AAaA HR
I once worked at a startup that was quickly running out of capital and likewise running out of time to make its outsize ambitions a reality. I could see the leadership starting to make moral compromises to the detriment of its workers, something of a recurring theme in my career and one reason I prefer freelance these days. At some point I had to draw the line and quit, but before I did, I think I got a window into the psychology of the management. They weren’t really evil, just a little too weak, a little too willing to pull the blinders over their eyes. They had this vision of the future and their place in it that was beautiful, beautiful enough that I could almost ignore the reality. Almost.
I mention this because even though HR is worse than they were, I do see echoes of their self-justifications in his. “As soon as we’re millionaires, we can make right all the wrongs that we may have to commit to become millionaires, and more besides, so it’ll be a net win for everyone!” (But what if we don’t become millionaires?) “Ha ha! Failure is not an option!” (Well… actually…)
Had we done the version of this story where HR was a pencil-pusher in human resources who gradually nudged out Hurricane’s CEO and his other rivals for the position, his use of this subtle magic, the kind that can’t be tracked and is only witnessed by a few who are then discredited, might’ve played a role in his rise. Heck, maybe even in this continuity, some high-profile failures in the gaming industry weren’t the accidents of incompetence that we think they are…
Kinda disappointed that image doesn’t say “ThaiPad.”
Or “ThaiPad Thai”?
Uncle Wang doesn’t have a security camera?
I doubt it’d occur to him to check the tapes. Why would he? He knows what happened, right?
Actually worked at a restaurant that ‘didn’t believe in security cameras’ (other words, too cheap to pay for them) so when something went missing, the manager just threaten to fire everybody. The idea was the employees would polices themselves but all that happened was a innocent party got blamed and things would continue to go missing after they got fired.
I’ve come to the conclusion that there are no people who do evil things for evil’s sake. That they all do think something good will come out of their work in some way, at some point. They are “just” very twisted and perverted in their logic and thinking.
Which also makes me so sad to see so many people these days, with genuinely good ideas, plans and goals, do so much unintentional evil with their work just because their way has also gotten twisted, and instead of fighting to bring people together as they should, they fight for singular ideas and goals, seeing anyone who opposes them, anyone who does not actively support them, as the enemy…
Like certain late night host now promoting that thanks to idiots at Capital it’s THE WHITES who are the evil incarnate. -_-“
Mmmm, I entirely agree with the spirit of what you are saying (and what T wrote), and I agree that’s the prevailing case most of the time. Hanlon’s Razor, combined with the Peter Principle, means a lot of unintentional bad juju, let alone adding temptations to moral compromise via paths of least resistance.
That said, there are definitely people who tip over into wanting another person’s (or people’s) pain or suffering expressly. Whether they had a way or not, when the immediate goal is harming a human for the sake of harm, you have crossed the line into actual evil.
I expect there’s hardly anyone who does evil for Evil’s sake, like some D&D villain. I do think there are a lot of people who are happy being selfish or sadistic at other people’s expense, with rationalizations ranging from “I need it more” to “they deserve it” to “goodness is a lie, everyone’s out for themselves, I’m just honest about it”. There are also those who do evil for what they think of as good, but I don’t think everyone’s that high minded. Lots of “I want this and it’s not that bad or I just don’t care.”
There’s also disagreement about what *is* evil, or about what should be legal, of course.
“Why did you pirate that movie?”
“Copyright is bad law.”
“Copyright is good in general but I’m broke, I’m not hurting anyone.”
“I bought DVDs but this is more convenient than breaking them out of storage.”
“I bought DVDs once but I lost them and I shouldn’t have to pay again.”
“Stealing from big corporations is fine.”
“I wanted to watch it for free and I won’t get caught.”
“Everyone else is doing it.”
Would we title this segment “Consult a CEO,” “Solicit a sorceror,” or maybe “cross-examine a conjurer-executive?”
Bother a Boss, perhaps? Commune with a Conjuror? Examine an Executive?
… “Examine an Executive” is basically what you said. *facepalm*
Yeah, a reminder HR is a bastard… for other reasons than kidnapping and murder.
And just realized this was the idea touched upon by the Isolationist Sky Elves who the younger elves had to point out ‘conjuring’ was simply stealing from someone else. Guess it’s common for some of those with power don’t always bother thinking of the consequences to others.
+1