Exercise 3: SHORTcomings

SHORTcomings

He stood at the front of one of his bookshelves eyeing the collection of books that had accumulated throughout the years. He worked for many prestigious private corporations and he believed that by displaying variations of books in his office bookshelf, those who he came in contact with would be highly impressed. The books created a projection of his intelligence. He believed in all things that can help elongate his prestige. By elongating his image of such intelligence, it would blindside anyone who would notice that he stood at 5’0 short. Men who have held positions in power are often expected to stand at the minimum of 5’11. He, on the other hand, needed to compensate this deficiency.

Therefore he did.

He surrounded his office with, not only the bookshelves filled with what he considers “intelligent and philosophical” books, he also surrounded his office with plants and artifacts that he had collected from around the world. He had pieces of art from China, South Africa, Europe, etc. He believed that they are good distractions away from the fact that as he showed them the pieces of art, he could barely reach the very top most shelf of his bookshelves. He also took care to make comments of shortcomings that people in his office fail to recognize. For example, if so and so swept her hair in a bun, he would simply tell her “you know, pulling your hair back like that doesn’t do you much justice.” By making this simple comment, he ignited such insecurity in so-so that she would think about it all day and she would be too occupied to pay heed to his own insecurity.

His secretary came in to inform him that his next meeting will be arriving in five minutes. She asked if she can prepare the coffee and documents for him. He told her to make sure to make cold coffee to accommodate his colleague. He knew full well that cold coffee was something that his colleague loathed. His plan was to illustrate to his colleague that his secretary was a dimwit incapable of handling a simple task of coffee making. He would belittle her in front of him as a way to remind her that just because God has given her the gift of height, for she stood at 5’10, he would not grant her the grace of avoiding such embarrassment. He smiled to himself with relish at the idea of knocking her confidence to the ground. He imagined that she would take five minutes to go to the bathroom, and as she looked at the mirror tell herself that she was indeed quite smart. He figured that she would pick herself up and go about the day as she would—only in her mind she would question that confidence over and over again.

Throughout his career, he found that he enjoyed meetings where he talked highly about his accomplishments. Those who came in to meet with him are on a quest to seek for his support to sustain their areas. His position was intended to listen to these requests and provide whatever means of support that he can. Therefore, when they come in, he made sure that he acted like he was listening to their needs, when in fact, he would respond by providing his elaborate stories of success and how they can be just like him someday. Someone, who have met so and so, and had dinner with so and so and have built relationships with the top -most successful people in the industry and the globe!

He was quite rooted with his own stories that he failed to recognize that those who sat in front of him could give a flying fuck what he had done in his life. In fact, most of them had hoped that one of the vases from China that he spoke highly of would suddenly fall right on top of his head, smashing his brain, if only to make him shut the hell up.


Fortunately for him, this had never happened.

Unfortunately for those who have met with him, this too had never happened.


He walked to his desk and sat down at his special chair that elevated him so that he can look down at the person who usually sat across from him. He made sure that the chair that was stationed on the other side of his desk was much lower so that whoever sat in its place would find themselves looking up to the person sitting on the other side.

He decided to prepare for this meeting and he contemplated whether to inject the story of how he once met with one of the most controversial politicians or perhaps he can talk about how he made a global impact by writing an article about the importance of measuring success by how high one climbs the corporate ladder.

Before he made his final decision, his assistant walked in his office with his colleague, a man not only of statuesque height (at 6’3, no one can ignore him), but also of generosity and kindness and prone to the bullshit factor.


As he glided in the office with his towering frame, he had only one greeting for his counterpart each time they met which was simply “I see that you are still using your special chair. Don’t worry about getting up, we both know you could barely reach my elbow.”