"This is John Galt speaking."
The jig, as it were, may have been returned to its full, upright position.
And whoever told you honesty is the best policy was lying*.
I have meetings every Friday with my immediate supervisor, and it came out in said meeting about how I really feel. And what my thoughts were concerning a proposed change next week to have people working on closed cases (aka paper-shuffling) for their entire 8-hour shift one day each week. Ms. G already knew I did not like the busywork, but what she did not know was that I was not bluffing: I could really do Intakes in 10-15 minutes instead of the 30-45 minutes it takes everyone else. And that I was, you know, doing them in 10 minutes but marking them down as being completed in 30 minutes.
In a lot of fantasy fiction, wizards are sometimes described as casting spells by saying words of power in a specific order. Ms. G uttered "You don't seem to be fitting in here," which in another reality would probably make it rain blood or boil oceans. The full hammer did not come down, perhaps because the incantation was not completed in its entirety, but the existence of the hammer and its possible trajectories are now well understood.
The fascinating thing is the amount of people who told me to "suck it up," insofar as my job and its duties are concerned. And that's the irony here. People do not encourage you to lie about who you are, to dress up your accomplishments, to pretend to be someone you are not. How do they draw the distinction? I see no difference between who I am and what I do - it is more than that, in my mind there is no difference. The same people who told me to "suck it up" were typically the same people who would not "suck it up" in their own personal lives and relationships. I understand how someone could argue that enduring tasteless labor to pay the bills is different than enduring tasteless company on your free time. But it is truly a distinction without a difference. They do not only employ my body and brain stem (as much as I wish they could), they employ my whole being. And that is what they receive.
In any case, I came out of the meeting slightly unbalanced, knowing that the game had changed in the middle of my turn. So I went back to my seat and turned the dial to 95% thrust. The meeting had ended at 4:30pm, so I really only was serious for the last half of the day, but by the time 8pm rolled around I had 18 Intakes completed for the day. The previous record was 15, held by one Maxwell, who later blew his brains out as I may have mentioned. Twenty-two is probably within the realm of possibility. At that point, I am essentially doing the work of an entire other human being, on average.
*Honesty is still probably the best general policy, for a number of reasons. One of which is that if someone were to dislike you, they may as well dislike you for the actual qualities you possess rather than false ones. And vice versa. But if your definition of "best policy" is "the policy in which keeps me gainfully employed" then, yeah, honesty is probably not the first policy you should try.
And whoever told you honesty is the best policy was lying*.
I have meetings every Friday with my immediate supervisor, and it came out in said meeting about how I really feel. And what my thoughts were concerning a proposed change next week to have people working on closed cases (aka paper-shuffling) for their entire 8-hour shift one day each week. Ms. G already knew I did not like the busywork, but what she did not know was that I was not bluffing: I could really do Intakes in 10-15 minutes instead of the 30-45 minutes it takes everyone else. And that I was, you know, doing them in 10 minutes but marking them down as being completed in 30 minutes.
In a lot of fantasy fiction, wizards are sometimes described as casting spells by saying words of power in a specific order. Ms. G uttered "You don't seem to be fitting in here," which in another reality would probably make it rain blood or boil oceans. The full hammer did not come down, perhaps because the incantation was not completed in its entirety, but the existence of the hammer and its possible trajectories are now well understood.
The fascinating thing is the amount of people who told me to "suck it up," insofar as my job and its duties are concerned. And that's the irony here. People do not encourage you to lie about who you are, to dress up your accomplishments, to pretend to be someone you are not. How do they draw the distinction? I see no difference between who I am and what I do - it is more than that, in my mind there is no difference. The same people who told me to "suck it up" were typically the same people who would not "suck it up" in their own personal lives and relationships. I understand how someone could argue that enduring tasteless labor to pay the bills is different than enduring tasteless company on your free time. But it is truly a distinction without a difference. They do not only employ my body and brain stem (as much as I wish they could), they employ my whole being. And that is what they receive.
In any case, I came out of the meeting slightly unbalanced, knowing that the game had changed in the middle of my turn. So I went back to my seat and turned the dial to 95% thrust. The meeting had ended at 4:30pm, so I really only was serious for the last half of the day, but by the time 8pm rolled around I had 18 Intakes completed for the day. The previous record was 15, held by one Maxwell, who later blew his brains out as I may have mentioned. Twenty-two is probably within the realm of possibility. At that point, I am essentially doing the work of an entire other human being, on average.
*Honesty is still probably the best general policy, for a number of reasons. One of which is that if someone were to dislike you, they may as well dislike you for the actual qualities you possess rather than false ones. And vice versa. But if your definition of "best policy" is "the policy in which keeps me gainfully employed" then, yeah, honesty is probably not the first policy you should try.