Ever been a part of an office where the priority is given to the completion of a task in half the time you are allotted? Ever been in an office where you are told that it treats you like family, but the day you start prioritizing yourself, you are no longer a family? Ever been in an office where you are told to make your own decision and own up to it, but the minute you make a small mistake, the lava erupts on your cracking head while they exchange side glances? Ever been in an office where all your achievements are the company’s achievements but all your mistakes are yours to be held accountable for? Ever been in an office where, in meetings, they say to ask questions, but when you question them, they reply with silence, long stares or, to some extent, contempt?

If yes, then read ahead.

Fear. It is such a small word, a word we hear in almost every other conversation. We as members of the human race inherit it, but if you combine fear with power, it holds the capacity to stretch the greediness of the human stomach to acquire more and more power. People who participate in office politics are no different. They have been stung by this very fear of losing power, and those who have not yet acquired it are trying to climb this very ladder that is filled with invisible dog shit; the farther you climb upon it, the worse it smells.

Office politics is nothing but a game of power, power of controlling employees through shitty rules, whisper campaigns by these corporate bitches, setting impossible expectations which are never ever in parallel with your salary, and last but not least, forbidding you from fighting back.

Who doesn’t love seeing employees who give it all back to them? But as you must have seen, how hard it is for people to get out of this rabbit hole, because people who have been the victim of office politics also have mouths to feed or financial or social constraints. Hence, they quietly endure this toxic, soul-crushing routine just to meet the month’s end, and eventually settle with this ‘okayishness’ for a big chunk of their lives.

Like it’s been said above, it’s a rabbit hole, so once you are in it, you are more or less lost. Now, if the compliance is working out for you quite well, there’s a mighty chance that you’ll turn out to be exactly like your manager. The reason: YOU CLIMBED THE LADDER THE EXACT SAME WAY—BY LICKING HIS ASS.

Like democracy, offices claim to be: FOR THE PEOPLE, OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE. But they hide a word that comes before the ‘people’ part: HELL.

Unlike democracy, as a wise man said, offices are HELL; FOR THE PEOPLE, OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE.