I Work Hard, But Not How They Want

Whatever happened to the idea of a meritocracy? We are raised to think that our hardwork will get us somewhere. In high school, they want us to get the best grades so we can get into a good school. If we do extra acitivities, that helps even more. In college, if we work hard and get good grades, that'll help us get to a good internship and a good job. But once we get that job, what happens then? Do the promotions go to the people with the best performance? No. Do the promotions go to the hardest workers, the people that put the greater good in front of themselves? No, it doesn't go to them either.

Sadly, it seems in the business world, that the promotions and the benefits go to those who are the biggest ass-kissers. The promotions go to the biggest liars, the biggest sneaks, the people that spend their time searching for gold in the dark crevices of the higher-ups. They laugh at the terrible jokes of the managers and they spend time relating to them and developing these wonderful inside jokes. They never actually do any real work and the work that they do is handpicked by them to involve the least effort with the best rewards. Meanwhile, the rest of us are trying to get by with honest hardwork because that's what we were raised to think will get us head in this world.

Maybe one day this hardwork will actually pay off. And maybe I'm not realizing how hard it is to suck up to people that you think are beneath you. The fact is though, that the Real World is only a meritocracy if you change the meaning of merit to mean: a deed of brown-nosing.