Abusing Power

A well known fact is that the only reason to have power is to abuse it as much as you can. The natural reaction to obtaining power is to use it for personal gain at whatever expense is required.
That being said, there is a curve for the temptation of abuse. Here's a graph, because everyone loves graphs.

If you work in a job where your direct boss isn't present for example, you can take advantage of that situation by slacking off almost constantly and acting like doing work is a giant and unexpected hassle, and that the people asking you to perform your job duties are being rude. You can respond to their questions with anger and disdain. You can ignore their petty requests and chat up your friends in plain sight of the petitioner with total impunity. They probably don't even know who your boss is, so they won't complain. Besides, you're the only one that can answer their questions so they'll need to be nice to you no matter how unfair that is.


A lot of people abuse their power, but none quite so cruelly as the young person that got promoted over the more experienced workers. Here's a comic I wrote and my wife drew (backstory in the FAQ page).

A nineteen year old manager is not something you want. It's not something anyone wants, but it happens. They will demean you, and they will order you around. And there's nothing you can reasonably do and expect to keep your job and stay out of prison. NOTHING. You must endure the shame and despair. But not all is lost! After long enough, shame and despair will seem like old friends. And your pal cognitive dissonance will help you convince yourself that it's not so bad. I mean, other people have it way worse than you. Everything's fine! Hell, maybe it's great!


Even nice and well meaning people can be easily corrupted by power. Even if they don't turn totally evil, they will use their power to "make things better." The stumbling block here is that once they obtain power, they obviously know what's best and have the right ideas. Those ideas will be implemented. Even if there's tons of contradictory evidence that says their ideas are like rancid pig vomit, the power stuffed in their ears and clouding their eyes will prevent this information from reaching them. 
But never fear! Cognitive dissonance will still be there to comfort you!