Questioning the Logic behind “Bossy E”

Have you ever heard of the “Bossy E”?  If you are an elementary school teacher or working on becoming one like I am, you probably have. I had to do a group project this past semester in which one of my partners (ever so graciously) gave me a Bossy E worksheet to add to my center.  I have never been comfortable with the idea of introducing a concept of a bossy character to my students while at the same time discouraging the same behavior in them.  But today something really struck me that made me sure that I will not be teaching VCV (vowel-consonant-vowel)  this way.

First if you are going to personify letters, wouldn’t the letter that is “silent” be less bossy than a vowel “saying its name”?  Plus if a letter is insisting someone say its own name while he sits and watches silently doesn’t that make it more of a “creepy e” than a “bossy e”? 

I really feel like it is more accurate to describe the silent e in the VCV pattern as a shy guy who wants his new vowel friend to tell him their name but is afraid to say his own.  To me that eliminates the idea that we are paying a lot of attention to a creepy tyrant in class and makes it all seem so much more sweet and innocent.

Am I wrong on this?  Is this already a concept with another name?  I Googled “Shy E” and didn’t find anything related.