208: Office Politics

What It Covers

This American Life's "Office Politics" episode examines workplace conflict through three stories: a sociologist's study of corporate sabotage at two firms, a psychic consultant in Long Island who specializes in office disputes, David Rakoff's memoir of publishing assistant culture, and street vendors on New York's 6th Avenue who replicate corporate hierarchies while selling salvaged magazines and books.

Key Questions Answered

• •Sabotage through omission: Subordinates at a traditional banking firm destroyed their boss by selectively withholding information before executive committee meetings. The targeted manager never recognized the sabotage, attributing his failures to staff incompetence rather than deliberate manipulation. This pattern reveals that the most effective workplace undermining leaves no visible fingerprints and exploits the target's own blind spots about their team's capabilities.
• •Hierarchy shapes conflict style: Sociologist Calvin Morrell's research across multiple companies shows that organizational structure determines how conflict surfaces. Traditional firms with clear hierarchies push all scheming underground into covert sabotage. Flat organizations like the toy company he calls PlayCo produce open confrontations, public humiliation attempts, and even physical altercations in parking lots, because no authority exists to suppress or adjudicate disputes.
• •Psychic consultation as workplace tool: A Long Island psychic named Anne, booked months in advance, runs a substantial practice helping employees navigate office disputes. Her clients span industries including law enforcement, car rental, and telecommunications. Her primary function is validation rather than revelation — confirming suspicions clients already hold, which reduces emotional fixation on unresolvable conflicts and allows people to disengage psychologically from toxic workplace situations.
• •Emotional suppression drives workplace dysfunction: Workplaces generate the full spectrum of human emotions — jealousy, resentment, gratitude, attraction — but prohibit direct expression. This suppression forces feelings into indirect channels: sabotage, gossip, alliance-building, and occasionally physical confrontation. Even Ira Glass, host of a public radio program known for measured discourse, describes punching his boss three times during a creative dispute over show format.
• •Street vending replicates corporate structure organically: Vendors on 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village develop distinct job tiers — placeholders earning $20–$30 nightly, storage providers charging $7–$10, movers earning $5–$10 per haul — without any formal organization. Position on the block correlates directly with reliability and sobriety levels. One vendor named BA simultaneously manages a sidewalk table, holds a space for a weekend vendor, and subcontracts his panhandling spot for a 50% revenue share.
• •Territory requires active defense: Ishmael Walker secured the premium corner spot in front of Barnes and Noble through three consecutive mornings of physical confrontation with the previous occupant, fighting from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. daily until the rival conceded. He then maintained the position by staying through winter nights at sub-zero temperatures. In any competitive environment — corporate or street-level — prime positions require continuous active defense, not just initial acquisition.