Sneaking about

I've always enjoyed playing at stealth. When I was a child, my dad would take afternoon naps and, being the stereotypical Head of Household (tm), he decreed that Everyone Shall Be Quiet so he can have his forty winks. This decree was enforced by corporal punishment so I had a very strong incentive to comply.

Now, staying completely silent meant that all work and play stopped when my dad took his nap. Imagine me being a young, hyperactive sort - obviously, this didn't work for me. So, I learnt how to sneak about the house, tiptoeing quietly around, learning how to pluck specific toys out of whatever pile they were found in with nary a peep. I managed it quite well too and was only caught a handful of times, if that. Along the way, I learned how to be very nimble (good for sneaking around sleeping family members), how to muffle sound, how to open doors and drawers quietly and many other skills best suited for a career in cat burglary.

Fast forward a couple of decades and you'd find me an avid gamer as I fritted my precious private time away playing computer games while I was a university student. My favourite games have always been first-person sneakers and submarine simulations. I didn't really put it together back then but I really really REALLY derive a great deal of joy from sneaking about. Actually, as I'm typing this, I'm giggling softly to myself as I've just finished playing an old computer game that required a lot of tactical sneaking about to win.

Fast forward to the present day. I still play some computer games but not as much as before. I do sneak up on the kids quite a bit (all in fun) and more often than not, I'm successful in popping up behind them unnoticed. I try not to sneak up on them when they're carrying liquids though as it gets...messy. Of course, they try to sneak up on me too although they've mostly abandoned that in lieu of outflanking me instead. My ballet has allowed me to increase my level of stealthiness as I'm now almost back to where I was when I tiptoed around as a child trying not to wake my parents. However, where I derive the greatest amount of joy is in stealthily getting things done at work.

You see, I'm in an odd role that most folks in the company don't quite get. That's not entirely true, it's more like this:

• They understand that there are problems
• They understand that I'm there to fix said problems
• They know they can't fix their problems
  
• They know I can fix them because I've already fixed many long-standing issues
  
• They're not really comfortable with someone else (me) fixing their problems

So, I've had to stealthily fix the stickier problems without being seen as the one fixing them. In fact, the really sticky problems require no one to fix them, i.e. no attributable source for the fix. It's a bit of a joke because everyone knows I'm the one who's pulling the strings to solve the issues, it's just that they'd feel more comfortable if it wasn't someone outside their team that's fixing them.

Political stealthiness - it fills me with much squee! I'm not sure what all this says about me and how I tick but what the hey, my close friends already think I'm an odd duck so this probably won't shock them much.