The Latest on Zack
( On the Subject of Kowtowing )
~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~
by TPO
to kowtow:
[intransitive verb]
< origin: 1795-1805; Chinese kòutóu ... literally, knock (one's) head >
grovel to, be obsequious to, be servile to, be sycophantic to, fawn over/on, cringe to, bow and scrape to, toady to, truckle to, abase oneself before, humble oneself to;
curry favor with, dance attendance on, ingratiate oneself with, suck up to, kiss up to, brown-nose, lick someone's boots ....
--------------------------------------------------
Today, I ran into my dear friend Zack at a downtown coffee-house which I frequent now and then. It has been quite a while since I've seen him although we do call each other from time to time and say how-do.
Zack is a very interesting and unusual person. To begin with, he is intelligent (humbly so), intuitive, creative and a problem-solver. He is organized, methodical, and logical in the manner with which he acquires any bit of knowledge. He also has excellent retention (memory) of all the requisite methods and intricate, detailed procedures of his work. He never gloats, and never overtly shows others the error of their ways unless they put him in that situation. And even more admirable - Zack abhors backstabbing and the people who do it. At his workplace, there is no dearth of backstabbers and that includes those within the management itself. Rather than stopping this psychological sickness, it seems that it may even be actively abetted.
Almost ten years have now elapsed since Zack has been employed at his current job as an information specialist. Of late, however, his relationship with his superiors has been getting more and more sour. They have been getting more and more bureaucratically inane and petty; and he has been losing his normally Job-like patience and giving in to his frustration with the dolts at his workplace.
Zack said that recently he had a disagreement with his manager over time card issues. The manager had lately taken it to her head to nitpick over minutes that rightfully were within allowable grace periods. Zack explained to me that he'd thought there was nothing wrong, for example, about signing-in to work three minutes early and signing-out three minutes early to correct for shortages or overages. His manager, this obsessively domineering woman, was all worked up about employees leaving work early. She of-course would not allow leeway or consideration for early arrivals. Unfortunately, Zack challenged her reasoning. She snapped back with her rule book about time clocks, etc.; and she added that he was being paid to be at his post working until the preset time. And, with what may have appeared to her a good measure, she also reprimanded him for being "disrespectful" in challenging her. This last rebuke did not sit well with Zack although he did not respond back. He said he wisely remembered Mark Twain's old adage: Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell
the difference!
Then Zack began to tell me about a custom known as " employee appreciation day " at his place of employment. This was a once-a-year-maybe lunch thrown by the big manager-of-managers, the honcho-of-honchos. Food is catered in and everybody sits, dines, and chats with the big man himself.... Big honor, that! .... Again this year, the organizers never even attempted to find out what the employees would like to see on the menu. A decision had been made to go ahead and order barbecued pork and chicken from a famous place. Last year, when Zack went to such a luncheon, he did not find anything there to his liking. As a diabetic, Zack is very particular about his diet. There was nothing healthy on that menu for him to eat.
So, this year, Zack opted not to attend the luncheon. He confided in me that he was also, in this manner, subtly avoiding running into the unpleasant woman ... especially as she had followed up her last rant with more persecution using Zack's recent sick-time absence. She had demanded a doctor's slip although Zack had plenty of banked sick-time and he really has no record of abusing it. Yet, despite all of this aggravation, he says that he is taking everything in stride because he has maybe about a year left to fully retire from this job. He is going to ride out the mad antics at work ... he won't let them get to him!
I am happy for Zack for standing his ground ... for not kowtowing to dolts and such. When told to jump, he never says,"How high?" ... he always asks, "Why?"
Zack has never been a tail-wagger ... in fact, he is more like a cat than a dog. Zack can't help it - he never ever kowtows to any person whatever their pedigree or station in life.
