In chapter 10, we learn about the term called power. Power affects how we understand others’ messages and our confidence in speaking up. The cartoon seen above can be interpreted many different ways. Whether it is a husband and wife or a boss and employee it is clear that the woman in the cartoon has the power. She wants a phone similar to what we have now but there’s no such thing as not having to charge the battery. The man is stressed and exhausted, probably from running around trying to find her the best option. Even though her demands are not obtainable he still never speaks up or back to her. It’s clear that she has a strong hold on him.
This cartoon relates to my personal experience when my old manager used to constantly scream into our head piece demanding for us to work faster. In most cases it was not possible to work any faster but from her viewpoint of sitting in her perfectly air conditioned office she disagreed. All of the coworkers knew that if we were to say something the boss would support her over us. This was a clear power trip that many of us did not like. Even though more than once I wanted to tell her to stop screaming, I kept my mouth shut until the last month I was working at the job. Towards the end I found my voice and spoke up against the things that I disagreed with.