Survival Tactics

The Christmas surprises just keep coming... As I was getting the kids ready for bed last night, my husband casually says, "hey, you know the Survivor Finale is on tonight, right?". Excuse me? Tonight? I had no idea. And let me tell you, this news is like Christmas has come early for me!

Why do I love this show so much? Maybe it's because I like watching the psychological aspects of survival. With layoffs looming at my firm, I've decided that people at my firm are taking on one of the three most common survival tactics that I've seen people use in the game of Survivor, just before tribal council.

• Shameless self promotion. People who make a point of telling everyone around them how valuable they are. In the game of Survivor, these are the people who provide fish for the tribe, collect fire wood, get water - and let everyone know how they would all be lost and starving without them. At work, these are the people who continually send emails to large distribution lists detailing the great job they did on XYZ project, eliciting kudos from management, when they were essentially just doing their job.
  
  
• Deferring attention. People who throw everyone else under the bus, in order to defer attention from themselves. In Survivor, these people talk about their tribe mates behind their backs and take every opportunity to place blame on others. At work, pretty much the same thing.
  
  
• Flying under the radar. People who try not to get noticed. In Survivor, if these people can get into the right alliance in the beginning of the game, they are golden. The alliance just drags them along as an extra vote and they've actually got a good shot if they can pull out all the stops once they make it to the final four or five. Even if these people don't get into an alliance, they can sometimes make it simply by not being thought of as a threat. They end up in the final few people, and everyone looks at each other and says, hey - soandso is still around? what the? At work, it's not all that different, except that the "alliance" usually involves kissing the right a$$. It's the same reaction though, when people figure out they still work there...

I guess that's why I really like watching the game of Survivor. Or maybe it's Jeff Probst. Yes, never mind all that other stuff. It's all about Jeff. Could he be any better at inciting verbal combat at tribal council? Could he be any cuter?

Hold on a minute. My husband just said something about a successor for Jeff. Hello? There can be no successor that lives up to the Survivor host prowess of Jeff Probst. Ok, wait a minute. He's suggesting Boston Rob and Amber, and that they could co-host. Ok, yes. Good idea.

So, I hope I make it through the tribal council of my firm. If I don't though, I really hope they say "the tribe has spoken" when they douse my flame.