UPDATED: Office Politics On The Go

At dawn this morning, I checked out my email inbox and read the email from a very good friend who resides outside of the USA. In her email, she shared her lament about the office politics that is present in the establishment she works for. I know all of us are not immune to this kind of environment but in my long years as a career woman, I saw how this has affected the morality of many, especially those who are the victims of it.

Why does it thrive? Because there are some who are insecure about their work and cannot rely on their professionalism, work experience and ethics to be at par with their performance. They depend on superficial buddy system that is actually demoralizing those who are ahead in their career mobility. Office politics can instigate physical and emotional distress no matter how strong you are as a person, especially when the upper echelon in your establishment is ganging on you, and you are the silent victim and alone in your crusade. I remember hearing some odd stories about this after I have decided to resign from my post. The colleague I worked with became the pet peeve of her superior. All the things she did which were superb were subjected to endless scrutiny and evaluation. The issue is, the person evaluating her performance found nothing but mistakes in her work when in fact, she barely makes mistakes in her reports because this woman is very thorough, intelligent and quite organized as well. She was made to suffer and go through heaves of intrigues if only to make her life miserable so ultimately the pressure would be enough to make her feel disintegrated, and worse, humiliated.

The goal of the boss was to make her resign from her work because she hates women who are bright, beautiful, and popular.

In rebellion, the poor soul stayed on but the worst of things had happened. She was advised to go for therapy and until then, she could not return to her work nor get her paycheck. She was aghast and was deeply humiliated since the person who was needing the therapy and psychiatric evaluation was nobody but her boss. In a world where power speaks, she was muted by her whole experience yet she was communicating in her own medium that made her boss to resent her even more.

Her boss on the other hand, had many inner conflicts to deal with, one of which is her being a physically handicapped woman who acquired her polio as a child. In reality, in her own right, she is fairly good looking but because her demeanor is repulsive, not many people like her or admire her. In addition, any woman who works in her department is treated with cruelty, no matter how subtle it may be- you still know she is pulling her string of power over them as if they were her marionette. The trouble is, they wouldn't let her do it. She hates women who are attractive and have long legs like the victim of this office intrigue. Boy, she envies this one in particular. The last time I heard from a friend, I was told our colleague had resigned from the job. What a shame, ha? My former colleague was made to look like she was going out of her head. And this truly ate her up and made her deeply unhappy. Ultimately, she left and found glory elsewhere where her abilities and skills are given credit and affirmation.

Today, the boss is still there. She is an artful honcho who has learned the art of widening her influence in the establishment she works for. She knows how to feed the ego of her own superiors and makes sure she does so she stays in her position. How convenient!

Some people like her stays forever in their jobs in an establishment. They neither go up nor get down from their current position. They are passive workers yet they are aggressive in other facet of their existence. Thus, they enjoy the comfort of being in a familiar ambience.Therefore, they cannot allow anyone to take over or that would be their funeral.Ouch!

For over two decades, this woman has made a career out of her politicking and it brought her to a pillar of power. She is a social cancer and whose only joy is to see others suffer in the dark. The men feel sexually harassed by her but most do not have the gall or the liberty to confront her or report her to the authorities. They are afraid to lose their jobs.

"And who would pay the bills if we were sacked?" They chorused.

So, they keep mum about the whole thing. But isn't it a shame?

How creepy could that be that a woman as devious as her couldget away with it? it sucks. And this empowers her.

Sometimes, I wish I were still working because I miss that energy of being able to give back to others whatever knowledge or experience I have.

However, for most of the time, I do not miss it at all whenever this thought of office politics come to my mind. I wanted to puke, geez, for it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Personally, I had a string of experience myself akin to this. So this is nothing new to me. I do my own thing and I let others to do theirs. However, in life~ other people just can't be happy when others are. They want to contaminate the whole world of a difference with their misery. My, oh my...

Ever since I resigned from my job, my migraine is nonexistent anymore and my hyper-acidity had long ago vanished. Being a stay-at-home wife has its benefits.

Office politics. It works for those who need it. Not for those whose integrity and principles make them fully human, fully alive and well above their peers.