Don’t put in the extra effort for the employer, do it to sharpen your skills and increase your value. Your value to the company is irrelevant, no one gets thanked for just doing their job. If they’re a crap company boy are they going to miss you and maybe catch the hint. If it’s a good company and you want to be there than all the better, if you finally hit the top, how skilled do you think you’ll be by then? Your company may not need that person, but someone does and so the next step up is with a different company, no? Change your thinking, your hard work on yourself and your skills is the point, the byproduct is that the company your at does a little better, so what?! It keeps you under the radar because you can always be counted on, in that same line, DON’T EVER accept or make excuses for abusive employers. If your always the one that gets called on for solutions or effort,that should tell you about your value, same if your in a roomful of happy peers that share the entire load. 30 yrs in professional kitchens has taught me value. Work on your value, Pursuing perfection was my practicing, getting paid for it, and not having to be tied to any one place if things went south, work on you and get paid for it, you want more, be more, within yourself, make ‘em sad when you leave because you’ve made yourself that person at their expense, as a pro, integrity, honesty, effort, those are the things you’ll always keep and have sway over, always showing your value because you care, about you, and they can benefit from that. mmm