Petty Politics

Don't you just hate it?

I just had my first preview of a slew of politics in the office.

What is it about people and personality differences? What is it about taking into mind your own interests in front of the common good? What is it about people who don't get along, people who have different views, people who have different interests, priorities and values?

This is probably one of the things I could never understand about people in general.

Some people would describe me to be too neutral for their own tastes. I'd probably occasionally describe myself to be an amphibian. My boyfriend tells me that on many occasions, I change my personality depending on who I'm with, but I don't agree. I do sometimes try to adopt a different point of view, but you can also say that it's my occasional personality to adapt towards other personalities. But I still have my own values. I'm just a bit more "flexible". I do know the values that I believe in, but I suppose sometimes idealistic values can take on many different forms to attain their end goal. Its like a math problem... you can solve it in many different ways, but you get to the same result. You can either take the difficult way, the complex way, the simple way... I suppose I always take on the complex way, even when it isn't really necessary. I suppose I like to make my life a bit harder. But hey, that's me.

So back to the petty politics. I suppose its normal to ask people to take sides... I'd probably do it myself. If someone doesn't agree with your methods, you go in a roundabout sort of way to convince people that you and your idea is better. And if you don't get your way, you get frustrated. Its the same case for today... Someone was frustrated, and was trying to convince me that another party is about as difficult to be with as he desribed them to be.

Unfortunately, I've been with the other party, and I personally think that the other party is not really that difficult to work with. At least, if you take into account that you're all working together towards a common goal. Some people just go about in a different way, that's all.

Lets take Joe as an example. Joe is somewhat dead set on his ways. He has a clear idea of how to go about doing things, and is always trying to be "safe". That is, trying to be somewhat open ended, and would always have a fallback for every conceivable issue. But he is good at what he does, and he has the title to prove it. Joe would be your typical fresh out of college graduate, probably not as exposed to certain situations, so he might as well be a newbie. But he's always been successful in what he does, and his peers will probably confirm his methods as effective. Joe likes to please people, and likes to get confirmation from his mentors.

In comes Alan, the third party. Alan is probably very much exposed to the workplace already. He's been out of college for a couple of years, and has been working for a fair number of years. He's probably also good at what he does, but since he's been working for so long, he's somewhat become a slacker, but a slacker that can fulfill complex tasks in an amazingly short amount of time. He's not as motivated as Joe, but if something is assigned to him, he gets the work done well, and still always on time and on schedule. But his personality suggests that he's not very much impressed with other people, and don't have a high regard with people who are different from his approach.

So Joe and Alan gets to work together. Joe is frustrated because Alan doesn't immediately do the things Joe asks him to do. Alan slacks off, and has a seemingly haphazard and unpredicatable way of doing things, whereas Joe dots the i's and crosses the t's. They will probably work together for a short amount of time, and realize that they don't like each other very much.

But does that mean that they really can't work together?

Its really not a matter of the other person not doing his job, isn't it? They both do their jobs well, and they're going towards the same goal, but they just don't mix smoothly. Like oil and water.

But maybe all you need is to add a bit of lemon and give it a shake? Hehehe, chemists and Chemistry graduates, please don't gun me down if I reached the wrong conclusion that lemon will not ever act as a "mixer" between oil and water, but I'm sure (and I hope) that my readers do get the point.

I've been trying to convince Joe that Alan isn't all that bad. And I'm hoping that, owing to Alan's nature, I get on his good side, and maybe sneakily convince him that Joe isn't all that bad, either. Its in my belief that they're both very good people, and worth knowing and working with. Both of them have their own good points, and it'd be a shame to waste them just because of some petty personality difference. And its really just frustrating for me to see that 2 very good people can't get past their notions and perceptions of the other enough, at least enough, to give them a chance.

Not to say that I mix with Joe well. Or mix with Alan well. There are probably some points that I don't agree on with their personalities, but I try as much as possible not to take it against them. And I sincerely hope that they don't take my misgivings and faults against me. But in any case, I try to avoid those incompatible personalities when interacting with the both of them. I just hope that things will go on smoothly... I mean, we're all going towards the same goal, aren't we?

I could still not understand why people would clash sometimes the way Joe and Alan does. It happens a lot of times, but I guess some people just choose to ignore relative "defects" and try to see the best in things.

What's the point in politicking, anyway? Its going towards a selfish self centered end, isn't it?

Man, do I hate politics. Can I at least wish that the world will just be transparent already?