droid

n. [from android , SF terminology for a humanoid robot of essentially
biological (as opposed to mechanical/electronic) construction] A person
(esp. a low-level bureaucrat or service-business employee) exhibiting most
of the following characteristics: (a) naive trust in the wisdom of the
parent organization or the system ; (b) a blind-faith propensity to believe
obvious nonsense emitted by authority figures (or computers!); (c) a
rule-governed mentality, one unwilling or unable to look beyond the letter
of the law in exceptional situations; (d) a paralyzing fear of official
reprimand or worse if Procedures are not followed No Matter What; and (e) no
interest in doing anything above or beyond the call of a very
narrowly-interpreted duty, or in particular in fixing that which is broken;
an It's not my job, man attitude. Typical droid positions include
supermarket checkout assistant and bank clerk; the syndrome is also endemic
in low-level government employees. The implication is that the rules and
official procedures constitute software that the droid is executing;
problems arise when the software has not been properly debugged. The term
droid mentality is also used to describe the mindset behind this behavior.
Compare suit , marketroid ; see -oid. In England there is equivalent
mainstream slang; a jobsworth is an obstructive, rule-following bureaucrat,
often of the uniformed or suited variety. Named for the habit of denying a
reasonable request by sucking his teeth and saying Oh no, guv, sorry I can't
help you: that's more than my job's worth.

