Don’t You Just Hate the Bureaucratic Bullshit?

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 10:51am by David Askaripour in Life

Here’s the situation:

Dave works for XYZ Inc.

Dave talks to the Manager and he says: “Get the hell out of my office. Who the hell do you think you are, kid? I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I don’t give two sh*ts if it’s the right or wrong way – it’s the only way we do it!…. You know what… get with the program or you’re fired!”

Believe it or not, this is a very, very common situation that takes place throughout corporate America, most notably with young entrepreneurs trapped in the workforce. Though the story was slightly altered, I was the person in this example; I was the kid who couldn’t take the bureaucratic bullshit anymore.

It’s literally disgusting how such situations occur throughout the workforce. And if you’re an entrepreneur stuck in a situation such as the one described above, I definitely feel for you. I know the pain that you’re enduring.

So what’s an “entrepreneur who’s stuck in the bureaucratic bullshit workforce to do”?

I’ll tell you what you do: You milk that company for everything they’re worth. No, I don’t mean break into the money vault and rob them blind, I mean learn as much as you can during your time spent there. Study how they are making money and what systems they are using to run their business; information that you’ll eventually use to help run your own business when you quit (because you don’t plan on working there for the next 40 years of your life, right? I hope not!)

Though I truly, truly, truly, (can I add another truly?) hated my last (actually only) corporate job… I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t learn a thing or two.

But before I share with you what I learned, let me give you an insight into my average day at work. It’s pretty funny, really.

• I usually arrived at work around 10 – 30mins late everyday (guess I wanted to be fired subconsciously).
• I then jumped onto my gmail account and wrote personal/business (my own business) emails for about 2 hours (I kid you not).
• I then attended company meetings for an hour and finally got some assignments from my “superiors.”
• Got back to my desk then jumped onto the blogoshpere and did some serious blogging for about 1 – 2 hours and also ate some lunch.
• Then I would go for a walk somewhere in NYC for about 30mins and possibly get a snack.
• Now… finally!!… I’m back in the office and there’s about 2 hours left until I go home… YAY!! (best part of the day) So I guess I’ll do some “real” work. I spent the last few hours setting up project for the company and making a few calls here and there.

But during this time, I was able to study file structures (on the operating systems), network systems, programs used, and even how clients were retained. Though I wasn’t busting my ass to really help this company due to the level of bureaucracy coupled with my recalcitrant personality, I was still absorbing useful information that I ultimately used for my own business; information that has helped me to become much more organized, have more efficient meetings, and help me to retain clients.

So as I stated, though you may not love your job and you have become sick and tired of the layers of power and inability to work to your fullest potential (when you’re dealing with an army of people who think that they’re always right and you are wrong), you may as well make the best of a messed up situation and learn as much as you can before – you know what… — you quit!

Milk them good…

Cheers to that!

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