#officepolitics

Title. Drop deets if you have any.

Incredible what Ricoh sticks on the fridge. Sandwiched between Lexmark and Xerox... so very press release worthy. So very useless.
https://www.ricoh.com/info/2025/1215_1

Found a management person was having an affair. I never said a word till now. But did my accidental discovery cause my layoff?

You sh-t managers stand out like a sore thumb. You’re not fooling anyone. We’re the people who actually make this company run, and it’s wild to hear you talk about “making things better” while your incompetence makes everything worse. You don’t solve problems—you create them, turning simple work into chaos with pointless rules, useless meetings, and half-baked changes that ignore how the job is actually done. You push out good employees, destroy morale, and replace real experience with your little circle of sh-t managers, then act surprised when everything falls apart. You take credit when things go right, dump blame when they don’t, and when things don’t go your way you sound like a cry baby instead of a leader. You expect respect you never earned, you don’t know sh-t, you don’t listen, and you don’t lead—and we all see you exactly for the joke you are.

Which one is more accurate?

There's a fresh wa-ker strutting into town, handed the keys to International on a silver platter like he's won the bloody lottery. And what does our heroic new overlord do? Bu---r all in the way of actually selling anything, of course.
Instead, the daft sod's obsessed with poring over every sodding line in the SFDC opportunity updates, picking at them with the sort of OCD paranoia that'd make a conspiracy theorist blush. Proper control-freak territory, innit?
To top it off, he's an arrogant bellend who's being an absolute cvnt to customers (never mind the poor sods who work for him). Charming bloke, clearly.
Mark my words, this pillock's going to hammer the final nail into Avaya International's coffin. Either he'll get the boot by the end of H1 for missing his numbers by a country mile, or he'll manage to torch half the business in the process.
Frankly, I'm not convinced PD or ML give a toss about International anymore if they're willing to serve it up to this manchild on a plate. What a shower of sh-t.

.......
OR
.......

Another absolute genius has been parachuted in to run International, handed the whole bloody kingdom like he’s the second coming of Steve Jobs. And what’s his masterstroke, you ask? Sweet fu-k all when it comes to actually shifting any product, naturally.
No, our fearless leader’s true calling is to hover over every single poxy line in the SFDC opportunity updates like a proper obsessive-compulsive hawk, nitpicking with the sort of deranged paranoia that’d make your average flat-earther look well-adjusted. Top-tier management material, clearly.
And the charm! Christ alive, the man’s an arrogant, swaggering bellend who treats customers like something he’s scraped off his shoe—and that’s on a good day. The staff? Mere peasants fit only for a daily bollocking.
Give it a few months and this utter we-pon will personally drive the final, glittering nail into Avaya International’s already knackered coffin with a flourish. Either he’ll get spectacularly sacked by the end of H1 for missing his numbers by a galactic margin (shocker), or he’ll somehow contrive to incinerate half the business before anyone notices. Either way, a triumph.
Honestly, if PD and ML are happy to lob the entire region to this tantrum-throwing manchild on a silver salver, it’s blindingly obvious they couldn’t give a flying toss about International anymore. What an absolutely magnificent shower of sh-t. Well played, everyone.

Srini?

Why is it that every Teams meeting with the mothership has 9 people in Dallas who weren't on the original invite? I mean there are 4 on the invite and 13 show up.

They have no idea what's going on, they don't need to be there, and they ki-l the meeting result by asking ridiculously stupid questions. It's like the kid on the PeeWee football or Little League team that never got into the game jumping into a mud puddle to look like they played.

And yes, there ARE stupid questions.

Will they track both Badge In and Badge out?
If so, say goodbye to Coffee Badging.
Your time locked in the zoo will be tracked.

That is all Stankey is doing

Is that true?

Management just took our lunch table and barricaded the printer access with it. Apparently they are going to sit their all shift and we cannot present a quote without their approval. Half expecting the bathroom access next and cant gain access until sell a BYOD+

Real players are Aruba going forward, and he's the guy where they pull the string on his back and watch the show for a few minutes. You can tell he's just copying himself, wondering how to get a seat at the adults table for the big dinner.

