Kneel before Zod....

Government service can be pretty weird. And the big shots in high places...well, sometimes they just go for broke and give the word weird a whole new meaning.

Take this instance for example, which supposedly happened not so long ago.

There is this story going around about the head honcho of a major government owned and controlled corporation (GOCC). Let's call this head honcho "Zod", after the lead villain in the movie Superman II.

The officers and employees have requested the release of a rather fat Christmas bonus, computed as a multiple of their monthly salaries. The monthly salaries of these officers and employees are already huge as far as civil servants are concerned, so the bonus is really nothing to sneeze at.

During an assembly of all the officers and employees of the said GOCC, Zod allegedly required everyone to kneel before him like some god or king before he approved the release of the bonus (not that dissimilar from how Zod asked the son of Jor-El to kneel before him in the movie). So what did the officers and employees do? Well, they knelt down of course. After the assembly knelt down, Zod, perhaps in an effort to salvage the pride of his flock, or at least to reduce the humiliation, knelt down as well.

Well, the bonus was released, and the officers and employees of that GOCC are doubtless pleased with their windfall. Nonetheless, it begs the question of how the seemingly limitless power vested in some government positions can corrupt, intoxicate, and distort realities.

What would you do if you were there? Would you swallow your pride for the sake of a bonus, and kneel like some slave? Or would you hold on to your pride and remain standing?

Me, I don't know. Truth be told, as much as I hate to admit it, I would have probably knelt down as well. I may have my pride, and I may not need the money (not wanting to be a hypocrite, I use the term "may" here loosely), but there are others who certainly needed the money and did not possess the luxury of holding on to their pride. If you stood your ground and be the only one who refused to kneel, the head honcho could have refused to approve the bonus, and that proud soul who refused to kneel would have taken the sole blame for the economic plight of the thousands of names on the payroll.

Like I said, weird. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

To be fair, I wasn't their during the event, so I can't vouch in all certainty that this actually took place, but the source of the story is supposedly reliable.

None of the officers and employees who where there dare speak about the incident, more so considering that they got what they wanted.

I'm almost half-hoping that this story is nothing more than idle gossip, because it's just too plain weird for the head of a government agency to ask his officers and employees to kneel down before him for the sake of a bonus. Just imagine how arrogant and egotistic you have to be to in order to stomach that. But then again, if it really did happen, I wouldn't be surprised in the least.

It just makes you wonder what kind of government we have.

It's just too bad Superman wasn't there to kick his behind and bring Zod's ego back to earth.

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