The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2007

J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 55 larissa would eat her own young to get ahead,” Dwayne the Security Officer whispered, sipping his beer. The circle of fellow Ameri- can diplomats huddled around him at the Slovenian embassy’s National Day reception nodded agreement. “I mean, if she ate. Well, and if she had any children.” Milt the Management Officer was naturally cautious, so he added, “And also if that sort of thing were actually rewarded in a career sense. You’d want to check the pro- motion precepts.” Oggie the Political-Economic Officer filled his mouth with greasy phyllo pastry and declared: “Gentlemen, any stooge can try to do more work to get ahead — seems to me that only demonstrates a lack of imagination and insufficient devotion to those things that are truly meaningful in life. Buffets, for example.” Deftly balancing his buffet plate on the bulge of his belly, Oggie wiped his oily fingers on a croissant and pushed it into his mouth. “The greater challenge is to see just how little you can do. People think inactivity at work just happens and, in most cases, they’re probably right. If you get an e-mail asking you to do something and just wait long enough, sure enough you’ll eventually see another that says it’s all been handled.” Ernie, a gangly first-tour officer, shook his head. “But that’s not hard — you just don’t do anything.” Oggie scooped a small mountain of smoked salmon into his mouth. “Sometimes, Ernie, it takes a little more than that. Sometimes getting out of doing something like, say, writing a cable or an info memo can take more e-mails, more work arguing, than the memo itself.” Oggie swallowed the salmon and put a handful of olives in his mouth, then put down his plate so he could gesture with both hands. “This may seem counterintuitive, Ernie, but it’s really the princi- ple that’s at stake; once you give up and just do what you’re asked, you’ve started down a very slippery slope.” From out of the crowd Clarissa marched up to the group with a hard smile frozen on her face, revealing small, sharp teeth. Dwayne gasped and blew beer out his nose as every- one straightened their posture. Clarissa’s red hair sprouted back from her face like flames as she leaned into the group and hissed: “Mingle!” The group scattered into the recep- tion crowd, seeking foreign counterparts to engage and look- ing nervously back at Clarissa. Clarissa Finks-Elbow had spent most of her career on the State Department’s seventh floor, routing important papers to important people in an important way. She had come to her posting as deputy chief of this small embassy to check the boxes of overseas and management experience needed to continue her ferocious gallop up through the diplomatic ranks. T HOSE WHO WORK HARDER TO GET AHEAD LACK IMAGINATION AND SUFFICIENT DEVOTION TO THE TRULY MEANINGFUL THINGS IN LIFE . “ C B Y B RIAN A GGELER This story by Brian Aggeler is the winner of the Journal’ s 2007 Foreign Service fiction contest. Other winning sto- ries will appear in future issues of the FSJ . FS F I CT I ON S HOWDOWN AT THE N ATIONAL D AY B UFFET