The poor professional

CEO

What is employment? It is rendering PAID LABOR for an EMPLOYER in order to earn your BREAD AND BUTTER — the bread and butter that will feed you, your kids, and the rest of your loved ones.

How and why did you get hired? You obtained your job because you have working knowledge in a particular field of expertise, which you earned from your studies. You got that job after having sold your expertise (and yourself) to some company that does business along your line of work.

Why the studies? Education teaches you the needed tricks in some particular school of thought, add to all basic knowledge. It also trains you in all other areas of the academics, thus teaching you to be a little “jack of all trades” outside of the field of interest on focus.

What else does education do? Education TEACHES YOU TO BE PROFESSIONAL.

What is professionalism? PROFESSIONALISM IS PRETENSE. Why so?

When you’re at work, in the effort to PROTECT your SOURCE of bread and butter, you have to PLEASE the goblins and the gods and make them believe that YOU ARE WORTH KEEPING and your expertise can still be of use; so no matter how many new people who do your job can be there to replace you, YOU ARE STILL THE MAN.

How to please? ACT THE PERSON YOU ARE NOT. Lick the asses of the corporate gods, say what they want to hear, and do what they want done, regardless of whether or not these are really academically sound, theoretically acceptable, realistic, attainable, or simply aligned with your belief of what is right a.k.a. personal or professional principles, FAIRNESS aside. When you feel you are being used, be PATIENT and TOLERANT, if only for the BREAD on the breakfast table. NO CHOICE. Yes, it’s been a sad reality that a lot of worthy professionals end up choosing to give up their source of income because of FRUSTRATION, be it with stupid bosses who are trying to earn their bread just the same (the goblins or the trolls), or with greedy workplace owners (the gods) who think of nothing else but PROFIT thus making stupid or, worse, inhuman policies and decisions.

With the aforementioned, it is a shame that intellectuals with principle and professional authority end up POORER than those whose abilities are limited ONLY to “dancing to the music” and to putting on those ties or wearing make up and looking good in the midst of all mediocrity. Hardly can any employee be appreciated because he is brilliant. This is one GRIM truth. When one is equipped, he ends up being USED and does not even get due recognition for what he is able to accomplish. The trolls always get the credit! When the professional has cut all the grass to make that beautiful lawn, the selfish goblins will make it their playground. And where is he? He’s not even allowed to play. There he is in his SAME OLD NOOK, maybe sharpening his age-old blades (which the gods don’t even want to replace) and preparing to mow another corner. With all the grass that he cleans up, he is paid the same or even being victim to all the cost-cutting measures and tighter circumstances against his work while he sees these corporate trolls buy a new car every year, get rebates and savings from the heavy taxes from which he himself is never spared, and enjoy all the travels and perks for FREE, charge to corporate funds.

Finally, the saddest fact: these corporate goblins always say that NOBODY IS INDISPENSABLE. Even if one has given so many substantial contributions to the progress of his workplace, when he ceases to kiss ass, when he gets fed up with all the PRETENSE, at a flick of a finger, all his value VANISHES like smoke. And he can be gone.

Isn’t it funny to be fooling yourself by believing that you have made a difference and to be falsely satiated with fulfillment when reality suggests that you’ve only made some greedy gods richer and given those starving trolls above you (worthy or not) more chances to become richer and to even look better than you do?

Well, well…if you still want some bread, say YES, SMILE, and never post this piece of writing on Facebook, you poor professional.