Taking advantage of the company's disarray

I witnessed one of the biggest organizational disasters I've ever seen, and I think it even breaks records in terms of the actions taken. Managers acting independently, gossip spreading like wildfire in the face of the unusual disregard for the rules, and a general sense of fear surrounding the need for a measured and firm defense. Everyone was astonished by something that was commonplace and under company management, something everyone should be aware of. But I fear that in that office, the job titles are nothing more than rhetoric to enhance the title, not the actual work, and therefore, not the company itself. It's completely, for God's sake, neglected. They don't operate based on company results, but on company processes. They demand evaluation for what the company does to produce results, but not for the work done to achieve those results. Simply put, that company is parasitic on society because it operates from the worst possible perspective: internal interests dictate how the company's objectives are achieved, not the objectives themselves. This is something that anyone with business management training would definitely avoid, to the point that it operates with the notion of creating a "family," when the first thing any cultural management professional should be asking for is prevention. It's a naive task, typical of someone who clearly doesn't know what they're doing when faced with the immense responsibility of managing a company or coordinating a project. It's astonishing how the language is contrived based on experience, not methodically developed through study, to the point that anyone can make a mockery of the system, even knowing the appropriate mechanisms and legal framework. I even saw managers begging for approval, for group integration at all costs based on image, making work seem secondary, making any mistake or failure a matter of disregarding the company's best practices.

Not even the authorities themselves trust the company or its operations; instead, they coexist at the expense of establishing turf and using terrible communication. It's utterly deplorable. I can't go anywhere else because this is the general situation in all companies in my country. I've had to learn from this experience to learn how to survive on the ground, systematically, using my knowledge of business management, if indeed it truly applies to that area. Things have gotten to the point where, along with a colleague, I've had to set up a parallel administration within the company. This is so that each of us can operate according to the company's best interests, ensuring that the company's previously coercive channels no longer operate as such. This is due to fear of accusations stemming from our close relationship, which we've managed to keep under wraps, maintaining a friendly connection, and thus provoking questions. This colleague and I have needed this for some time. To be clear, neither of us has any interest in the other's personal life whatsoever; we're only interested in facilitating our own way of life within the company. The paths we wanted, based on our personalities and the image we projected, were completely segregated, forcing us to act discreetly and restrictively, which in turn caused us problems.

However, I think I'm being a bit harsh with us. The fact is, there are feelings between us; we like each other, we want to be in each other's lives. But right now, the company is the top priority. Our safety is precisely what makes us feel we can do something together. It creates the illusion that something is happening, even though the necessary elements aren't there. This is why our individual autonomy is more pronounced, because others don't know what to expect. We're not interested in others understanding us; we're only interested in feeling that we're reserving our space and that others can't access it. They consider this barbaric because, for them, what matters is that everyone in the company maintains some kind of involvement to keep things running smoothly. With us together, that's not possible, and we're always at the mercy of something happening, and at the same time, doing something could lead to just that.

This parallel government was essential. I have surrendered my work group to the negative comments of others, for the sake of absolute fairness, given that their life revolved around making decisions behind the scenes, passing off their results as their own, disregarding processes, and turning their intrusion into an accusation of invasion. That has ended.

These thugs tried to involve me in their way of doing things, believing that through their intimidation I would give in by remaining silent, but the inconsistency of my reactions backfired. Of course, typical of those deluded by power, unable to see the potential for future conflicts, a reaction they knew, because they assumed they knew everything and then some. Getting rid of them wasn't easy, but I can't say they were a thorn in my side either, since they had already played me once and their world came crashing down on them. That group's connections within the company had been weakening for some time, and what happened with this young woman was the final straw. They knew their grip on power was shaky; in fact, when I had a conflict, they tried to take sides, to play the hero and salvage some of their image, but I didn't cooperate with that either. It was easy to be a collaborator by being completely unyielding, making them believe there was something between us when there wasn't, even though the things I did for my own future weren't false. Everything came crashing down on them, and my colleague and I stood up to them, to the point that we, like everyone else, have them under close scrutiny. To the point that anything out of line now has to be discussed when I'm not around: they have someone who could betray them with a denunciation. This used to only happen with the departments they were in charge of, which were outside their office; now they have it right next door. The disorganization is radical; it's a matter of surviving however they can, because they see no way forward after the upcoming change in leadership.

The situation of that group is deplorable, and the company's situation is even more so from a management perspective, for no other reason than that it's a strategic, war-like situation. Ironically, this whole conflict with the girl was nothing more than a tacit series of instructions, where she did what I said. She was always under scrutiny, while I, the mastermind, remained untouched. Of course, the game was played out through actions that led to other actions, all of which were predetermined. My colleagues had their eyes on her, but behind the scenes, I was orchestrating that trust step by step, yielding to principles that seemed genuine to them but never truly existed, such as agreeing with the psychiatric services. This was never the case; they only assumed it because of my defense of authority, as required by law. Everything came to a head when the girl staged a fake health emergency, which I was able to exploit to accuse my colleagues of complete disregard for the company's needs, even though it was true that they did practice such practices. In short, this group ended up looking like they were operating independently, secretly, and completely ignored by the company, all thanks to a message in a WhatsApp group.

It's been quite a strategy to survive in an environment where, under ideal conditions, such things should never have been allowed. What she and I had should have been kept private from the start, but nobody would have said a word.

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