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One of the more fascination ploys of the upper classes is the volunteer ?move.? That is, no matter how much they want something, when they get it, it was a result of their charitable instincts. Once I described asking a committee of law professors in a meeting who ?wanted? to go to a out of town meeting. Not one person ?wanted to.? Within days every person on the committee contacted me privately to say he or she was ?willing to go.? And then when I announced I had too many people who wanted to go, I was quickly corrected. Yet each one insisted on going.

It is pervasive. I was in a meeting a few days ago when one faculty member described how he did not want to hold an administrative post, a position now held by that person with an iron grip with no signs of change. And, a past Interim Dean was described as being forced to be Interim dean and, as you would expect, the faculty nearly had to use a fork lift to get him out of the office.

My favorite recent one involves the director of a set of programs that involve traveling to interesting places. When I asked to go, I was told that he had already ?volunteered? to do it.

What?s up with this. Do these people learn this in law school or at their parents? knees? It is all part of life is a negotiation and you never appear to want something because, if you get it, you should not ask for more. And privileged people always want more.

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