Boss has threatened bust me down to just answering phones.
What, and take away all the paperwork that you give me grief about? say it isn't so!
Had to bite my tongue to stop from saying, Please. Please do.
You see, I'd received instructions from Boss. So I FYI'd the relevant co-workers by email about what those instructions were.
It made sense at the time; but then, I function from a philosophy of Transparency.
Boss now thinks I was insinuating things in my emails.
"Why are you telling everybody these things? You don't have to tell everybody I told you to do that! Just do it! It's nobody's business what I told you you to do. I don't like what you are insinuating. You are being a pain! I will take your work away from you and you will only answer the phones!"
I think other people, people who have more experience playing the Corporate Political Darwinism game, would tutt-tutt me on having had such a heinous lack of discretion.
And that's the only reason I feel bad. Not that I feel like I did anything intrinsically wrong, but I feel guilty for being incompetent at office politics. Because I'm sure that if I just put in a little effort, I could improve...
Some people have a little angel & devil on their shoulders trying to guide them one way or another; I've got this little corporate suit on my shoulder, saying,
Listen, if you really wanted to, you could think the doublethink & speak the doublespeak. Hell, if it's possible for every human being to sink into the morass of questionable ethics, then why the hell can't you? What the hell is your problem that you can't connect with your basic humanity? Who do you think you are? Mother Theresa? You're just being lazy. This is the reality of life in the 21st century, and you'd better get with the program.
{changes to a wheedling tone}
"Why can't you just tell them what they want to hear? You don't have to mean it. They just want to be happy, just like you. What can't you just go through the motions and make them happy?
Up there with the age-old questions of "Why are we here?" and "How did Life begin?" and "Who is this God person, anyway?" should be included this one, because I've heard enough people ask it:
"Isn't there some way of making a living that doesn't slowly crush the spirit out of you?"
I know these jobs exist.
I'm going to go find them.
Posted by edgar at August 21, 2003 10:13 AM