ABSTRACT
Fresh out of school with my engineering degree I arrived in the workplace with little understanding of how corporations actually worked and no understanding of the many levels of bureaucratic hierarchy. Worse, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. To some extent this is a failure of the educational system, but much of the fault can be laid on my personality and upbringing. I’d experienced only two levels of bureaucracy in my entire previous life. There were teachers and students, and there were parents and children. In the workplace this translated to bosses and workers. It was difficult for me to comprehend the various levels of importance. I didn’t really understand that some of my coworkers were more important than me. In fact, I didn’t really understand that the bosses were more important than me. I had spent my life arguing with parents and teachers. Why wouldn’t you argue with your
boss? It took me a while to figure out that corporations are not a democracy and that most people don’t care what the new kid thinks.
