Sitting alone in a dimly lit room as twilight approached, Linda thought back. Everything had gone according to her plan. She was so close to realizing her dream. Really close. Even thinking about it now, Linda’s plan was perfect. She would kick out the other promising women and fill the management team with either incompetent men or men from her own country who would support Linda. With the worldwide pressure to appoint women, the company would need to appoint a woman to a key position at the management level. Linda should be the chosen ones. Because there should be no other choice left. Linda worked tenaciously to achieve this goal, taking advantage of her mask as a HR professional. Carefully avoiding being tailed, she made bold moves to eliminate rivals when the opportunity presented itself. With deft moves, she was successful in making it look like all the bad things she did were done by others. Linda was appearing graceful, never ceasing to smile. No men, especially those in power, would have never even in their wildest dreams suspected Linda as the source of all the evils. But things went south. How and where did this go wrong?
Nearly a decade ago, Linda worked in China while waiting for a position as Head of HR in Europe to become available. A dodgy manager, Rohan, who had a sexual relationship with Linda, arranged this senior position as he got transferred to China, and Linda took his offer as a matter of course. Linda recalled a sightseeing trip to the Forbidden City in Beijing. The vast expanse of the Forbidden City, with its numerous brightly colored buildings, was faded but still glorious enough to remind her of the glory of the fallen dynasties. Working in the HR department of an American company is somewhat similar to working as a eunuch in the imperial palace of the Chinese dynasties. Unlike the aristocrats and bureaucrats who were the officials of the political side, the eunuchs rose to power by exercising all kinds of private influence in the underworld, taking care of the emperor and his concubines. Unlike the elite, who came from prestigious families and passed through the extremely difficult entrance examinations, eunuchs were men who had physically abandoned their male functions in exchange for admission tickets to the imperial palaces. Many of them came from the lowest strata of society and were despised. In fact, some of them actually gained unparalleled wealth and power in the official world of politics through their connections with the emperor and his favorites. Linda thought the shady world of eunuchs was similar to HR departments in modern Corporate America, which are looked down upon as backroom operations.
Especially in a company where corruption was prevalent due to the longstanding dictatorship of the CEO, personnel decisions such as promotions and demotions were based on personal ties with the CEO. How many times were they invited to parties hosted by the president? What souvenirs did they bring to please him, including money in case of men? For women, did they serve the ugly man personally in bed? Under the mask of friendship, dodgy tactics went on, and people kicked each other down the ladder in search of the attention of the CEO. There was also a possibility of a wicked trick of falling in love with the CEO’s daughter and become his son-in-law. This might work out even if the man was not particularly handsome, as long as he pretended to be an honest man and passionately appealed to her pity to ask her hands for marriage.
Even the seemingly impossible promotion of a person from the HR department to a top position within the company might not be impossible with underhanded tactics in a good set-up. Perhaps in a previous life long ago, Linda was a Chinese eunuch who used underhanded tactics to win a war and gain immense power. Eunuch Linda brought even the hundred officials of the outer court to their knees, like Wei Zhongxian of the Ming Dynasty. The soul of the cunning eunuch still lived in Linda and gave her a somewhat neutral look, with LGBT rainbow in her back.
Manipulation should start with letting down the other person’s guard. Linda in the previous life was able to manipulate the powerful emperor by speaking reverently in a high-pitched voice, relaxing their guard, and posing as a loyalist to get into their bosom. Zhao Gao of the Qin Dynasty, Gao Lishi of the Tang Dynasty, Wei Zhongxian of the Ming Dynasty, and Li Lianying of the Qing Dynasty; a long line of chilling villains and troublemakers. Winning was the only thing important. Even today, all the doors should be open for Linda, even though born in a society disadvantageous for a woman and so far not academically successful. There should be hidden paths to reach prosperity with all the disadvantages. Let’s enter the palace anyway, whether from the back gate or first to the Harem full of the emperor’s women. Get close to power and move those in power. Linda was at a loss, but there must be a way out. The secret to success is the same as was in her previous life. She would just need to leverage the powerful person. “Cool down and think, Linda,” she told herself.
