Most of you are still in university and this post may matter to you before you enter the job market.
A question for people who have been working for years: Did you find the workplace to be a professional environment or a battlefield where you constantly have to fight just to protect your place?
I work with a colleague whose main skill is not competence but flattery. He is an expert at winning the manager’s approval and his reward is easy tasks close to home and a lot of comfort.
It has reached the point where he now goes on a one-hour walk with the manager every day even though he is not athletic at all. I saw them today with my own eyes and I am almost sure they were talking about me.
Meanwhile I always get the hardest tasks the longest trips and the most chaotic situations.
I admit I tried flattery once. It failed immediately because I could not fake laughing at jokes that were not funny.
My question to experienced workers: Do we adapt to this game to survive or keep our dignity