Bitch Boss Part 1

SHE is a psychologist by trade. SHE studied the subject because it gives her the power to understand and therefore manipulate people – the only skillset SHE knows SHE has an advantage over other mere mortals to survive in this cruel and cutthroat world. SHE is a quiet middle-class girl who does not stand out at school; SHE always sits at the back of the lecture hall and rides in the back row at the spin class if SHE forces herself to go despite paying the full-year gym fee in advance. SHE is under no illusion that SHE is pretty and SHE has not been the perfect ten since secondary school – that explains why SHE always wears black, head-to-toe black. If anyone asks, SHE would say black means authority, elegance, power, wealth, status, and restraints. Deep down, SHE convinces herself and hopefully, people around her that she is above everybody else. Black is her façade and her armour. SHE has tried her whole life not to bring attention to herself. People notice colours and rejoice but mourn and retreat in black. Not that SHE is not confident, just that SHE does not see her excel in front of other people. SHE is nice – this is how most people would describe her. Nice is what people say when they cannot think of something better to say. SHE is a glass of lukewarm water, not offensive but hardly inspiring. SHE knows SHE is a mediocre and SHE hates it. Being average. Ordinary. Unexceptional. SHE has wasted her whole life in an embodiment of contradiction. Wanting to be successful but afraid of it.

Then SHE saw an opportunity – an inroad to power, status, and authority – through a man. A weak man. SHE has invested ten years of her entire thirties stroking his ego and being obsequious to him. SHE has crafted herself a little comfortable heaven of being the woman behind the man. It fits her perfectly. Finally, SHE got the power SHE has been crazing for and she is shielded. The lesson SHE learnt is flattery never fails.

With luck, Weak Man rises to the top, like grease on water. No one thinks he deserves it – just at the right place at the right time. Weak Man dismissed it as sour grapes. But it does not chase away the infuriating feeling of vulnerability. He feels naked and exposed. Weak Man has a brilliant Machiavellian mind. So why is he weak? Confrontation is his Achilles heel. He runs away like a coward; and avoids conflict like a plague. He needs a partner in crime to fence that off and a safety blanket to reassure and comfort him. SHE came at the perfect timing – he has a need, SHE smells the fear, comes along, and fulfils that void. They need each other, like yin and yang. They are positive to the negative; the light to the shadow; the open to the closed. In their mind, they are co-creating the harmony and the equilibrium to control the firm and influence everything within it. What they do not realise, or even if they do, they do not care is this interrelatedness that people cannot stand.

Weak Man and SHE weave the spider web of special relationships that no one dares to question. The white terror replaces the hierarchy and the chain of command with their cult that reeks of nepotism. SHE starts to hire junior people with promises of a bright future. These young people are so gullible, so easy to control, quick to bribe and corrupt. Money and title quickly go to their heads and they genuinely believe they are good at their jobs. They get arrogant, build their circles of cronies and the web spreads. Everyone is feeding from the gravy train. Life is easy.

But as we all know; good times do not last.

It does not matter how dense the web weaves.

Some day one will come along and shatter everything.

#adayinthejungle #cronies #bitchboss #workplacedrama