmatic Taurus or a no-nonsense Virgo as your middle man. If you don't, the Gemini may talk you into giving him a higher position with the firm than you have available without firing your wife's brother and twice as much money as you make yourself. He'll make it all seem perfectly logical. It's much safer to avoid financial huddles with a persuasive Gemini. If you're game, go ahead and try it. But you may come out of the huddle having promised him a weekly expense account that would support a couple of Virgos and Cancerians for a year.

You're likely to trip over a few broken hearts in the office hallways when you have Mercury employees. A flirtation or two a month and a rather fickle way of changing his mind is the average behavior before maturity. There's a youthful air of irresponsibility about many a Gemini (unless the natal chart indicates a more stable nature). He has a mind at least a million years old, and the emotions of a teenager. He'll look like one, too.

The truth is that the Gemini, like Peter Pan, hates to grow up. And like Peter, he needs a Wendy as smart as he is to clean house for him every spring, letting him come and go as he pleases. If you're the kind of boss to play office Cupid, don't introduce him to any other kind of woman, or you may have to loan him money to pay his alimony shortly afterwards.

Do you want to make your office really swing? Put your Aries employee and your Gemini employee together in a room to discuss a new project. Then stuff some cotton in your ears to protect them from the exploding fireworks. But stand close enough by with a big, strong net to catch all the innovative concepts flying through the air. Gather them up, take them in to your office, and study them carefully before you dismiss them. One of them is likely to contain a million dollar idea.