No, I'm not talking about reindeer.
I thought I would see the year out with good cheery posts, but, alas, it may be Christmas, but I am still me.
One of the 'Big' bosses came into the office today and I am still wretching. Not on account of the Big boss, he's actually a really lovely guy, relatively unassuming and unlikely to cause a stir.
No, it was my sycophantic colleagues that made me gag. The way they whirled around him like a maelstrom of large smiles and larger voices. They boomed their utter delight that he was here, how was his FLIGHT? Where is he STAYING? At the HILTON? That's so GREAT! YOU ARE SO CLEVER TO ARRIVE BY PLANE AND BE STAYING IN A HOTEL, BIG BOSS MAN!
Oh they were so darn
jolly I almost thought Santa had arrived early.
Why do people do this fake flattery thing and how can people not see straight through it? Back in the day we used to call it sucking-up and it was the scorn of the playground. I can kind of see why. I know it's a part of life and, god knows, I undoubtedly do it myself from time to time, but still. Why do we do it?
Do you sometimes wonder if celebpretties and people high up on the business ladder think people are actually like that with every one? Sort of like when you become 'big' you lose all sense of reality because your crapometer gets broken. What must their perception actually be? The world is a very complimenting and praisey sort of place? Everyone is so enthusiastic and cheerful in this life? So
attentive? In many ways it might be sort of nice if we treated everyone like the Big boss, but in so many others I'm glad we reserve our fatuousness for the important people. There are only so many buckets to go around.
Sometimes the super-peppy-cheeriness is so obvious that it's like the Big boss is a curtain in a theatre. The marionettes dance when the curtain goes up and then they go back to hanging limply when it closes. I know that some Big bosses creepily demand the dance, but I suspect that most don't even notice. They probably think that the
jolly nice people around them are like that with everyone. So they waltz and jive and yammer away with their happy-go-lucky team while the rest of us cringe inwardly and smile fleetingly. Yep, our smile says, you got on a plane. You're staying at the Hilton. I'll get the confetti.
Do you find yourself sucking up wildly to people sometimes?
Why do you think we do it?
