The Princess and the Paupers

by Danielle
(Oregon)

Unfortunately, I am in an organization where brown-nosing is more valued than analytical skills. I have seen people firmly affix their mouths to various butts and rise to undeserved positions. The culture of the organization is one of power. Since I could give a (bleep) about power, I haven't assimilated well.

The annoyance is that there is rampant favoritism. Only one person on a team of 10 people is allowed to telework. This person is inaccessible on teleworking days and doesn't adhere to the agreed schedule. I also thought children weren't allowed to stay at home with teleworkers since day care isn't a miscellaneous related duty as assigned.

The Princess has been able to reap the easiest workload, teleworking (whenever), a blind eye to coming in late and leaving early, simple or no projects, etc.

Response from Carl: Hi Danielle. You don't mention what sort of company you work for or what sort of job you have so I can't comment on how you might like to proceed since it probably depends on what your current situation is like. If you were working in one type of position, I might suggest that you think about searching for a new job but if you were in a position where jobs are difficult to come by, perhaps switching jobs is easier said than done. I also don't know how long you've worked there so I don't know how established you are in the company.

One of your comments that I do wonder about is how on the one hand you mention that you don't care about power right after you mention that certain people get promoted to undeserved positions. In that regard, I wonder if you equate a promotion with increased power and since you suggest that you don't care about power also means that being promoted and rising to a higher position isn't something you're particularly interested in it? And even if this isn't the case, perhaps that's how you are perceived within the company. I've often found that companies promote people who they feel deserve to be promoted but also those who appear like they aspire to be promoted, too. Maybe you're giving off the vibe that you're unpromotable and that you also not interested in being promoted so the higher ups are instead giving perks to those who they feel deserve it.

Carl