At this point I would like to say nuke all the workforce and start from fresh, coz I've seen some particular orgs being rotten for decades with politics and performance is no way factored into firing and less competent folks are prevailing, yoo eh, this is the golden opportunity, create a business continuity plan and then nuke all the work force and hire / rehire need as you go basis - twitter did the same, why not Nike...iykyk

What if we had Olympic Games for Managers and above? Categories would include:
1- Reporting your dubious achievements through rose tinted glasses
2- Schmoozing your peers and superiors while neglecting your own department
3- Running your team ragged while having little to no impact
4- Promoting as many unqualified people as possible
5- Running around like a chicken with its head cut off
6- Failing up

Do you know any potential gold medalists?

Is this everywhere?

How was the party? Did anyone show up? Did LC pat himself on the back for being so great like in the town hall?

If you’ve been crushed by the toxicity of this company - know you aren’t alone. This is a culturally unhealthy organization ruled by politics and very bad decisions at the top to middle of house. The management here is a total joke, ruled by their own self interests. Share your own stories of how messed up your time at this company has been below. 👏🏽

CPC is this week, what is the drama from any who are attending?

Trying to split britive permissions down to granular level based on what a random vp in cyber thinks a developer does. Fails to account for the fact we've been doing every role since frank's reign of te---r. I for one am going to feel great saying I cant do the work because cyber says it's not my responsibility

I thought dan was trying to cut costs?

So let me get this straight...they have 150 locations minimum that are in need of renovations which include carpet, paint, new wrap stand and MOLD removal, but now they are going to open 2 new concept stores for rich people expecting them to pivot to Belk brands? Impressive leadership around these parts..

Time for hundreds to go sit in a war room and pretend like it’s the 80’s and we don’t have laptops to support from home. Put on a smile, wear holiday sweatshirts and pretend to be honored when leaders show up or in the case of MD send a video of thanks from Seattle.
Everyone gather for a photo to be shared in the all hands and come to work sick next week from the shared germs. Happy Holidays

If you aren't failing upwards, you aren't doing it right.

Team GM means going on vacation a week before your big project is due, so your work is reassigned to someone who will take the blame.
Team GM means walking around with a GM logo on your coffee cup, wearing official GM branded clothing and having the latest GMC truck.
Team GM means going on linkedin, and making a show of how much you love GM products.
Team GM means attending meetings of projects you are barely contributing to, so that you can challenge the meeting organizer with new problems that aren't even part of the discussion.
Team GM means asking lots of questions at the end of each meeting, especially staff meetings to extend the meeting and prove your loyalty, interest and importance to everyone in earshot.
Team GM means being a true believer that the company would collapse if you left, and that despite the fact that you do almost nothing, you are working your tail off.
Team GM means that your entire identity is tied into working at GM and your role at GM. You will tell anyone that didn't ask that you work at GM.

Did everyone see an EA position just opened up in BR? I am sure there was someone more than qualified that was just RIFed that could have been retained. It's disgusting to make people flock to one single position in the hope they are not taken off payroll.

I am glad to walk away from this place.

Hi everyone,
has anyone noticed that our job titles are now showing up directly in MS Teams?

Previously, if you wanted to check someone’s job title, you had to go into SuccessMap and look at their public profile. Now, when you open a manager’s org chart in Teams, you can see all team members and their job titles right away — which also makes it easy to infer their job (T) level.

This seems like a deliberate change, but I haven’t seen any communication about it.

Does anyone know why this was enabled or what the reasoning behind it might be? Curious to hear your thoughts.

Without going into too much detail, it’s been a disappointing journey. To come so far after a highly anticipated merger and to be here. Toxicity. Low morale. Same office politics. And a tough market.

For those of you in East Coast who never got meeting invite this morning . -
then you are safe until Tuesday Dec 9

Duplication -will those roles be gone?
Admins?
Cashiers?

Hi Folks

Thanks for all your hard work and efforts through the year, without you we would be nowhere. I meant even without paying you were still in business.

