Survive before you escape

I was inspired by a book I saw last Tuesday at Powerbooks - My Boss is a Bastard by Richard Maun. I find it really funny and true ( it’s funny because it’s true ). And so I took down some notes, thanks to the ‘Notes’ feature of my N2760 phone, because I want to share my two cents about the matters presented.So here’s the first point:

You need to survive first before sneaking an escape.
-rephrase

So here is where you are, slouching on your boring office chair inside the saddest office cubicle on earth, munching on your fingernails while figuring out what the hell you were thinking on that day you accepted the job. You have other job offers lined up, and mind you - not just job offers but JOB OFFERS - but because this company’s HR personnel has the body of Jessica Alba and the convincing power of Nelson Mandela, you took no second thought ( not a single strand of doubt ) when she promised you benefits that you ( well ) know no company would offer: premiums on night shifts, mortgages, company car on your third year - any model, any color, and a friggin hot night on her apartment. Of course, her promises were made of bubble bath and were just meant to lure you into thinking that this was your biggest opportunity. You wanted to rape her but she resigned a week after you signed the contract.

Thing is, your boss is a big bastard. You can actually call him anything you want, as long as he would have no friggin way of knowing it ( or else you’re dead because am sure he’s gonna sack you out, oh well unless you’re one irreplaceable human resource that he deadly needed which am sure is far from reality ). What he wanted you to do is totally not in your job description. He would either ask you to deliver flowers to the mistresses or answer the call of the screaming wife while he runs out the back door.

Or just plain, everything-here-in-this-friggin-office-sucks; from kitchen utensil to unwashed glasses, from uncaring bosses to snoopy hr management, from old dragging PC to jamming printer. And you just can’t make anything right because you’re too stressed by all the eyes locked on you.

In short, overwork plus underpaid plus unhappy environment plus unhealthy condition plus dimishing self esteem plus bastard boss equals equals YOU NEED AN ESCAPE.

But thing is, you just can’t walk out of that cranking office door! You have heard of work ethics, haven’t you? And what would happen to your cute little self esteem and confidence if you just leave all the challenges ( oh well, let’s call it a challenge, whatever your bastard boss wanted you to do ) unfaced? You don’t really want to call yourself a chicken, do you?

I am not saying that you need to stay for the rest of your life. A couple of months would do. Just give yourself the time to prove to these people that your worth is more than what you are compensated. Then you plan the grandest escape of your life.

BUT, has you stayed long enough and the situation is not getting better but otherwise, - like you did some revamp on a business process and drove 70% more sales but your bastard boss didn’t recognize the results of your effort - oh boy! I tell you, DROP IT. Time to MOVE ON to your next job. Nicely draft your resignation letter:

Dear Boss,

I am thrashing this work because it does no good to my career. Also thank you for letting me deliver those flowers; I get to sleep with your women without your knowing. I don’t know why you get to cheat on your wife when in fact she is the best among them all.

Oh by the way, the gray Hanford you found on your drawer is mine. I am giving it to your wife as a remembrance.

Respectfully yours,
<Your name here>

The point is simple.

Disclaimer: My examples are fictional. Any resemblance to real people or organizations is pure and innocent coincidence.