Something that I've learned over the years – and something of which I was recently reminded – is that effective employees need to strike a balance between working and whining.
See, I've never been the sort of person who makes a big deal about how much I do... but I am one of those insufferable individuals who's always looking for ways to either get ahead on tasks or finish things more efficiently. While you'd think that would result in a reputation for being hardworking and diligent, the end result is actually the exact opposite: Folks assume that your job is easy, meaning that you can be saddled with more responsibilities.
This is obviously just a metaphor, but imagine being tasked with assembling a hundred happy bombs every day. (Don't worry about what "happy bombs" are.) These need to be put together by hand, and the arsenal needs to be ready as quickly as possible. Fortunately, you've developed a system for rapidly measuring out the glitter, preparing the casings, and trimming every length of wire, which means that you never miss your deadline, and you're even left with enough time to help refine the next iteration of happy-launchers.
Well, your superior sees this, and they think to themselves "This person clearly doesn't have enough to do, so I'm also going to put them in charge of maintaining the unicorn army." Said maintenance is a full-time job in and of itself, so you start getting in to work early and staying late in order to make sure that everything gets finished. Eventually, you develop systems for automating horn-polishing and the like, and you manage to get back to a reasonable schedule... at which point the entire process repeats.
Meanwhile, your coworkers are wise enough to complain about how overworked they are whenever the boss is within earshot. You consider following suit, of course... but you're busy assembling happy bombs, and you don't have time.
TL;DR: Workers who don't complain get stuck polishing unicorn horns... or something.
This is exactly why, in the military, everyone I knew strove to be just enough of a shitbag to not be given extra work, but just NOT enough of a shitbag to get in trouble.
Damn. I just left a job 2 months ago for this very reason. I excelled at a job I hated. Could finish what took a normal person 10 hours to complete in about 6-7. Stay late to help others. Tried hard to show that i was working hard and good at my job. Was finally promised a promotion. They hired someone older with "more experience" (I'm 24 but most other employeesare younger or around the same age). Then promised me a raise instead. After waiting for almost 2 months and nothing... I stopped working as hard as I did. Stopped coming in early and staying late. Put in my two weeks and got the hell out of there.
RamsesThePigeon on September 28th, 2020 at 15:36 UTC »
Something that I've learned over the years – and something of which I was recently reminded – is that effective employees need to strike a balance between working and whining.
See, I've never been the sort of person who makes a big deal about how much I do... but I am one of those insufferable individuals who's always looking for ways to either get ahead on tasks or finish things more efficiently. While you'd think that would result in a reputation for being hardworking and diligent, the end result is actually the exact opposite: Folks assume that your job is easy, meaning that you can be saddled with more responsibilities.
This is obviously just a metaphor, but imagine being tasked with assembling a hundred happy bombs every day. (Don't worry about what "happy bombs" are.) These need to be put together by hand, and the arsenal needs to be ready as quickly as possible. Fortunately, you've developed a system for rapidly measuring out the glitter, preparing the casings, and trimming every length of wire, which means that you never miss your deadline, and you're even left with enough time to help refine the next iteration of happy-launchers.
Well, your superior sees this, and they think to themselves "This person clearly doesn't have enough to do, so I'm also going to put them in charge of maintaining the unicorn army." Said maintenance is a full-time job in and of itself, so you start getting in to work early and staying late in order to make sure that everything gets finished. Eventually, you develop systems for automating horn-polishing and the like, and you manage to get back to a reasonable schedule... at which point the entire process repeats.
Meanwhile, your coworkers are wise enough to complain about how overworked they are whenever the boss is within earshot. You consider following suit, of course... but you're busy assembling happy bombs, and you don't have time.
TL;DR: Workers who don't complain get stuck polishing unicorn horns... or something.
Darktower520 on September 28th, 2020 at 16:20 UTC »
This is exactly why, in the military, everyone I knew strove to be just enough of a shitbag to not be given extra work, but just NOT enough of a shitbag to get in trouble.
BerkBork on September 28th, 2020 at 17:19 UTC »
Damn. I just left a job 2 months ago for this very reason. I excelled at a job I hated. Could finish what took a normal person 10 hours to complete in about 6-7. Stay late to help others. Tried hard to show that i was working hard and good at my job. Was finally promised a promotion. They hired someone older with "more experience" (I'm 24 but most other employeesare younger or around the same age). Then promised me a raise instead. After waiting for almost 2 months and nothing... I stopped working as hard as I did. Stopped coming in early and staying late. Put in my two weeks and got the hell out of there.