When dealing with bullies use logic, not anger

Some work places and school conditions are far from ideal and a few bullies in their ranks are enough to make people dread the whole system 

• The dreaded ragging phenomenon so prevalent in our universities is a kind of extreme bullying

Bullying is a term usually reserved for schools. Many of us have experienced some kind of bullying at school, but it doesn’t stop there, extending to our institutions of higher learning. The dreaded ragging phenomenon so prevalent in our universities is a kind of extreme bullying.
Does it stop there? I’m afraid not. It’s common in public life. One can come across bullies in the bureaucracy, the police and security services, in politics, from the higher echelons to the low. Let me cite a recent personal experience of getting bullied by the lower strata.
Bullied at DMT Maligawatte 
On a recent visit to the Department of Motor Traffic office at Maligawatte to renew my scooter licence, I joined the ‘Drive In’ queue, much less painful than the other queue of people waiting to enter the building. Things went smoother at this location over the past two decades, making the obtaining of your revenue licence less of a hassle than it had been previously. Female staffers were conspicuously working at all the counters (my guess: to eliminate the rampant corruption which made the place notorious) and, if all your documents were in order, obtaining the licence became no hassle.
All that changed after the 2022 economic crash. You could no longer walk in to the building freely. There was a security counter at the entrance, and always a queue of people waiting outside to get in. This took some time, as people were taken in batches after your national ID details were entered into a ledger. There was no official explanation, but the idea seems to be that this inconvenience to the public was due to the ‘state of the country’ nowadays with heightened crime, theft and corruption.  
That’s when I switched to the ‘Drive In’ channel, which is a small office in front of the main entrance. There are just two counters, but usually no more than a dozen vehicles in the queue. It moves faster. 
Another thoughtful addition is a row of chairs in the open by its side. This is because only one person is now allowed into the main building to get the work done. Anyone accompanying that person has to wait outside. Therefore, the chairs are very useful, and they are shaded by a tree. Too bad if it rains, as there is no other cover overhead.
As I moved in slowly behind a SUV on my scooter, a security guard told me roughly: “Hey, move that thing to a side. When he reverses, he’ll crash into you, and that’s going to be a big mess”
Thinking that the SUV wanted to reverse, I did as I was told. As time passed, I saw no sign that the occupant of that vehicle wanted to reverse. The engine was humming, but the reverse lights weren’t on. I realised that I had been forced out of the line by that guard purely on a personal whim. It was a form of bullying.
As I moved back to the line, a man seated under the tree smiled with me. He had seen what happened.
“This won’t happen if you came in a big vehicle,” he said. 
Bullies pick on people smaller than themselves. Size isn’t always physical. It’s a matter of authority and the power it bestows. Uniforms carry power. Security guards are usually a humble lot, but that depends on the institution and the person. I have seen nasty types at banks, for example, both state and private, and this is a key government institution. All other guards I’ve met here have always behaved properly, but this one happened to be a nasty type (‘unakaraya’ in local parlance).
After obtaining my revenue licence, I moved a few feet away to check if all the details were correct. I wasn’t obstructing anyone. But the same guard came hurrying and told me: “You can’t wait here. Go outside”
With bullies, you have to stand your ground. I told him I needed only a minute to check my licence details and I wasn’t loitering unnecessarily. He then snapped at me and said I could have done that at the counter.
But, if I had done that, he would have told me I was blocking the queue and forced me to move on. I told him calmly I wasn’t going to budge till my checking was done. Bullies may think they are irresistible forces, but they know when they meet an immovable object. If this sounds illogical, think of it as an instance of ‘every action has an equal and opposite reaction.’ 
But we must activate ourselves when confronted by bullies. Their brain power may not be great. Even so, they back down when faced with a logical argument (not in schools and universities, or with street thugs, but in professional institutions paying salaries which assume a degree of accountability). The moment you point out to a bully that his behaviour is illogical and unnecessarily threatening, he is reminded of his vulnerability. This logical will not always work, and puts the bullied person who faces up to the bully at risk. But a degree of risk needs to be taken if it’s your dignity that is at stake. Another example of bullying by a public official of a higher level – I was waiting on my bike at a traffic light to turn right. A vehicle behind me began honking. I looked back, but the noise didn’t cease. I didn’t give ground as it was my right to wait on that lane till the light turned green. Then the vehicle took to the left lane, and stopped by me. When the window opened, I saw a man in a tie who looked like a senior public official staring angrily at me while sitting on the non-driving seat.
“You are blocking the road, you fool,” the wise public official yelled. I asked him if he didn’t know red from green, and he began shouting in choice language as the vehicle pulled away. It drove straight ahead without turning right. The driver was on the wrong lane and was trying to force me out of mine at his boss’ insistence.
I was once driving to Nuwara Eliya when a car coming downhill blocked my way on a small bridge. In hill country driving, the tradition is to give priority to vehicles going uphill on narrow sections of the road. It’s a matter of courtesy. This driver looked like a private company heavyweight and obviously didn’t know that time-honoured custom, or didn’t care. 
I told him it was my right way. He told me he wasn’t going to budge. Traffic was piling up, horns blaring. This is where common sense must prevail. Trying to prove that I could be tough, too, to an ignorant road bully would have been a waste of time, and I reversed my car. I can only imagine how he treats those unfortunate employees working for him. 
There are tens of thousands of state and private employees, security personnel and others in positions of responsibility who must commute daily to work under atrocious conditions, whose work conditions are far from ideal – yet they remain polite to the public. But a few bullies in their ranks are enough to make people dread the whole system.