Working with the government
I once said I would never work with the government. Not because they are stingy, nasty, self-centered or clueless, but they are mostly all of that combined. The top bosses are mostly OK, but it is the mid management that make my life a living hell. You just have to know the right people.
Protocol must be followed, procedures met, uniforms worn and everthing sent in triplicate. Never mind that Bapak (”father”, “Mr” or “Big Boss” in Indonesian) or Ibu (”mother”, “Mrs” or “Queen *&$%&^% from Hades”) are easy going and want to keep things simple, it is their staff that follow the rules, make things complicated and create more rules just to cover their ass three times over.
So having sworn off any form of contact with the bureaucracy, what happens? I had to deal with not one but TWO of them, at the same time. And there I was, in the middle of an almightly pissing match.
Protocol A says that we are funding this event so your boss should stay in the background since our boss is the host.
Protocol B says STFU since my boss outranks your boss since Big Big Boss asked him to represent BBB at the event so we take the lead.
And did they talk to each other? No….. I was told to relay the information, taking heat from both sides as they ranted and raved to ME about loss opportunities to hog the limelight for their beloved boss. Or they’re scared shitless of being yelled at in case Boss A hates Boss B and lost the chance to upstage the bastard.
In the end, BBB stepped in and showed them all whose REALLY boss and everything went amazingly well. B had the limelight but A’s protocol managed to do a drive-by photo session before the main event, giving the media two different sets of pictures and a dilema on who to alienate by publishing wrong one.
And me? BBB loves my work and said if you need anything, just call my handphone and I’ll make things happen. Yeah, I love working with the goverment. You just have to know the right people.