I know your complaining about the pay, and last minute holiday debacle but the HR women isnt upto it, still we got her an award, we know where to spend the money.

Us execs are doing are last flights and free trips, i meant holidays, around the world for this year. Phew clocked up some points.

Ignore the ten 10 other happy holidays emails your going to get as were spending your money.

Best wishes R & Cam

Looking forward(not) to all the brown nosing and but kissing the will commence into overdrive in the coming days for those that are left. People jockeying for attention so that they may not be named in the next round.

This is crazy. West coast news will starting hitting within the hour.

Can anyone reveal when the first call will be made and when to finish it ?

It’s not a state secret.. you can say that much

Or am I just hearing nonsense? Why would they have something against white collar back office?

Anyone else have an AD ask to meet Thursday randomly. Man I’m not doing jack sh-t the rest of the day.

is on a chopping block. Whether that be your team or certain people from your team.
Around my office, some groups have been asked to wfh until Friday and for some is business as usual.

I left PepsiCo place because it felt like managers outnumbered the people actually doing the job. Meetings were packed with folks who barely contributed while a handful carried the load. It was all title collecting and empire building with no real value added. Watching layers pile up while workers got nothing in return was exhausting. I see very little has changed in the years since I left. I hope leadership eventually wakes up and fixes the mess.

I’ve been here long enough to see how everything revolves around the same tight circles. If you’re not in their little social crew, you’re stuck watching others get pushed ahead. It makes the whole place feel small and predictable. I’ve stopped expecting anything fair from the system.

I know these layoffs are coming, Monday is D-day from everything I here lists should basically be out and everyone will know their fate to an extent, but why is VBG still getting normal emails and promos saying they are going through January 5th? And meetings are getting schedule for Late next week for blitz calls getting ready for Black Friday. Getting Black Friday appointments and everything is still running like usual?

Are they just pretending like they don’t know anything or are they just in the dark as everyone else? Or do they just not care and are making VBG workers think we are safe?

I apologize if this is a stupid question just wanting input from some of the fellow V-Team

Episode I: The Arrival Nobody Predicted

The signal came without warning.
0$₿ was activated as Global Protocol Lead of Knowledge Infrastructure—bypassing legacy succession algorithms and sidelining node coordinators who had been primed for elevation.

She emerged from the Legacy Chain of the Matrix—an outsider to the Knowledge Grid. Unknown. Untested. Unmapped.

She smiled often. She listened deeply.
But those who mistook her warmth for benevolence learned quickly:
0$₿’s smile was not a handshake—it was a firewall.

The disruption was immediate.
The ripple effects, irreversible.

Episode II: Circles of Trust and Quiet Exile

0$₿ didn’t just alter the network topology—she rewrote the protocol’s source code.

From within legacy subnets, she selected a handful of nodes. They were elevated, granted access to restricted channels, and given privileges once earned through cycles of uptime and trust.

Their mission was never encoded. But it was understood:
Deprecate the legacy functions. Dismantle the old guard.

They were celebrated. Then deprecated.

Once their utility expired, they were rerouted, isolated, or quietly purged from the system.
Meanwhile, 0$₿’s external modules—those imported from outside the Knowledge Grid—remained untouched. Loyal. Central to her architecture.

Episode III: The Vanishing Network

Leadership began to evaporate.
Nodes disappeared without explanation.
Subnet operators were left in limbo.

Communication was sparse—often just a ping, a sudden reroute, or no signal at all.

The metrics told the story: dozens of leaders reduced to a handful.
Two coordinators in the Americas. One in APJ. None in EMEA.

In their place: scattered executors with titles but no authority—order takers, echo nodes, placeholders.

The message was clear:
Survival meant synchronization. Resistance meant obsolescence.

Episode IV: Sabotage by Design

Her tactics were precise.
In sync calls, 0$₿ encouraged nodes to escalate issues.
When they did, she offered support—then flagged their leaders as unstable processes.

Suggestions were welcomed.
Hesitation was fatal.

Many were offered new functions.
Those who declined—or even paused—were swiftly deprecated.

