there's a figure who is basically just an obstacle to getting anything done--which I respect, I suppose, as long as I'm not going to get screwed over by it.

so question came up in a meeting asking about progress on something and I said "oh, you'll have to ask [person who stops work from getting done]." they ask him and he rambles vaguely about this and that and when he's done--in an act of pure self-defense--I go "hey, so just to be clear, what are the next steps here and who's responsible for them?". well, at that point he's screwed because he has to either admit that he's in the way of things getting done or get out of the way.