Mall Cop Syndrome

We all know the type. Someone is put in a position of limited power, and then they immediately become a little tyrant. I call it Mall Cop Syndrome. The real name is Little Authority Complex.

The “little authority complex”—sometimes referred to as “Little Power Syndrome”—is a psychological dynamic where someone given a minor amount of power uses it aggressively or rigidly to overcompensate for underlying feelings of insecurity, often bullying others to feel important. 

Lord Acton famously said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” When authority is handed to people who have never had any authority, sometimes bad things happen. Instead of approaching the position with grace and understanding, they feel suddenly imbued and emboldened. They embark on a power trip and tend to make up arbitrary and capricious rules or belittle others they have power over. We see “Mall Cops” everywhere. The front desk clerk. The maitre d’ at a fancy restaurant. The bouncer at a nightclub. The meter maid. And don’t get me started about HOA people. I have several run-ins with HOA tyrants.

But what happens if you find yourself under a supervisor or mid-level manager at work? 

Rich Salon, an HR expert and fellow Rotarian, wrote a book last year called the One-Minute Jerk at Work, and there are some good tips in the book on how to handle “Mall Cops” you find at work, such as Micro-Managing Maria and Bullying Betty. Rich asked me to write the foreword on a book about jerks. Imagine that. 

What happens if you happen to be confronted by a Mall Cop in real life?

Most “Mall Cops” tend to be a minor nuisance if you know how to deal with them. My advice? If you find yourself being bullied, you can bully back. No, I’m not saying resort to the same behaviors, but I do think most Mall Cops shrink when you call them out on the behavior and become assertive. Stand up for yourself calmly and confidently. Use clear and direct language to express that their behavior is unacceptable.