FUMU

Acronyms are fun. They're like riddles that give you an easily reusable concept once you know what they stand for.

At lunch yesterday I learned a new acronym that is kinda perfect. It describes brilliantly a very specific instance of corporate absurdity.

Every office has at least one or two terrible co-workers. Just nasty folks that everyone is rooting for to fuck up so they can get fired. But often - for whatever reason - those nasty folks have some pretty powerful connections that, directly or indirectly, lead to HR. So that when they do fuck up, instead of getting their asses handed to them, they get shuffled out into a different project or part of the organization, which more often than not is an actual or perceived promotion.

This is a 'Fuck Up Move Up' or 'FUMU' (pronounced: Foo-moo).