Corporate term: “To Gargoyle”

The corporate term “To Gargoyle” isn’t something that has been used an awful lot in the last couple of years due to the pandemic home working, but is now on the rise again due to companies starting to pull people back into the office; essentially, it is going to the desk of someone who you want to do something for you and simply refusing to move until they do. However two points differentiate between being a gargoyle and just being a pain in the arse:

1) You can’t just need something or want something immediately and then just go to someone’s desk and demand it, they will just tell you to get knotted, they’re busy, they’ve got important stuff to do, etc etc. you have to have a right to be there, you have to have raised the correct forms and requests and attempted to follow up on them, you have to have followed the rules of the system; and the reason you are standing there now is that you have been driven to it because another part of the company has not done its job.

2) You can’t actively stop someone from continuing to do their current work; if they are on a call you sit next to their desk and continue to work on your phone, near to them, but not actually intrusive. It has to be clear that you are going to just be there until they do their thing for you. but in a passive aggressive way.

Disclaimer: As always these posts are not aimed at anyone client or employer and are just my personal observations over a lifetime of dealing with both management and frontline associates.