I was such a weird kid...

How to get through a day at [large corporation]

Don't criticize.
People hate criticism, constructive or not. The minute you shoot down their idea, that's it, you're black-listed. Maybe it's better to keep your mouth shut and silently disagree. Or go behind their back and do something different and apologize later, citing that you didn't hear them tell you no. Whenever I don't agree with someone, I always tell them why and I think I'm being very rational but then people throw me off by saying, "I don't disagree with you." I don't disagree with you? What does that even mean? It's just a way for people to confuse you into thinking that you are allowing them to slip by with their idiot ideas because it's what you want.


Wait in the sidelines.
I'm starting to see this being used a lot, it's probably one of those "strategic methodologies" outlined in some cheap business practices book that you can get in the bargain book section at Borders. You know something is wrong, but instead of telling people straight up, you just wait. You wait and wait and wait until the people fail or have an epiphany that they maybe weren't doing the right thing, and then at the very end you swoop in and fix it all (or in reality, it'll be too late and you already have another job or something). Then you're seen as this great savior and the other people learn an important lesson. This method kind of reminds me of how we keep sending our troops to Iraq when it's clearly not working out...and people in the government are just waiting around to watch while the whole thing fails miserably and then in 2008 when we have a new president, then we'll fix it. But until then, we'll just watch and wait, because if you tell people they are wrong, then they'll hate you.


Don't be an angry crazy-person.
There was some study that said that angry women in the workplace are seen as unstable and crazy, while angry men are seen as great leaders. It also said that angry women don't get paid as much as emotionless women. (But men regardless of anger levels always get paid more than women.) I wonder how they measured anger? Ok, I admit when I get angry at work, I get pretty crazy too, but that doesn't mean I can't do my job or I don't have good ideas. Yeah, fine, it's true that people don't react well when they are being yelled at. But sometimes it just feels so good, and sometimes people deserve it.


Get an "It's just a job" attitude.
I wish I could be more like this. Instead of fixating on idiotic people at work or idiot business processeees, I want to just go to work and do work without letting it consume my every thought at all hours of the day.

Overpriced

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