Today’s post comes from Bart, the bear who found a smart phone in the woods.
Hey, Bart here.
Yeah, I’m awake. Hibernation isn’t a long nap, y’know. It’s a prolonged state of half-wakefulness, so I drift in and out.
And there are dreams.
I just had one where I was standing in a room and a bunch of people were yelling at me because I stopped traffic. Which is weird because that’s what we do – bears stop traffic because people have to slow down to take pictures of us. Sometimes you can score a few cheese balls because humans love to throw food to a bear out of a moving car. Even if the car is barely moving. That’s just nature.
But then I realized it wasn’t a dream – the phone was streaming Chris Christie’s news conference about some deal where somebody in his office told somebody else to do something to slow down traffic so the Mayor of some town would be embarrassed. Which seemed like a lot of trouble to go, but I guess that’s what politicians do – they’re like bears and they can’t help themselves. When they get a chance to stick it to the other guy, they pull strings and call in favors and do whatever it takes.
Believe it or not, forest creatures know all about this. A lot of us live on federal land, so we have to be cozy with the government. After all, bureaucrats control our lives. I don’t have to tell you who makes the rules for bear hunting, for example. But I’m not saying I’ve been ordered to do certain things by office holders with authority over my territory. It’s just that there have been times when I sensed there was a specific garbage can I should turn over. I had a feeling that powerful people would be pleased if some secrets tumbled out of a particular pile of trash.
So you do things to make your friends smile. They don’t have to ask. It’s called getting along.
I’m not saying the wild animals of America are turning partisan and playing dirty political tricks at the whim of combative office holding tyrants, because that would be really unsettling. But you do have to adapt to your environment.
Your pal,
Bart
How do you curry favor?
Trail Baboon 
Good morning. I didn’t suspect that Bart would get involved in politics in a way that somewhat resembles the actions of Chris Christie’s aids. Be careful Bart and try to refrain from those kind of activities in the future. If they find out about you someone might come after you with a tranquilizer gun or a gun loaded with bullets. The kind of people you are dealing with would probably use bullets.
There are some fairly civil ways to encourage people to give you special treatment. I like the “honey catches more flies that vinegar” approach. I guess if you don’t get caught the “pour vinegar on them if they don’t cooperate” approach of Christie’s aids also works. Catching them with honey would involve an effort at being extra friendly and not doing anything to antagonize people who can grant you favors. This is an approach to use with bosses who might be more likely to help you if you stay on their good side.
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Morning all. Like Jim, I am definitely in the “honey” camp. I’ve always found that being pleasant, appreciative and gracious works so much better than sniping and finger-pointing.
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My first response to this question is that I’m retired and no longer required to curry favor with anyone. I can say what I really feel, and if some folks don’t like it I can flash a rude gesture! Being old sucks, but one of the few compensations is that I don’t need to fuss about pleasing others.
When I was still in that world where people need to curry favor, I did not use either honey or vinegar. I used rhetoric. It doesn’t work to bribe or threaten folks you want to do things your way, or that has been my experience. Instead I talk persuasively to convince folks that what they care about is what I care about, and we both would profit from working cooperatively.
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The use of rhetoric approach is good if the person you are dealing with is inclined to work cooperatively. My Dad told me he sometimes used another approach to get things done. He would come up with ideas that he passed on to superiors in a way that allowed them to take the credit for those ideas. He said that was sometimes the best way to get them to make use of his ideas. They would act as though my Dad’s ideas were their’s and implement them without giving him any credit.
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and if you document it you can ge them fired later for stealing your ideas without giving credit the slimeballs
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Eventually my Dad had some serious problems that he never told me about in detail at the place where he told me he gave his superior ideas to use as their own. He moved on and moved up at another company taking people with him people who worked for his old employer.
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As you suggest, Jim, some folks are not inclined to work cooperatively. Then you face a whole different situation. I’ve had precious little luck working with people who seemed determined to oppose me. The challenge is to understand another person’s perspective well enough so you can show them that your interests and theirs are similar, if not the same.
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It’s been my experience over the years that if attempt to be rational and calm in the face of someone who’s upset with me and is using his/her emotional brain, it only escalates the other person’s attacks. What seems to work far better is to validate their feelings and apologize for inadvertently upsetting them. It only took me about half a century to finally learn this lesson and refrain from efforts to defend myself.
