Happy Monday everyone. I spent the weekend pulling weeds to get ready to start transplanting some seedlings and I am sore in places I didn’t know I had muscles to be sore in. But the planting beds are ready at least. So that is something. Kind of a relief to start the work week actually. It’s nice to sit in a chair at a compute sometimes. So let’s kick off the week with the morning prompt. Timers at the ready and off we go…
I think I started with two conflicting ideas here. I ended up leaning towards the undervalued worker leaving and watching the company fail. It needs a lot of work and to be pulled apart like taffy and story bits shoved in, but I like the concept. It is very much passive voice and needs work, but I will probably come back to the idea. Even if it does sor of remind me of the fifteen minute novel I am currently working on.
Monday, April 22nd: John bided his time.
John bided his time. He knew there would come a point where he would be needed. It was inevitable. Those viewed as the elite go getters of the company took credit for all of his work, his planning and his ideas. He knew that sooner or later, someone would reach out.
Because of a recent restructuring, he had been given a lot of extra duties. Because of that, he stopped helping out on other items. He focused only on the tasks assigned to him. It was a test of sorts, to see what they would do. John had already made plans to leave. He could leave if he wanted, but he could also stay.
He was ambivalent when it got right down to it. He made his lists of pros and cons, but they were equal in both number and mental weight. He liked his work, and he liked to see hs ideas take shape in the real world. He didn’t like others taking credit for his work, especially when they did nothing but accept what he did. He would be happy with just a simply thank you and a basic level of acknowledgement.
If he got that, he would stay. If he didn’t he would leave.
It had been a while since he helped out and he knew things were not going so well for his supervisors. In this company, the innovative thrived. You were either leading the company forward or you were just dead weight. There had been no innovations for a while. John had a list. He had plans, he even had implementation strategies.
More importantly, he knew his supervisors knew he had them.
He was called into a meeting with the rest of his department. Proposals were called for. Layoff threatened. There were many looks sent his way, but he kept his mouth shut. Punishments were listed out if their department didn’t do better. Rewards, incentives, acknowledgements were not even mentioned.
After the meeting, each of his supervisors stopped by. All three of them made a point of just happening to be in the area and looking in on them. The first two left open ended questions in their wake, blank spaces he didn’t fill in. The third asked him point blank if he had any suggestions.
“And what would be the incentive?” he asked.
The response was a litany of how his idea could help his supervisor. Apparently threats were coming into them as well from their superiors. Everyone left and John found his pros and cons list leaning a little. The balance shifted. He would never be recognized. He would never advance. He would be the ideas man they kept around when they needed it.
He turned in his letter of resignation that very day.
He worked out the last two weeks. All three of his supervisors tried to talk him out of leaving. The told him he was a valued member of the team. They tried to appeal to him on behalf of his coworkers. When he talked to his coworkers they universally told him that if he could get out, he should.
“If there is an option take it and run,” was Big Mike’s contribution and all around him nodded.
So John left. And in the weeks and months that followed, he got to watch the company crumble.
Ten til Midnight 