Despite all of the classic career advice that I’ve read over now three decades, it’s come to my attention that antiwork is actually a self-reinforcing loop in corporate and government culture, that everyone is secretly in on except me.
I always tried to be that studious worker, only to find that bullshit is the currency of corporate and government offices. No amount of best dressing, document polish, or talking point preparation, could ever outcompete sheer bullshit.
I’ve had jobs where I had little to do, and I always was respected more and rewarded more than the jobs where I had too much. It’s like the boss likes me more for putting up with boredom and not complaining about it. Trying to improve myself or the org, not so much.
Now, in feast or famine jobs, if I try to constructively work towards training or helping out during the slow times, workplace assassination campaigns begin.
Angrily looking busy and drinking coffee earns more esteem than genuine accomplishment: and rattling off absolutely pointless accomplishments in team meetings outcompetes tangibly important things for company profit and client satisfaction. It’s like sorcery.
I’m now convinced that unless you’re in a small business, 90% of coworkers and bosses actually want us doing as little as possible, whether they want it consciously or subconsciously.
It reminds me of the game of mafia. Everyone’s in it, but only a minority are in the mafia. Everyone else is just likely to get screwed unless they figure the game out.