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I've worked in six different offices. Until recently, I would have thought the OP was crazy or whatever before, but in my current position, I can see what they're talking about.
The gossip, backstabbing, butt kissing etc etc. I've never encountered it before. None of my other jobs come even close to what I've encountered.
In this office, chummy, gossiping, butt kissers WILL get ahead based on those traits alone. I've seen it in person. The quality of work is subpar, but if you position yourself just right, you can get ahead, I'm sorry to say.
I've worked in six different offices. Until recently, I would have thought the OP was crazy or whatever before, but in my current position, I can see what they're talking about.
The gossip, backstabbing, butt kissing etc etc. I've never encountered it before. None of my other jobs come even close to what I've encountered.
In this office, chummy, gossiping, butt kissers WILL get ahead based on those traits alone. I've seen it in person. The quality of work is subpar, but if you position yourself just right, you can get ahead, I'm sorry to say.
You posted to validate what the op is saying but you've actually done the opposite.
You've worked in six different offices and have only had one bad experience.
The op, and others like him, do not feel it's an exception, but the rule. And they don't post as opinion, but fact. They complain about everything from HR, to policies, to the notion that overtime should be put in, to managers, to corporations, etc.
How is that any better than what you're seeing in your current office?
Based on the number of people on C-D alone that think the world is against them it's easy to see how you find these types of people in every type of work environment. But.... that doesn't mean it's the rule and that is how you get ahead. Typically the people who have these complaints are against those who tend to work hard to get ahead. Co-workers get mad when they've been stuck in the same position for ten years, yet a new guy can move above them in 1-2 years. They automatically assume it is from brown nosing or gossiping instead of actual hard work.
OP, I have said this many times also. Here is a book about it. Although it is written for women, back in my day, it was required college reading. Also, some cultures teach that what ever you do for your "family" is fair game no matter who it hurts which is what I also learned in a culture class....family only first.
That the key to advancement and more money, professional success in the workplace (especially higher up positions) were due to possession of good soft skills, connections, Networking, butt kissing, socializing backstabbing, being a big political player as opposed and would have instilled these VERY important attributes into me at a young age instead of telling me, "Do your best, work your hardest, don't kiss anyone's butt, be a good moral person and everything will go your way and you will get what you want out of life. :roll eyes: As a kid learning work ethic and added responsibilities, they would always have me working my hardest and as if I started to start socializing with someone else, they would tell me lets get to work, stop socializing.
And in fact today, the workplace in most place is the EXACT opposite of that. Why didn't they teach us the fact that learning better communication and political abilities is worth 10 TIMES More than any amount of busting your butt will.. I needed to be taught good communication skills with people and good political skills, not working myself to death. That only gets more responsibilities thrown onto you more times that not.
Maybe in their generation this saying held true??
I saw and experienced this first hand. It at least held true for the top Fortune company I worked for... the smartest/brightest and biggest contributors were promoted and kept, but the individuals who reached Leadership positions and who were fast-tracked were the ones with the top soft skills and Ivy League connections (and little else). There's been hundreds if not thousands of books written on this subject, it should be common knowledge by now but it isn't.
The biggest issue is that our parent's generation, the baby boomers, through no fault of their own were thoroughly brainwashed and conned by the powers that be. Most of them today have or are just reaching retirement age and they are all starting to wake up to the con... but very late. The promise of social security and meager retirement savings getting them through their "golden years" is now painfully obvious to be a pile of crap, their health is failing, their children are struggling with divorce, spiritual, and financial obstacles they never foresaw, and they are watching the middle class erode in front of their eyes. Many if not most of them have learned through the school of hard knocks that no matter how hard they worked for a particular employer, no loyalty was to be returned to them as pension plans were dissolved or transformed into cash-balance savings plans, and trickle-down economics of corporate culture is pretty much nonexistent.
All that stated, it's up to us, their children and grand children to make a difference and to turn things around and put it all back on track lest we just end up like our parents; totally screwed. The path I've taken is to work for myself rather than sell my time to others... I find it much more rewarding and good work ethic and honesty goes a lot further when doing this. I am encouraging my children to follow my path as well. Sure I may not make the giant paychecks I once did, but I am a lot happier and healthier than I was doing cubicle work for soft-skilled slave-masters who never had their own brilliant nor innovative ideas (yes that's dramatic as heck, but you get my point). I know if my businesses ever fail or get squashed by large corporate entities, I will easily transition back into the corporate world knowing what I now know too (I'm not driven by fear of unemployment nor by assumptions that corporate leaders are somehow smarter than I am). So it's a win win to pursue this path in my opinion either I become a successful entrepreneur or I become a smarter than average corporate employee.... either way I will make a positive difference.
I wouldn't say middle class is eroding. You have to learn how to think. Forget about any job that was some repetitive grunt mentality (pre six sigma manufacturing etc).
Information is currency, information provides an advantage. When you know how long it takes for an organization to make a decision and how it is to be made. When you can tell exactly what someone is going to say beforehand and how to to respond to it.
The Hitchikers guide to the galaxy is an old classic UK book. As a book frankly in retrospect I can get a tad bored with it but I think there's a underlying principle within it that is very true. That is you have to be informed. Those that are disconnected can really get disconnected. I'm in Mass, south eastern Mass to be exact. In western Mass there's still areas without broadband. I've had it since about 2002. From a compounding nature imagine the factors of marketing, selling and frankly the general experience of a business here vs there. Supposedly the last portions are being wired now but yet now we all have smartphones and there's no real push to add coverage there.
You have to solve problems, make solutions and to do so understand what groups want. People that buy nails don't really want nails they want to hang something (screws of course act better for manufacturing with disassembly)
I find it hard to believe that with all these unskilled butt kissers in charge that these businesses manage to stay in business. I mean if everyone in management sucks, then the business will eventually go out of business. Unless it's a government job of course.
I find it hard to believe that with all these unskilled butt kissers in charge that these businesses manage to stay in business. I mean if everyone in management sucks, then the business will eventually go out of business. Unless it's a government job of course.
It doesn't take much to shut down a business these days. A wells notice, a foreign bribery, tax filings the wrong way etc.
Here's another thing to consider. Look at the business sections of any newspaper or local magazine. See where some are going and where some would replace those jobs. That travels up and up. So yes you can tell who hires and when going ahead weeks if not months.
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