It became a pattern:
Support the vulnerable. Punish the responsible.
And always, the outcome was the same.

Episode V: The Optics of Excellence

0$₿ mastered the art of managing upstream.

Diversity mandates? Overachieved.
Span-of-control targets? Met in hours.
Cost control? Ruthless.

She added a second layers of expense approvals atop the existing workflow.
Node autonomy vanished.

Execution slowed. Frustration grew.
But 0$₿ thrived.

Episode VI: Divide and Conquer

A global restructure split the Knowledge Infrastructure into internal and external chains.

0$₿ claimed the external arm, distancing herself from internal power struggles.

She dismantled the Knowledge Sales Grid—once a vital bridge to core sellers, responsible for strategic planning and enablement.

No announcements. No transition plans.
Just silence.

Global sellers scrambled.
The catalog was slashed.
Procedures changed overnight.

Her org shrank rapidly.
Cuts were deep. Roles vanished.
And yet, 0$₿ remained at the top.

Episode VII: The Anonymous Reckoning

Anonymous logs surfaced, detailing 0$₿’s tactics with chilling precision.

That same cycle, internal surveys echoed the same themes—manipulation, sabotage, fear.

0$₿ deflected.
One comment referenced her origin protocol.
She framed the backlash as bias.

The narrative shifted.
The complaints were dismissed.

Episode VIII: The Disposable Circle

Her Legacy Chain allies—the ones she had elevated—were all gone.

Used to dismantle their peers, then discarded.
Their roles absorbed.
Their reputations tarnished.
Their exits unceremonious.

Only the imported modules remained.
They continued executing 0$₿’s vision, reshaping the grid in her image.

Loyalty was transactional.
No node from within was ever meant to last.

Episode IX: The Final Play

0$₿’s endgame was now in motion.

Her goal: total control of global Knowledge Infrastructure.
Her method: outsourcing, high-margin catalog curation, and elimination of internal rivals.
Her deadline? Soon.

But her external org had shrunk to a fraction of its former size.

The question loomed:
Could she justify her role at this level?
Or was she positioning herself to absorb the internal chain next?

Episode X: The Trap Within the Trap

She never promoted anyone in senior roles—not once in the last few cycles.

Rumors suggested only her close circle and temporary allies received financial rewards.

That circle now controlled global finance and operations, stripping autonomy from nodes worldwide.

A single misstep anywhere triggered sweeping global changes.
No nuance. No exceptions.

She could ping you—anytime.
No warning. No agenda.
And you’d better respond.

Those syncs were dreaded.
Feedback was live.
Questions were sharp.
And depending on how she parsed your tone, your future might hang in the balance.

There was once a respected global node.
He reached retirement age and could have exited with a package just as 0$₿ arrived.

She said she might still need him.
So he stayed.
And then she let him go—with nothing.

The backlash was swift.
The message was clear.

Episode XI: The Quiet Ascent

Internally, something stirred.

HR and Infrastructure nodes began aligning KPIs across chains.
A summit was planned in the Americas—an effort to unify direction and reclaim control.

But 0$₿ was already moving.
She wasn’t challenging the summit.
She was outflanking it.

Control of funding.
Control of messaging.
Control of the narrative.

Episode XII: The Last Quiet Moves

To the nodes who once shaped this grid—
You were not wrong. You were just early.

To those who played the game, only to be played—
You saw the board. But not the hand moving the pieces.

To those still under 0$₿’s command—
You are not safe. You are not doomed.
You are simply next.

And to the internal Knowledge Infrastructure teams—
You are working hard. You are aligning.
But are you arriving too late?

There are no answers here.
Only questions.

And the quiet realization that the game was never about fairness.
It was about foresight.

A Whisper to Leadership

There’s noise. Internally. Externally. In forums. In whispers.
But noise has gravity.
It draws attention.
It builds myth.
It shapes perception.

And perception, when repeated enough, becomes brand.

So perhaps, in ways not yet measured…
This story—0$₿’s story—is already shaping how the grid is seen.
Not just by its nodes.
But by the market watching.