The Top and the Bottom (of the Food Chain)

We called him Bubba … behind his back.

He was a mean -and rather large - lawyer with whom I used to work. Bubba was gunning for a partner position and spent most of his time sucking up to his superiors (although I'm sure he'd take issue with that term - most lawyers prefer to call this practice “networking”). Due to bad office planning, Bubba's secretary was not seated beside him. She sat on the opposite side of the floor; meaning that Bubba would come crashing down the (very narrow) corridors at least five times a day. Bubba was the type that walked fast and talked fast and when he came a-stompin' you were wise to clear the way. Bubba would plow through everything and everyone in his path, including pregnant women and people pushing mail carts.

If you ever found yourself in the hallway and heard Bubba's trademark stomping you were faced with two options: you could stay where you were and risk being trampled by his considerable girth or you could dive into the closest office/cubicle and seek refuge until he passed.

I always opted for option two.

While Bubba was one ruthless sonofabeech, he sure was good at sucking up - I mean - networking. He'd never dream of plowing over a senior partner or a VP in the company. When they were around he'd smile and laugh, tell good natured jokes, and offer to buy coffee for his secretary who was, for the most part, terrified of him. Of course, this was all an act: as soon as the big wigs would leave Bubba would continue to terrorize those who were “beneath him”.

And so it goes in the corporate world.

Sadly, Bubba was not an isolated case - I'd even go so far as to call him the norm, in that firm anyway.

Office culture is strange, to say the very least. After a year of diving out of Bubba's way and hiding under my desk from my own terror of a boss (who was an angel to other lawyers and to clients, by the way), I began to wonder: are corporate caste systems brought about by the individual company or do we as a society gravitate towards this sort of mentality?

Success, in our society, seems to be largely defined in terms of earning power as opposed to human decency. Look at the way we worship celebrities in this country. Why are they allowed to publicly commit crimes, throw tantrums and talk down to their “people”? At some point they (and we as a society) decided that, because of their status, they were entitled to act that way. The same goes for powerful business executives who get away with murder and the popular kids at school.

Martin Luther King said it best. During his I Have a Dream speech he championed for a time when we “will be able to work together, to pray together [and] to struggle together”. Today, many businesses boast their “equal opportunity” status, refusing to discriminate based upon sex, gender, race, creed, religion, disability, etc., but when the “high rollers” in a company are treated with more respect than those on the bottom it creates an air of segregation that directly contrasts the things that Dr. King, and so many others, have fought and continue to fight for.

It is hypocritical to fight for equal rights among gender and race and then ignore the janitor who sweeps your floor.

Hm.

Looks like all is right in the world.

I am writing this article from the cafeteria in my office building. A few minutes ago a man in an expensive suit walked by. He was shouting into his Blackberry and he was being followed by a terrified-looking intern, who was holding his coffee for him.

Sigh.

Some things will never change, I suppose.