In Pursuit of Happiness over Promotion

I was struck by my friend’s plain matter-fact question related to promotion over lunch. I slightly raised an eyebrow.

“I have been working head to toe for about eight years with absolutely nothing to show for it. I thought that would secure me a promotion as a reward. But look at me now, still miserably at the same old spot. What have I done wrong? Was it because I come from second class job career path?” He blurted out in anger, then slumped down into the chair. His shoulders slumped forward in disappointment.

I held my breath, thinking to say something genius or just trying to find ‘proper words’ as not to offend him. I offered him a look of sympathy. In the end, words failed to materialize and we lost in our own thoughts.

He is one of the many people graduating from college with idealistic notions that being brilliant at college, then great at job would guarantee them a place in the corporate sun with their company. Reality often feels like a slap on the face.

He failed to notice that promotion is a tricky mix of advanced interpersonal skills, self-marketing, competent work, responsibility, strategy and sometimes ‘connection’. Missing any of these elements, you might end up working for ages for a company and never receive the promotion you deserve.

Being great is not enough. I know he’s great at what’s he’s doing, surpassing his team’s expectation. Unfortunately, he lacks of advanced interpersonal skills and rarely markets himself. Consequently, he becomes a shining diamond in the deepest end of the ocean. No one notices him, as he never comes to the surface of the deep ocean.

Another friend of mine had promotion recently. Oddly, she was not happy at all about it. She stubbornly said she wish she could turn back the hand of time.

“Congratulations! You’ve been promoted! Oh… um, by the way, we’re sorry we’re not going to pay you another nickel, even as you take greater responsibilities, work longer hours!” She said cynically, a flicker of fire lit in her black coal eyes.

I gaped in surprised. My jaw dropped. Are you kidding me? Seriously?

She rolled her eyes, annoyed and irritated.

I recollected myself and smiled awkwardly before giving her a sympathetic friendly embrace.

I view this jarring scenario as having an air of unreality about it. It’s hard to believe that something like this is happening. Then, a bitter recollection emerged on the surface of my consciousness. I have suffered similar scenario, well although it was not as tragic as that of my friend.

So, I should have known. It’s an ordinary reality. With so many workers running scared these days and job seekers flutter around in abundance, promotion-without-a-raise is a gambit some are forced to reckon with.  

Recounting these two tales, I smile lightly. I always have this silly motto that often invite criticism and skepticism from my colleagues, “I don’t want to go after promotion as long as I have decent job to feed my family and a handful of smiles from friends that keep me happyJ. Do the best and let God do the rest.”

They called me a pessimist, having no big dream at work. In my defense, I told them I was more interested to pursue happiness over promotion.

 Getting my head bald for working tirelessly to get promotion is absolutely not in my list . It’s enough having spent most of my precious time on clogged streets. There’s no room left for frustration of such silly promotion, lol. What matters is landing on the job I love that I’ll never have to work a day in my life, lol.

I remember once a renowned Indonesian author of short stories, essays, and movie scripts, Seno Gumira Ajidarma, said in his “Menjadi Tua di Jakarta” (Becoming Old in Jakarta):

"Alangkah mengerikannya menjadi tua dengan kenangan masa muda yang hanya berisi kemacetan jalan, ketakutan datang terlambat ke kantor, tugas-tugas rutin yang tidak menggugah semangat, dan kehidupan seperti mesin, yang hanya akan berakhir dengan pensiun tidak seberapa." 

"How terrible it would be to grow old with memories contains only road congestion, fear of coming late to the office, soulless routine tasks, and  a machine-like life, and  only end up with meager pensions."