Let the games begin.

As if on cue, my eyes popped open at 0615hrs sharp. That is despite the fact that I did not catch some sleep until about 2.30 at night. The human body, has great ability to adapt. And mine is reacting to an ominous concert that is playing out at my work place.

The man at the top is playing musical chairs again. A few top people have been shuffled. Consequently, they are running a similar show in their small fiefdoms. The mastermind has blown on the bugle; the minions are running all over, cracking the whip.
The end result is, my immediate boss has changed. And that can't be good. I will have to give up small freedoms that took a lot of effort to earn. And it is these small freedoms that make work tolerable.

Obtuse phraseology like "revitalising the key performance drivers by harnessing the capital and resourcefulness of our staff" is getting such life. Mail and communiques have almost tripled. Endless boring meetings. The black fake leather folders are out in force. My wing, which was formally full of life, camaraderie and jolly good fun now looks like a hospital wing for the terminally ill.

The rats are out. Everyone is hiding a knife under the cloak. Normal mail can be used as evidence of your incompetence if things come to a head. You need six sets of authorization to get anything done. Everyone is scurrying for cover. Impossible deadlines will become tighter still. In a wholly futile effort to cover these deadlines, people will kiss ass, rat out one another and a lot of bad blood will ensue. The sadists will watch, probably toast to some "corporate" wine and call it good management. A middle level manager will cut off your head, make a carving out of your skull and grin happily if he has the slightest belief that will advance his career.

Sometimes, lack of ambition is a good thing. Its like you are hoisted on a psychological pedestal; You can see below all too clearly. Sort of like an "Early Carrot Stick Detection System". Having no desire to become a manager, nothing short of a real increase in my net income will propel me to do more than what I absolutely have to do. No bending over backward, trying to impress some bigwig. Another thing I am grateful for; Most of what I do is cut and dried. A pure, measurable science.

What is to be said of management? How smart you can dress? "Strategy" and "Politics"? Or making a sport out of making other people miserable?

I hope, for my own sake, that I am being overly pessimistic.