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The Internaut's Theory of Workplace Popularity

Brenda got the promotion! She doesn't even work. She just gossips all day with the boss. She just pawns off her work onto us and I've been working overtime and the boss won't even look at me!!

We've all been there, either in school, or our workplace. We have seen this happen. Entire movies and TV shows have been made on this situation. Well, in this post, we look at my theory of why this happens and once you know why it happens, you'll know what to do about it. 

Reddit user u/ghkuuk said in his post on the subreddit r/Showerthoughts, "Being proactive is rarely rewarded, because if your actions avoid a tragedy, there is no tragedy to prove your actions were warranted."  

Employees that are consistent in their work / duties are constantly overlooked. This is so common in workplaces to see. The other place this is common in is places of study like schools and universities among students. Teachers tend to focus on students who do badly in school and never seem to be focused on the ones who do well because, "Oh they do well, they don't need help" -- or reward, it seems. But the ones that don't do what they are supposed to do? They get more attention. 

I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Look at it from the employer / educator's perspective: "He/she is bad at this. I must help them with this more. The others can take care of themselves." Eventually, they forget about the "others". But if you stop looking at your better workers, that will cause doubt and strife and you will lose them, resulting in a loss of productivity and no employer wants that. 

Now about Brenda. First impressions last. Humans associate promotions as a good thing. Things to be celebrated. Who would you celebrate a promotion with? A coworker who makes you happy? That would be the gossiper. Their subconscious makes that connection and you end up going “I like this person. I like promotions. Combine." Or if they see more of the gossiper, they spend more time with them, which makes it feel as though they are the only ones at work. Boss doesn’t see the other employees at that point and subconsciously thinks “So what if she talks, she’s the only one I see here. The only one I know. Here ya go, promotion.”

The system has always been broken. The idea isn’t to change it or fix it. It’s to exploit it for personal gain. You can either use this theory and go get your promotions or stand by as an observer and observe, like me, and keep looking for more cues and points that can be used to make your theory stronger. 

Comments / suggestions? Send them on below. 

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