Random Expressions

One thing that I enormously detest is sychophancy. I simply have no patience or love lost for those self seeking servile flatterers who cozy up to their bosses and make life miserable for others who cannot do so. I convincingly belong to the group that can only look at anger and amusement at such fawning parasites who would probably even go to the extent of writing odes on the mole on the superior’s face.

A sub-class of people in the sycophant category is the one who would show their bosses every small work they do, even if it is just a routine matter, highlighting it, asking permissions and suggestions, and making it sound something special. These are such people that they would even seek permission from the boss to go to the loo and probably dash off a mail to him asking for the technique to do so! Request your advice , suggestion , help or approval are phrases and words generously peppered in such mails, which in all probabilities would be unnecessarily cc’ed to everyone in the department!

Of course, it is upto the superior to keep such people in check, but then every human loves the yes-men and jee huzoor¹ kinds around him. To a certain extent it is bearable but when it becomes the norm that the boss would open his mouth only to sing sycophant-mahima² every time he calls or meets, it is tremendously frustrating.

The problem is aggravated when the boss forwards those mails about such wonderful and innovative work done by these sycophants to everyone whereas I would have done the same thing for months, without making any show of it! And God forbid if the sycophant has some work to get done from someone else, or has some personality clash with a co-worker; I pray for the people on the receiving end!

Whenever I see such behavior I always think of a kid who goes to his father excitedly squeaking, ‘Papa, papa look I made this drawing ,’ and papa smiles approvingly and show it to everyone concerned as if it were better the Picasso’s best! Or, ‘Papa papa, that guy bullied me,’ and immediately papa rolls up his sleeve to fight on behalf of the child. Papa-ka-betas³ can be very obnoxious and offensive, indeed!

I am sure the question arises in your mind that if the boss doesn’t share good ideas how do best practices get propogated. I agree. But two caveats a) they should be indeed best practices and not regular work, and certainly not normal emails that one has to in anycase send as part of duties and b) the praise should be equally divided amongst everyone, and not restricted to just one person!

Every office has one or two such characters. The unlucky ones have them in the same department, on virtually the same heirarchy. And I am forever wary of them, maintaining a respectable and frigid distance. The trouble is that while some understand that the boss loves to be buttered up, I usually take on a completely opposite stance, irking and antagonizing the boss even more than required and end up with enough egg on my face to make omellette for the entire industry!

Nearly eleven years into my career and I am not even close to dealing either with these people, or the bosses who loved to be praised. Perhaps it is a mutated gene my father handed me down. In government service, sychophancy often overshadows merit, and my father lost on some justified promotions and plum postings due to his inability to sing paeans to his superiors. Mercifully, I am in a private sector where these behaviors are not overtly encouraged. But often I notice there are surreptitious approvals to such kind of conduct.

I guess it is one of those corporate ills that one has to learn to live with. I am still trying. I have found ignoring the person a rewarding policy. The second best is to at least complete any agenda/work/issue that the sycophant has raised. I know it sounds gross and demeaning. But remember, your office is not a film script where you can deliver strict monologue and expect the villain to have a change of heart; and bashing up (at least physically) is an absolute impossibility. Downsizing the person is also not going to help much; at the most you can gently hint at some weak points, and pray for the best. If the blinkers are not too solid, the boss will see what you are trying to say. If not, well you are exactly where you started off from. The last - and probably the most workable thing to do - is to start your own brand of chamchagiri⁴. After all, the wise have said, if you can’t beat them, then join them!

Glossary-

1.‘Jee Huzoor’ is a typical phrase in Hindi to denote ‘Yes Sir’ syndrome
2. Mahima is a poem/song sung in praise of someone. Usually the word is used in context of gods.
3. ‘Papa ka beta’ - meaning ‘the son of the father’
4. ‘Chamchagiri‘ - such a beautiful word in Hindi that symbolizes sycophancy, but in a sharper manner. Derived from ‘chamcha‘ literally meaning a ’spoon’, but figuratively denoting a toady or a flatterer.

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 6th, 2007 at 10:36 pm and is filed under Issues & Opinions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.