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Life@ZTC

The Long Version:
What can I say? The 3 month theoretical training at ZTC, ostensibly to educate us new recruits about insurance in general and LIC in particular, turned out to be more like cult initiation rites.

Cult??! Stop the presses…

I was supposed to be joining a professional organization which has stood its ground against the onslaught of private players and managed to beat them at their own game too, not some weird cult. So which is it? You decide.
What I found about LIC during my long and mentally exhausting (for being way too boring) training:
  1. The Guru aka LIC is always right.
  2. You are always wrong.
  3. Cult-speak.
  4. Group-think, suppression of dissent, and enforced conformity in thinking
  5. Irrationality.
  6. Suspension of disbelief.
  7. Insistence that the cult is THE ONLY WAY.
  8. The cult and its members are special.
  9. Unquestionable dogma, sacred science and infallible ideology.
  10. Indoctrination of members.
  11. Dual Purposes, Hidden Agendas and Ulterior Motives.
  12. No Humor.
  13. You can't tell the truth.
  14. You must change your beliefs to conform to the group's beliefs.
  15. Newcomers can't think right.
  16. Intrusiveness.
  17. Ideology Over Experience, Observation and Logic
  18. Thought-stopping language.Thought-terminating clichés and slogans.
  19. The cult takes over the individual's decision-making process.
  20. Members get no respect. They get abused.
  21. Inconsistency. Contradictory Messages.
  22. Hierarchical, authoritarian power structure and social castes.
  23. Belief equals truth.
  24. Inability to tolerate criticism.
  25. Don't trust your own mind.
  26. Hypocrisy.
  27. Newcomers need fixing.
  28. Black and White thinking
  29. Making cult members work long hours for cheap.
  30. Total immersion and total isolation.
So what? Every organization has its own culture and new recruits take time to adjust. But what if the defining characteristics of the organization resemble those on a “How to tell if you have joined a cult” list? This one even has a song and language…

So I joined a cult. Being the die hard optimist that I am, I set out to enjoy myself. The only two mind saving features of 3 wasted months in my life – new friends and a library. They made what would otherwise have been hell on earth into something tolerable, even enjoyable. 

When I look back I will have great memories – playing bingo in class, wearing clothes that shouldn’t be worn, surfing during presentations, making up those very same presentation as we go along, pretending we have never heard the word ppt, passing notes et al.

 
The Short Version:
Apart from the atrocious food and appalling classes & the whole cult thing, I had a blast!
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