MSG Presents "Characters From Corporate": Thirsty for Respect: Office Politics on Tap

In this episode of Characters from Corporate, we keep it 100 on office life when it goes sideways. Our sis in the Bronx—an insurance assistant grinding every day—gets pinged to fetch a bottle of water, even though the mini‑fridge is right there within arm’s reach. This ain’t just about hydration; it’s a masterclass in those low‑key power moves hiding behind every “small” ask.

Pull up and chop it up with us as we unpack the wild absurdity of corporate hierarchy, where duty and dignity get blurred, and learn the real steps toward making things right when you’ve stepped in some mess. Whether you’re pourin’ that morning coffee or topping off your bottle at the cooler, these stories will have you rethinking what it really means to “serve” in the boardroom—and how to own your truth when the water’s been muddied.

Transcript

 [00:00:00] So. If you've got any new MSG family out there, we do this characters from corporate segment where we ask people to send in stories about people from corporate in different situations. Sometimes it's people, they'll send a story and they ask for our advice. Other times they're just trying to, you know, vent a little bit and tell us what's going on.

So this particular story is coming to us from, uh, this person is from the Bronx, New York. She is 32 years old. She doesn't want to give her name, which is fine. We don't need the names. And she says that she is working currently for a woman who is a large life insurance, a uh, salesperson agent. She has a really big book of business.

And, you know, she's a multimillion dollar insurance producer. And our, our, our person here, they're an assistant now, this person that she's working for, [00:01:00] they're both the same age, so they're both 31 years old. Okay. And her, her, what she really wanted to tell us is this, so she says, I'm working for this lady.

She's a, a multimillion dollar insurance producer. We're out in the Bronx area, but our, the office, we both are from the Bronx, but our office is out in Queens. And we, I've been working for this lady for about 18 months now. She has me doing a variety of different things, administrative tasks, scheduling appointments, contacting, uh, insurance companies, et cetera, to move forward the applications.

But anyway, recently she's been asking me some to do some really strange stuff, things that she hasn't normally been asking me to do, like booking flights. Uh, booking appointments for her children to go to the doctor, things of that nature. I went along with it, but last week she asked me to get her some water.[00:02:00] 

Okay. Yeah. Get her the water. Water. And it is like, yo, get her some water. Okay. So the, the thing about the situation is, is number one, the fact that she asked me to get her some water, but number two, there's a small refrigerator right next to where she works, where she could literally bend over, open the refrigerator door and pull out the water.

Hmm. And her question is, am I tripping here? Or is this woman a character? Wow. From corporate. She wants her to get the water. Dang.

Wow. Wow. Now, me personally, I wouldn't get the water. So that's, that's me. That's, that's just me. So I wouldn't get it. I don't know if you got it and you're just trying to figure out, you know, like, what's up. But would you get [00:03:00] the water, Stu get the water. You're her assistant now, and you are her assistant.

It's not like you're the co-owner of the company and she wants you to get her some water.

Damn. Um, I'll, I'll get the water. You would get it. Okay. But obviously I'm gonna wear everything I feel about getting the water on my sleeve. Okay? It's probably gonna be a conversation later. So you would, in the moment, you would go ahead and get it and then deal with it later. I'm gonna grab this water.

Okay. She gonna fill it? I'm gonna grab this water. Grab the water. Okay. Probably just like I'm answering this question is how I'm gonna grab that water. Gotcha. But there'll be some repercussions. It might be a conversation later. I won't say repercussions, but this is like, we may have to, we may have to have a conversation a little bit later.

Like, okay, what's up? [00:04:00] That's a professional way to handle it. Yeah. You, you got, you mean like, what's happening? How do you see me? Where is that? Is that what you diminished our relationship to? Like, like you lean over and get water. Like how do you see this? I know I'm your assistant, but like water, like you could literally, why now you called me to get water.

Yeah. Why now? I mean, seems like this just started so something happened. Like why? Yeah. Like, what's up? Like hold up. Come on now. Um, it reminds me of. Before my, before remote controls my dad calling me from another room to change the channel. Well, yeah, we, we've all had to do that. Yeah, but you ain't, and you don't, you can, you, you can lean over and get the water like I did do.

Yeah,

it was, but that was a control tactic too. [00:05:00] Yeah, that was So it reminds me of that. This is so, is this a control tactic? Like get the water? Yeah, there's a lot of questions right now. Not when it's right next to you. I think that's the part. It's like, get water, but when there's a refrigerator, a cooler right next to you, we can lean over and get it.

Like, yeah. What's this about? Like what is that? What's happening? Yeah, I'd like to know a little more information. You know, is there a dude involved some kind of way, you know, not that a man always has to be involved or a woman, somebody else involved in the dynamic that we don't know about, you know, so.

She's not tripping. This, uh, this person, you're not tripping. You're not tripping. You got a very, very valid point. E's not getting the water. No, I wouldn't hear it. I'm getting the water, but we gonna have to talk about it in a, in a minute. Yeah, I know me in my thirties I wouldn't have got it. I might well get the water now quicker than I would back then.

Back then. I damn. You understanding your role on the [00:06:00] team a little bit more today, huh? Yeah. I might be like, you know, lemme go and get this water. I ain't gonna front, I wouldn't have got it. So that would've been my last day probably. Yeah. Yeah. So, nah, you're not tripping. You not tripping. Nah, you're not tripping.

Definitely a character from corporate. So hang in there. Thank you for sending in your story. Hopefully that allowed you to vent a little bit. Absolutely. And offer you everybody else out there in the MSG family send us your stories.