#officepolitics

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.

Anyone else just wishing for all of this to be over? The anxiety of waiting is so detrimental to everyone's health. Office is quiet as a church mouse, I do not know if it was leaked from within or one of the disgruntled SVP's earlier this week who got terminated.

BUT I just prefer to know already... a week more of this is torture, honestly. Rip the band-aid and let people know, dude.

I joined a couple of years ago from a tech product company to a more senior position here. Crazy to see how much gossip and open chitchat goes on here, especially in global, about individuals. Don’t people have work to do? Where are the professionals? Management encourages it even.

Pay attention to how your manager is acting from now on. If he or she starts avoiding you or being excessively nice all of a sudden, you know what's coming.

It feels like there are more unhappy people that went the EOI route due to either being tired of their incompetent supervisor/management, or tired of the never ending “initiatives” that folks dream up. The office politics these last few months has been impressive. You can definitely tell who’s got their suction in the right pit.

State Farm jet taking off right now from Bloomington airport. i wonder the high paid execs are scooting off to now? Too good to fly commercial.

Something is up. A few of my peers told me they stopped getting their usual invites for calls and meetings. Seems like the process may have already “unofficially” started.

On the floor at BR.. seeing many VPs ,Sr Dr are having meetings that are not work related.

Sr Dr are meeting one by one with this VP.. most likely lists are getting generated.

Store manager plays favorite amongst managers. Promoting inexperienced managers to run departments such as beauty. Seems like the beauty department in our store is being run by the store manager herself. The pressure is on as regional and district are starting to notice the beauty manager isn't even fit to run Backstage. It's only a matter of time.

In the email about lp they also talked about this new director role. Is ej finally gonna stop pretending gp is about anything other than how much you kiss up? Some of the partner jobs are less scope than some of the dl's so guess if you have a big job but you aren't on the favorite kiss up list you get to be a "executive level" director now? nowhere near the money but all the work while they hire a gp over you who you have to tell how to do his job.6 years this place keeps going down

Does anyone know how they would check if you are in office? Can I just swipe my badge and leave?

Whoever wrote it thought they were really doing something.

Why does a RVP nitpick small things when the tile flooring needs to be repaired/replaced and the cases in the beauty department need new lights?!

My boss spends her entire workday talking. All day, she is “stakeholdering” with people, then comes to us to get all the actual information. After that, she passes that half-baked information to superiors behind our backs, making it look like it’s all her work.

Many times, the leaders above don’t even know that we have spent countless hours solving problems or working on a solution. On top of that, she is too lazy to even put it together in slides — she expects us to do that so she can go behind our backs and present it to her VPs or what not ?

Do we need her ? I do not know but she will stay and people who are doing actual work will be fired.

It’s like someone holding you hostage, making you denounce your religion to be spared, and then they still ki-l you. Don’t trust the enemies of what we know is the way forward, working from home. These are the same guys that show up at the office to talk at the proverbial water cooler for 4+ hours a day. It is the ultimate act of deflection when these blowhards are projecting their disdain for “laziness” (a quality they have mastered) on WFH who simply don’t want CHAD blabbing about his Halloween party bleeding over into my fu--ing conference bridge.

Ready to retire after 30 years at Shell and don't plan to ever look back. Corporate life nearly ki-led me slowly, but at least I’m financially secure. I know many are not as lucky. One thing's for sure, I'm never going back to that grind. The office politics can stay behind me forever.

I’m seeing a culture of if you are a manager who is not interested in college football, other selected store managers, RVP’S and GvPs are not interested in talking to you. Has anyone else noticed this? # Bizarre

The layoffs were in the works for months and the execs certainly knew about it. And yet, Prat and Rick still decided to call us all back to the office on their arbitrary timeline, upend our lives and schedules, and scramble for desk space. All to lay off people mere weeks later. Do they get a sick enjoyment out of controlling us like puppets or are they just really bad at decision making?

Seeing lots of corporate level posts but what about the situation at your station? All quiet at mine so far (being vague in case Sonny Boy is lurking here).

