At the risk of sounding unsupportive, no matter where you work there is going to be office politics. And most probably they will only be positive to you if you own the firm you’re working for. Every place I’ve worked there have been people that have no productivity whatsoever, but they are coddled for some reason by the higher ups.

I got into a frank discussion with my boss on this subject at my last job during my yearly employee review. My boss did everything that he could to make the job easiest for some lazy slugs in our department. And I felt that since I rarely asked for assistance, when I did, I felt that my request should be taken seriously and dealt with in a timely manner; which it was not.

He looked at me very surprised and said “you really don’t know!” No I don’t! He told me “you’re going to work no matter what. If you run into a problem, you’re going to figure it out, perhaps not as quickly as you’d like, but you’ll come up with the right answer. I don’t have to worry about you or your crew, you’ll keep them in line. You should take it as a compliment that I don’t run right over when you call. I have to babysit those bozos.”

While it was very flattering to hear that he appreciated the work I did, his input and support would have cut my frustration level in half if he’d been there when I needed him. Why are these other people still employee? I’d like a baby sitter from time to time too! The “bozos” were getting paid the same amount of money I was and they had NO stress! Why can’t I have bozo status?!?

I wish I could give you a way to deal with it, I never learned. I was known to be courteous and fair, but I don’t think that anyone would have called me friendly. I was always willing to help out when needed and answer any question asked. But I have a zero BS tolerance. Don’t ask me to do something for you when you’re thumbing through a magazine and tell me you’re busy or I’m better at it because I’m not going to do it. And Lord have mercy if you lied to me!