Managers

Nowadays for every worker there is a manager. The job can still be done with most of them. There are some who just call meetings and won't let us do our work peacefully without any interruption. The day the manager is absent all the jobs are completed in time. I liked this story forwarded to me by email.

The cannibals (a story about management)

A big corporation hired several cannibals. "You are all part of our team now," said the HR manager during the welcome briefing. "You get all the usual benefits and you can go to the cafeteria for something to eat, but please don't eat any of the other employees." The cannibals promised they would not.
A few weeks later the cannibals' boss remarked, "You're all working very hard, and I'm satisfied with you. However, one of our secretaries has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to her?" The cannibals all shook their heads, "No," they said.
After the boss left, the leader of the cannibals said to the others angrily, "Right, which one of you idiots ate the secretary?"
A hand rose hesitantly in admission. "You fool!" said the leader, "For weeks we've been eating managers and no one noticed anything, but noooooo, you had to go and eat someone important!..."

There are some good managers who get involve with their juniors and share the burden while others are there just to take the credit :)