Friday, May 4, 2012

Shapes In The Office


They are everywhere, in every office, every corner. They are there, plain and nice. When you step into the office, they are usually the first ones to approach you with friendship. Mostly they will portray themselves as the best friends you could have in the office and tell you about others. As soon as you say something, they will report on you. Mostly they are so preoccupied with others that it seems they are paid to snitch on other people. 


I have had enough work related conversations with friends and colleagues to know that indeed the Shapes come in different forms. There could be one boss who was forced to lie on a relatively new and young employee just so the other bosses could kick him out. This boss may not be a shape, naturally, but then since he allowed himself to be used, he might as well pass for a Shape.

There could be an instance where the Shape, who might be your immediate boss got to their position through dubious means. They may not be qualified for the job but they are there and clearly they have no direction. You go in with all the vibrancy of a new employee wanting to tap into the experiences of your immediate boss, only to be perceived as a threat. As soon as this perception is drawn, special “council meetings” will be held to have the new employee ousted. And yes you will be ousted, if you do not resign instead.

In another instance, the Shape could possibly be a new employee rather. The catch with Shapes who are new  is that they instantly befriend management, if they did not know them already. Now they begin snitching on the employees and telling on them to management in order to win favors. Am surprised at how management reacts to such Shapes. They immediately begin to see their once okay employees as bad and actually aid in them being pushed out. Later, they realize the silliness of their actions and begin to withdraw from the Shape. The Shape will start feeling this and will definitely start whining to all other employees about being ignored.

Then again there are Shapes who will not push you out. No. they are a special breed and will tell in on the managers to the employees and vice versa. These usually do not act to push anyone out, they just love to see bickering among staff and to feel like they are in control of affairs. Later on when all hell breaks loose and their character begins to show, nobody would find them. They are always smart enough to disappear before crises shoot up.

Shapes can make your life miserable. They can make you lose focus and stay in a job for the money, as they can succeed in pushing all your passion out. I cannot recommend any way to deal with a Shape, as they are indeed diverse. However, if you want to save your head, and not ever feel too low for a job you are qualified to do, please consider getting a new job as soon as possible but, depending on your situation, resigning might be the best option.

Why Shape? Well that is because, indeed they do come in different Shapes!

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