Culprit America
Living in America has been both rewarding and depressing; rewarding because it forces one to mature, depressing because it forces one to mature...**cue double-edged sword**
In Nigeria, one has the luxury of living in one's parents' home even until/after marriage; not such a good idea because of the feeling of entitlement it bestows on the individual. Although I attended a boarding school in Nigeria, I was still very much under the auspices of my parental units. Moving to the States, at first, was not too different from boarding school, however, when the funds stopped flowing and I was forced to fend for myself, I learned quickly what being an adult was all about.
Cut to getting a job and keeping a job. Let me preface this by stating that I come from a family of entrepreneurs and company folk. My Father did a short stint in corporate and then branched out on his own, whereas my Mother worked for the same institution for as long as I can remember, until she retired. I take after my Father in so many ways.
So back to Culprit America; in my many years of living and working here, nothing has made my skin crawl more than the dirty inner nasty politicking that one has to do to just to keep a 9-to-5.. It is not enough that one is capable, comes to work on time and does the job to the best of their abilities. No! There must be brown-nosing, butt-kissing and ass-licking to boot! There's talk of company culture, bunch of rubbish that should not have a place in any professional environment, characteristics that are contrary to anything that is purported to the general public. A company manual is handed to every individual but all the rules stay consistently broken. I have never been one to operate in grey areas, I like the stark naked truth - black and white!
How does one grow to learn, to be honest, respectful of others regardless of where they come from but on getting into corporate America, everything one has learned about ethics and morality gets thrown out the window? And then people wonder why/how the likes of Enron and Worldcom can happen.
I recently rolled off a project, where the vast majority of the employees knew not what they did. The team leads were more interested in who was sleeping with whom, smoke breaks and stupid inappropriate, often times, racist jokes. Complaints were made but at the end of the day the punishment was handed down to those making the legitimate complaints, while the incompetent inappropriate buggers got rewarded.
Company culture.
It's like selling ones soul to the devil - does one play the stupid game to keep ones job or not play and risk getting blacklisted? The sad stark reality is that no one ever wants be on the outside looking in so most people will play along; I know the boss is fucking my wife but I'll look the other way cause I'm getting a paycheck.
Buggery!!
In Nigeria, one has the luxury of living in one's parents' home even until/after marriage; not such a good idea because of the feeling of entitlement it bestows on the individual. Although I attended a boarding school in Nigeria, I was still very much under the auspices of my parental units. Moving to the States, at first, was not too different from boarding school, however, when the funds stopped flowing and I was forced to fend for myself, I learned quickly what being an adult was all about.
Cut to getting a job and keeping a job. Let me preface this by stating that I come from a family of entrepreneurs and company folk. My Father did a short stint in corporate and then branched out on his own, whereas my Mother worked for the same institution for as long as I can remember, until she retired. I take after my Father in so many ways.
So back to Culprit America; in my many years of living and working here, nothing has made my skin crawl more than the dirty inner nasty politicking that one has to do to just to keep a 9-to-5.. It is not enough that one is capable, comes to work on time and does the job to the best of their abilities. No! There must be brown-nosing, butt-kissing and ass-licking to boot! There's talk of company culture, bunch of rubbish that should not have a place in any professional environment, characteristics that are contrary to anything that is purported to the general public. A company manual is handed to every individual but all the rules stay consistently broken. I have never been one to operate in grey areas, I like the stark naked truth - black and white!
How does one grow to learn, to be honest, respectful of others regardless of where they come from but on getting into corporate America, everything one has learned about ethics and morality gets thrown out the window? And then people wonder why/how the likes of Enron and Worldcom can happen.
I recently rolled off a project, where the vast majority of the employees knew not what they did. The team leads were more interested in who was sleeping with whom, smoke breaks and stupid inappropriate, often times, racist jokes. Complaints were made but at the end of the day the punishment was handed down to those making the legitimate complaints, while the incompetent inappropriate buggers got rewarded.
Company culture.
It's like selling ones soul to the devil - does one play the stupid game to keep ones job or not play and risk getting blacklisted? The sad stark reality is that no one ever wants be on the outside looking in so most people will play along; I know the boss is fucking my wife but I'll look the other way cause I'm getting a paycheck.
Buggery!!
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