protocol

[adrian_turtle]

Some say the Trump administration struggles with the fine points of international diplomacy. The Department of State has a Chief of Protocol to help keep their proverbial ducks in a row. When it turned out he had been carrying a whip around the office, the initial reports didn't say what kind of whip.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sean-lawler-trump-protocol-chief-carried-whip-around-office-intimidated-staff-report
I am therefore free to envision him with a cartoon-lion-tamer's whip and upturned chair. I know, and you know, that sensible people who really train animals for the circus (or anywhere), don't use whips or upturned chairs.* In the federal government? Who knows?

Lots of people pound on a table for emphasis. Years back, I used to work for a guy who kept a sledgehammer by his desk to hit the floor when he was angry. In retrospect, a person could have seen it as intimidating. (Even though a lot of the people he was mad at were on the phone and never saw the hammer, just heard background thumping.) When we moved offices and they took up the carpet in his cubicle, I saw how much concrete he had cracked.



*I was going to joke about a protocol office where people would toss herring and say "good kitty" to politicians and diplomats. Then I remembered twitter is clicker-training the president.

Comments

[silveradept]

That's certainly one way of getting to get protocol enforced. It's equally likely that someone is going to get their head bit off of they try it.

[adrian_turtle]

Quite right. The circus people have the option of firing lions that aren't somewhat willing to cooperate with the "good kitty" approach. This makes their lives much easier than White House trainers.