SSH and Dealing with Stress
Meltdowns are not the only response to stressful situations
Readers here are all quite familiar with the concept of the Gamma meltdown, which is how a Gamma’s status is not only conclusively affirmed, but how many Gammas find themselves seeking new employment opportunities. And, of course, the meltdown and its aftermath, when the Gamma seeks revenge upon his previous employer and everyone even tangentially involved in provoking his self-destruction, is one reason that many executives, managers, and supervisors find such value in knowledge of the SSH, because it helps them avoid hiring Gammas in the first place.
ALPHA: If the movies are to be believed, type-A Alpha males react to stress by turning red in the face, shouting at people, having an apoplectic fit, and dying of a heart attack. While there is probably some kernel of truth in all of that, in my experience, Alphas react to stress by micromanaging. They’ll start buying the groceries at home, personally going over the sales reports at the office, and otherwise attempting to take on the responsibilities for things they should be delegating. And they do shout a lot.
BRAVO: A Bravo that finds himself in a stressful situation is usually a Bravo who has lost his Alpha. While his first priority is to find a replacement Alpha, his normal reaction will be to double-down on his hierarchy policing. So, look for harsher crackdowns, people being banned, and an absence of the usual mercy.
DELTA: A Delta who gets stressed will almost invariably devote himself to working harder. Not smarter; instead of trying something, anything, different, he’ll occupy himself with useless minutiae that can’t possibly make the situation any better. But feeling that he’s working harder will help the Delta feel better and help him deal with the stress.
GAMMA: We’ve already covered the Gamma meltdown. But, as several commenters have noted, as with volcanoes, there are often warning signs that an eruption is incipient.
SIGMA: Leaves. Often without telling anyone. The Sigma’s primary stress response to “X is not working” is always “Do Y” rather than “try harder to fix X”. This is often confusing to everyone else, who tend to view it as quitting rather than actually addressing the real problem when X either can’t be fixed or it makes no sense to even try fixing it.
OMEGA: See: Office Space.
Amazing. A recent work experience had nearly all these patterns play out in real time.
Scene: a six man team is moving and packing up, let’s say, perishable goods from a warehouse. There’s a time crunch, and we suddenly we lose our scheduled freight transport. Clock’s ticking. Highly stressful situation.
This six man team is composed of a group of four who all work together at the same regional location, one freelancer, and one supervisor (me).
As soon as we lose our freight transport, the nominal head of the four man team has a complete gamma meltdown. Insulting me and his direct superiors (not present), crying, doing all the gamma performance tics because things aren’t going the way he wants them too.
Astonishingly enough, the three guys who work with this gamma all SUPPORT him in his breakdown. They act like Bravos who are trying to please their Alpha. This was the most fascinating thing about the drama. (There was also a racial component to this that is fascinating but tangential.)
As supervisor, I call the person responsible for freight scheduling. The head of that department is a total Alpha. Once on the phone with him, he begins directing me to micromanage all aspects of personnel and operations. When I explain that they are not listening to my instructions (because of gamma meltdown) he proceeds to shout over the phone at them. I don’t even have to put it on speaker.
While Alpha and Gamma duke it out, I take a walk and read some Sigma Game (rhetorical).
The freelancer literally never says a word and works the entire time through this. Even sweeping up when he doesn’t have to. Perfect Delta.
The solution ended up being quite simple. The gamma was nearly fired and actually ended up quitting in fury a month later. The freelancer we ended up hiring on a permanent basis.
SSH STRIKES AGAIN!
The Omega bit reminded me of your article about Gamergate and the role that Omegas played in bringing it about.
Never piss off someone who has nothing to lose.