Corporate Savannah · Episode 20 · 1:15
Among impala, grooming is a strict exchange. At the end of the row, the gnu has been groomed for four hundred mornings and has never once groomed anyone.
Field notes
Reciprocity is the oldest rule of any group, and the coffee round is where an office practises it. Nobody keeps a ledger, and everybody knows the score. The colleague who always accepts and never carries is rarely disliked out loud; the cup simply lands a little harder each time, and small resentments like that outlast most restructures. A manager cannot fix this with a rota. Notice who carries the tray, thank them where others can hear it, and carry it yourself now and then.