Don’t Follow The Snake

RACHEL ATTITUQ QITSUALIK

Ever have a boss who not only personally detested every atom of your being, but also made every minute at work a living hell?

Now, in the various jobs I’ve had in the past, most of my supervisors have been terrific people. I count myself lucky to have worked on some exciting projects. But one year, in one of my first jobs with the GNWT, I held an experimental position in my department. The deal was that if the trial term went well, the position would be made permanent.

Little did I know that I was going to have Attila the Hun as my supervisor. Hereafter, I shall refer to this infernal personage by the secret moniker that he/she/it had earned within the department: “Old Poison Lips.”

Lips was of an ancient breed, that being the bully, and like Lips’ kindred bullies, Lips needed at least one target to pick on — preferably the shyest and least authoritative individual available, that being me at the time. Besides being somewhat naive, I tended to be insipidly honest, and to do things by the book. I might as well have worn a bull’s-eye.

From the day Old Poison Lips became aware of me, I was suddenly showered with projects to be completed overnight, forbidden to attend conferences, banned from working with my team. I was incessantly chastised in front of my peers.

These slights, as well as constant acts of petty sabotage, made my job nearly impossible. One day, I was even approached over coffee, whereupon Lips — who was of the First Nations persuasion — proceeded to inform me that I would never be recommended for a permanent position, because Lips didn’t “like” me — and even other Inuit, according to Lips, didn’t “like” me.

I fought to retain my cool, and requested a copy of Lips’ observations in writing. I received a couple of spoken words, unprintable here, but naturally, no documentation.

I think I’d have gone mad if it hadn’t been for three factors: my colleagues, my friends, and my karate classes. I had been studying martial arts simply to stay in shape and do something other than feel sorry for myself; but ultimately, it was the discipline that such classes offered me that would prove invaluable throughout that hellish year.

And there was a certain teaching that clung to my mind and guided my approach to Old Poison Lips. I had faith in the teaching, and it finally proved itself by the end of my work term. It was simply:

Don’t follow the snake into the hole.

It is the principle that if one continually yields, ever backing up when presented with an attack, one is akin to a snake backing into its hole. If an attacker impetuously follows the snake into the hole, he will eventually find himself trapped when the snake finally strikes him.

All year long, I backed up.

It eventually came about that my work was being disrupted, as usual, by Old Poison Lips. I was used to such occurrences by now.

This time, however, the disruption was due to Lips running a business — selling meat — out of our department, and without a license. I quickly warned Lips that this was very, very illegal. I even threatened that I would file a report if Lips didn’t knock it off. I was dismissed with some colourful verbiage, and a wave of the hand.

My threat was far from idle. I did file that report — to the delight of the entire department. Old Poison Lips was caught completely red-handed, and investigated. Naturally, it made the remainder of my term much more manageable, and Lips didn’t bother me again.

Bullies don’t want to fight you — they just want an easy victim. When the victim shows some claws (coincidentally my very name, Qitsualik, means “One Who Claws”), the bully moves on to easier targets.

Lips shouldn’t have chased me into the hole. It’s a pity and a pain when any situation degenerates to the point of unavoidable conflict, but at least there are inferior and superior tactics for such eventualities. Therefore, I’m grateful for my snake-in-the-hole lesson, although there is a southern saying that amounts to the same thing:

“Give ’em enough rope, and they’ll hang themselves.”

Pijariiqpunga.