The workshop that Linda organized “for Carl” at that time went exactly as she wanted. Linda dutifully appeared at Carl’s semi-annual department-wide gathering and plausibly presented the four personality patterns in a D-I-S-C model in front of all the members of Carl’s Strategy Department. In addition to Carl, Max, Greg, Sanae, Danny and Michelle were there. Each of them then identified their own personality type using the questionnaire they had done beforehand and exchanged their thoughts with each other. Toward the midpoint of the workshop, Carl spoke up.
“As we saw, we need to understand the different personalities at a workplace to ensure smooth collaboration. We are one team. Tasks are assigned to help us work as a team and achieve our common goal. Presentation is one of those tasks, and should be carried out by the person assigned to that role. Danny did a great job with his presentation at the Leadership Meeting in front of Joe. Now that Danny did a good job, another person would like to stand up and take up his role; that is not correct. He raised a hand and said that they actually did the work. Good grief, this is so called “hero mentality,” Carl said, in one-go, looking across people with a fake smile on his face. Greg turned pale quickly when he heard Carl. Danny on the other hand nodded vigorously in agreement with Carl. The others were silent. Only a few understood Carl’s point. Not realizing that it was a canning trap by Linda, Carl went an extra mile to show Linda that he was trying to put his team under control by scolding the culprit in front of everybody. He was to say to Linda, “Look, I’ve got it under control. You don’t have to report anything to Joe or Rachel.”
Linda, on the other hand, was applauding heartily to Carl in her mind, keeping neutral expression on her face. She didn’t miss the sight of Greg turning pale and Danny turning pink with Carl’s words.
“You danced well, Marionette Carl,” Linda told herself. This statement should have impressed everyone, including Greg, that Carl backed up Danny fully. No matter how annoying and aggressive Danny might be, this entire department should continue with this guy as a cross to bear. If anyone disagreed with Danny, Carl should ground them immediately. Linda would just keep a cool face and carry out her plan. Greg was the first target, but let’s kill as many annoying women as possible, using Danny as a weapon. With Mia, Sanae, and the other female employees as targets, Linda was excited with her rosy plan. Her manipulation worked out perfectly to Carl. It was simply amazing how impulsively human beings could act for the sake of self-preservation. Especially those men in good positions, all it takes is a little fear and they would react fiercely.
Thinking back to this point, Linda suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Yes, let’s use this method. What worked for Carl should work for other men of status – the CEO, Ben. By appealing to the fundamental human need for self-preservation, Linda could manipulate anyone in any position as she wanted. Like an eunuch in the emperor’s night cell, Linda, who had been in charge of dealing with Ben’s love affairs by giving those women good positions in the company as returns after their night shifts, held all sorts of secrets about the emperor. There were women who had slept with Ben immediately skipped many steps in the career ladder and were given important positions. That was a well-known fact in the company but it might not be so valuable it was now that Ben was about to retire.
However, Linda realized that she had other great information she could leverage. It would be so powerful, and it would be easy to make them think that Linda had some real evidence of their wrong-doing. If she threatened them with this, they would tremble and would jump to accept Linda’s terms. Linda felt as if a white meteor had pierced through her body, and a ray of hope came to her all at once. Great plan, Linda. Let’s get into the business of succession appointments of the imperial family, like eunuchs such as Zhao Gao of the Qin Dynasty and Wei Zhongxian of the Ming Dynasty. Linda wouldn’t care if that would bring down the company or the dynasty. What was important was Linda’s own career outlook and appearance; Linda was willing to do whatever it took to preserve her own appearance and her career so far. With a tremor, Linda stood up in the completely darkened room. It was time to act.
This story is fictitious and is not based on any real persons or organizations. Copyright: Kunoichi4You 2024
Psychopath in the Next Office 