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persistence integrity patience the only tools i know
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Humor and baked goods.
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I used to enjoy doing baked goods and bringing lovely stuff to potlucks, until my workplace hired a lot of people with various and sundry food aversions which needed to be voiced in detail and at length, and then it got very un-fun. Whatever happened to “no, thank you”?
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My new supervisor is vegan, but she is perfectly nice about it and doesn’t expect people to cook with her in mind. She just eats what she is able to and supplements with her own stuff.
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We are vegetarians (me mostly, s&h unquestionably), and I grew up with an aunt with celiac sprue who was a good cook anyway, and has become really adept at gluten free baking over the years. I don’t mind cooking/baking around people’s needs, in fact, I kind of like the challenge and doing the research.
But really, I don’t need to hear from people how much and why they hate this or that food item. In the end, I just bought a back of chips and some grocery store salsa, it was just less fraught.
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My favorite kind of curry is aromatic, with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, fenugreek, turmeric, cayenne, cumin, and coriander.
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PDQ Bach has a song in which a chorus sings “to curry favor, favor curry”.
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do you make variations?
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Yep, but I find I like Northern Indian curry better than curry with coconut milk. Husband really likes greens in his curry. Daughter likes the type i like. Son likes Balti recipes, which originated in Birmingham, England by Indian and Pakistani immigrants and are extremely hot. I will cook whatever curry they ask me to, however. It doesn’t take too much for them to sweet talk me into it. They are all horribly spoiled.
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I love experimenting with different curries. I’m very lucky to live in an area where some of the more exotic fresh ingredients for some curries are readily available, ingredients such as tamarind, lemon grass, ginger, and even fresh curry leaves and galangal root.
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I grew lemon grass in the garden one year. It is pretty easy to grow. I bet it would do pretty well in a pot indoors, too. My son befriended an Indian restaurant owner in Fargo who was very obliging in getting the more exotic ingredients like curry leaves for him. There was a temporary prohibition a couple of years ago on the sale of curry leaves due to some contaminaton issue with the then supply. I haven’t been able to get fresh curry leaves since then. We are heading to Fargo in a couple of weeks, so perhaps we can scout out the Asian grocery stores to see if we can find some.
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wow, you are a true curry scholar. I confess, I just put together stuff we currently have and add a curry brick and coconut milk.
And every year I buy a little lemon grass plant, put it in a pot, watch it grow all summer, then bring it in hoping to over-winter it and then forget it. This year, it is a big favorite to chew on for the kittens, so at least not as much of a waste.
Come this spring when the plants are out at the Farmer’s Market, I fully expect to go through the cycle again.
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Lemongrass freezes well, so no need to be without it ever.
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Agreed. Definitely.
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That was my reply too! Sheesh. Now I have to come up with something else.
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ken christy is very surprised to learn that this type of behavior was taking place under the direction just like richard nixon was. the overall flavor of the work ethic and means to accomplish the goal are laid out by and directed to be resolved by the big dog and the details entrusted to the bootlickers. what was the matter with those bootlickers? they didnt tell me any of this. and if i am elected to office again i will make sure they dont have emails traceable to anyone. how stupid. this is enough to sink any political ship. doesnt the concept of hidden emailaddresses and facebook accounts occur to anyone these days there must be someone who specializes in that. hire them and put them in charge of the communications dept at mr.svelte.com.
applications taken at deepthroat4mr.svelte.com.
i know nothing i am not a crook
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Well, if those people that worked for Christie thought that closing down part of bridge was a good way to advance their cause, I’m sure they didn’t have enough brains to hide their emails. Also, it should have been clear to Christie that they were they were not good people. Apparently Christie is not very smart himself if he has people like that working for him.
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I don’t think those folks were trying to curry any favor, Jim. On the contrary, their actions were in retaliation for not supporting Christie. I suppose it’s the flip side of currying favor; if sweet talking, boot licking, and bribes don’t get you what you want, try threats and intimidation. If that too fails, bring ’em to their knees by whatever devious means you have at your disposal, it seems like standard operating procedure these days. Need I say that I don’t for one second believe that Christie didn’t know about this?
