.: Politics and War :.

A recent post by best buddy, Andrew (http://kongboi.blogzy.com/) tells of the perils of office politics via his own unfortunate experience. I too, have the same unfortunate incident of experiencing one rather recently.

I went thru the whole nine yards.. the grand suite of politics an war.. the whole, full pail of shit, so to speak. In this particular incident about 2 months back, there was the pre-requisite political factions. There were the supporters and the opposition citizens. There were fence sitters. Then there were the foreign observers from the 'UN'. Political watchdogs, to use a more formal term.

There was the usual heated political debates. The name calling, the clandestine SMSes. The last minute rallying before 'voting'. And then there were the war machinenary.

Anyway, the story goes like this. Me, being the new kid on the block, was put under the care of a senior in my company. Unfortunately, instead of viewing me as an asset to team up with her to complement each other, I was viewed as a threat since day one (a fact which I'm still very proud of - new staff of less than 1 day viewed as a threat to a veteran who worked for 5 years).

She tried all means and ways to get rid of me (or at least, away from her well guarded accounts - which she's supposed to share). She drew first blood, second blood, and god knows how many other countless times. She fired all the salvos in her inventory. From the cloak-and-dagger sniper fires to 155-mm howitzers. From grenades to heavy artileries. There were even precision smart bombs and heat seeking missles to add to that.

My response ? I remained silent. No, it's not that I was being a goody two shoes, nor was I afraid to fire back. People who knows well knows I am very vengeful and you never to piss me off unless you can take the repercussions.

No, oh no, I was buying time. I was new, so I needed that to study the office enviroment, the sentiments, the strengths and weaknesses. So I bought time by retreats and silence. (In modern warfare, if you are being attacked by a much stronger force, you retreat instead of dying. You slowly consolidate your forces, while studying your foe's strength's and weaknesses, as well as how he operates).

You see, her smart bombs weren't very smart, and artileries wasn't really on target. Occasionally, I get a bullet whizzed by my head and stuff, but generally speaking, I was intact and have not fired a single shot. In short, her abuses were not working as expected, and this frustrates her further.

She wanted to make one final massive push and bombardment after 3 months of frustration. She organized a mass meeting consisted of all the people in her factions (which numbered to 3 in total - including her). The military objective? To bombard me from 3 sides and flanks. And the strategic objective is the one last bomb to make me request for a transfer away from her team (and safely away from being able to steal her accounts)



By then, I had a fairly good idea of all her modus operandis, and her main weaknesses - she's extremely arrogant, and she's very impulsive, and she has a history of bad office politics (one of them stupidly against the ex-head of our division) - something I could use to my advantage.

I did 2 things in the morning before the meeting scheduled for the late pm. First, I harassed her perpetually via SMSes the whole morning. She told me to respect her, and I basically told her to go fly kite. This shocked her, as I have never retaliated. Shocked, but she was still confident of the afternoon's warfare (arrogance, anger.. use these traits against your foe, and you've won half the battle).

Next, I sent a discreet email to my Business Manager (he's the second most senior guy in my company now after the GM - but he was previously the same head of division that this lady tried to get rid off ) inviting him to sit in.

Imagine the shock on all their faces when the meeting started. The pissed off and red-faced smug looks were immediately replaced by shock, uncertainty and stammers.

I don't think I need to tell you guys how the meeting concluded. To cut the story short, the lady in question is now "promoted" to a different division, and last heard, she's leaving soon. Her two 'allies', well, they are now my friends (in politics, there is no permanant friends or enemies). But at least the girl smart enough to keep her mouth shut for now, and stay away from me.

But it's much too late. First blood was drawn. And blood debts remains so until paid in full.

And me? Well, I did say once before, never ever piss me off. I do not forget, much less forgive. I have not been known to be a forgiving person to everyone who knows me.

The best of it? I'm vengeful. I managed to gain back my neutral domain, but I have yet to declare my war on her (I have to appear nice for now, don't I?). And I have not yet even use any of my weapons. But rest assured that I am stocking up my arsenals.

The tide is changing now. The waves of change is here. I am much stronger here than I was 6 months ago. I hereby pledge, if either her or me have not left the company in 6 month's time, I can guarantee she'll wish she was never born in the first place, never mind attempting to piss me off. I swear this in blood.


- To my Business Manager, I sincerely thank you for being the fair and just person that you are. May God speed your way. -