This is a guest contribution by King Krab. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.
My name is King Krab, and for a short stint of my life, I was living out of my car. My worldly possessions could fit into a single moving box. I was eating scraps that people threw away, but I never lowered myself to begging. Then poker came into my life. Let me start from the beginning.
Right out of college, I got a decent job offer from a large firm. I worked hard everyday, keeping to the grind. I allocated my time to work and dating, nothing else. No video games, no TV bingeing, no drinking or clubbing, no poker. For three years, I lived a moderately happy life. Then the workplace dynamic changed. Management changed. In came a fairly young and naive man who hadn’t had much management experience, still figuring out how to run things, and how to fit in–a blank slate to mold. Unfortunately, as the weak are preyed upon by the strong, a vicious young tiger cub employee, by the name of Jane (ed. Name changed) made it her mission to control and weaponize the new boss. After a few weeks of post work drinks and hangouts, her mission was complete. Although technically she wasn’t the boss of the office, she became the behind-the-scenes controller of everything. I went from management loving me for reaching all my goals and hitting my deadlines to management despising me because of untrue rumors that Jane had spread.
As I stood by and watched this slowly happen, I realized that this was how life was. Not only must you be good at your job, you must also take the role of a manipulator or else become the manipulated. You become a slave not only to your corporate overlords, but also to anybody willing to do whatever it takes to climb over you. This underachiever Jane, who accomplished almost nothing, became higher ranked than I to my manager. My boss hated my guts, and made my life at work a living hell. Soon after, I was put into a situation where I couldn’t handle it anymore, and quit on the spot.