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I totally agree with you, PJ. He went from joking about it, to attacking reporters who asked questions about it, to a 2-hour ACT of contrition. He only took it seriously after he had no choice.
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ken christy is a friend and i frequently slip up on the names. my mistake. chris christie is the current flawed celebrity who will go down in history as the guy who was doing good until he did the crash and burn without knowing anything about it. pointing over there ,,, over there. they did it
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I have to agree with humor and baked goods. It seems the best route to happiness. I’ve been trying it with my coworkers, though, and I’m hitting a wall. They remain determined to oppose me, as Steve described. I feel helpless about it. I even crocheted mittens for all the women at work this year and the only one who thanked me was my supervisor. The rest of them seemed dumbfounded and put their mittens in their purses, never to be seen again. I should know better; I really should. I’m so glad I’m not a politician. I dislike currying favor. I’d so much rather curry vegetables.
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Wow, there sure isn’t much love on these pages for Christie. My sense of his career is that bullying Democrats is not his style. He has paid a high price for speaking well of Obama, something that not even Democrats want to do these days. I’m prepared to give Christie the benefit of doubt until or unless hard evidence appears that he meant to retaliate against that town. And I might be the only baboon to think that!
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Probably, Steve.
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I don’t really know enough about him and I don’t know all the details of the bridge closing, however my cynical side is in agreement with PJ. I’ve rarely seen that kind of bad behavior/ethics trickle UP.
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I highly doubt that the junior deputy chief he fired just woke up one day and said, “Gee, I wonder what would happen if I make a call to the Port Authority and cause a five-day gridlock??”
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Blackmail – find out something they don’t want known, and threaten to tell to get what you want.
Just kidding – I’ve been reading too many mysteries. “Being eager to please” worked for me in grade school, as one report card said. But kindness, accompanied by understanding and listening to people, goes a long way toward bringing people to your camp.
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First I would have to get a dun-colored or chestnut-colored horse (yellowish). Then I would have to get a curry comb, which I used often as a child. Then I would comb down the horse, get it clean and neat and happy.
currayen favel
Did you have any idea it means to comb a yellow-tinted horse? I looked this up years ago out of curiosity, if, as I thought and is true, it had to do with horses and not spices.
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To expand on Clyde’s fascinating find: “Curry favor, by folk etymology from Middle English currayen favel, from Old French correier fauvel, to curry a fallow-colored horse, be hypocritical (from the fallow horse as a medieval symbol of deceit).”
My answer would have mirrored those who chose to focus on the food meaning of curry. I don’t think I’ve met a curry I didn’t like.
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currayen ursus arctos Linnaeus might apply better here.
But if Bart were of the right, or wrong, species it could be currayen ursus arctos horribilis
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Interesting question and not one I feel really qualified to answer as I have no skill whatsoever in this department. I always think that working hard and coming up with good answers for projects is the way to go.
um, no.
I prefer my curry served over rice.
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Currying favor isn’t one of my specialties either, the whole notion of it is distasteful to me. It seems insincere to behave a certain way merely to gain something or perhaps avoid some consequences. Doing what I’m supposed to do, and doing it as well as I’m able, seems to work reasonably well most of the time. Acting with integrity is a cornerstone of good character.
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Don’t curry, be happy.
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I can’t remember when I had favor. I don’t know what I’d do with it if I had it. Curry it? Maybe. I like just about anything curried.
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All of this talk about curry. Hans and I just returned from the Bangkok restaurant in St. Paul I had curried Pad Thai. Excellent. Now for an evening of watching Deadwood.
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Wow, which season, PJ? We watched it all a couple of years ago…
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We own all three seasons, and have slowly been working our way through them. We’re at the beginning of season three now. Hans first saw them in Kino a couple of years ago, when the rest of us had gone to bed, and liked it so much he went out and bought the whole thing.
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I’m not sure which I find more reprehensible— the toadies and Quislings that seek to curry favor, or the micro monarchs that revel in having their favor curried. I’ve worked with a few of both and, in the long run toadying didn’t work out all that well. I say that with a certain amount of undisguised satisfaction.
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