This last leadership in action call with JF was pretty comical. They had the usually "woke" testimonials from the usual suspects. Talked about wanting to build a "culture" at State Farm but were also basically bragging about all the people they have run off or in their words this was "not for them". Happy for them that they moved on. LOL! You can tell these are clueless re--rds living in Bloomington that don't fight the traffic, crime, and ghetto workforce that we all have to tolerate. That is the "culture" we have now. JF and his cronies are putzsss! The day this company shuts the doors the better of we the world will be.

This place is full of people who would su-k up to a potted plant if it meant a promotion. They can’t do the work, they don’t care about anyone else but themselves, but somehow they’re moving up while those of us who are doing the actual work get ignored. Make it make sense.

The day before I left Target, leaders were discussing if they should “update” the slides for her (the company needs a real supply chain officer that understands basic supply chain concepts)
Nice should not be the primary qualification. Just like her, Rob has also only worked at Walmart, but he is the real deal.

I am in my mid 40s. I left Allstate a few years ago and thought I'd never look back. I enjoyed my colleagues at the time and the work was fulfilling. I'm thinking of reapplying but am hesitant due to layoffs and politics in the office. Has anything changed for the better? Or has it gotten worse? Some insight would be appreciated.

Dell is just a foolish place. I just don't have the time for the politics and ridiclious decision making from our management team. I do what I need to do every day and ignore everything else. Our management has become totally mo--nic and everything is political so I just don't bother with it anymore. It's such an unethical company, I sincerely hope at some point the SEC come downs hard on them and they get sued.

If you are in management you are worthless and clearly management has changed considerably to a point where I just don't respect them anymore.

For now, it's just a job that will get me by so I can build my resume and then move on in a couple of year.

Worst BU. Toxic environment, petty politics, fossil senior leadership in same position for decades, no decision making power or accountability (even at svp level). Confusion, delay in arriving at a conclusion, chinese whisper are synonymous to this BU.

My manager reportedly gave me up. Stupid as a box of rocks. Or else I’m being fed lies. Prob both.

I laughed when I was asked my thoughts of reporting to asset servicing Mr “ETF.
Basically he resigned and then demanded to control all things ETFs across the firm to stay. I am not even in asset servicing. Just let him go, resign and move on.

My boss does not tell me the truth all the time. This is the current story, please help me untangle it. My current boss is a State Farm agency owner. He signed the newer State Farm Agent Agreement years ago and has his own agency. He has a friend who also signed the newer State Farm Agent Agreement years ago and has a local State Farm agency. The "Friend Owner" wants to retire without giving up his agency. I am being transferred to "Friend Owner" who will teach me to be the office manager. I also have my P&C, Health and Life licenses. "Friend Owner" stopped selling and just writes policies if they walk in the door. I know that State Farm has production goals that need to be met. I also know that State Farm has the right to close agencies that are not selling or have absentee owners. My current boss said that State Farm does not close agencies and doesn't have the right to close agencies. I believe that he is not being honest. Does State Farm actually close underperforming agencies? Is there any proof that they do?

Executive leadership expected to be in office Tuesday-Wednesday…
Told to be in office 8-5 all day.. high expectations to be in office all day with low expectations of actually seeing an executive… happens every time!!!

one thing i used to enjoy in corporate sales was the little game of keeping managers away from customers.

it was never about being mean, it was about survival. a manager in a meeting could turn a smooth sales call into chaos. they would talk too much, go off topic, or stumble on details that mattered to the client. i knew that keeping them out of the room protected the deal, and honestly, it protected me too.

every month during one-on-one check-ins, the question would come up: why am i not joining your customer appointments? i would put on a serious look, pull up my calendar like i was searching, and act thoughtful. after a pause, i’d say something like, i might have something next week where your help could be useful.

of course, i never followed up. no invites ever went out. by the time the next month rolled around, the same conversation would repeat, and the cycle kept going.

that small trick kept my meetings cleaner, my customers happier, and my sales life a whole lot easier.

In two years I had to deal with more cr-p than during ten years at my old job.