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Stick it to the (wo)man

This week was quite educational in terms of my work, but not what you may think. I'm sure I learned a bit more professionally, but the educational part was about something else. Without going into too much detail (someone may read this after all), I basically disagreed with my bosses about a rule that was implemented for my work structure. This wasn't a general regulation that was applied for everyone in the company and I felt that this was neither logical nor necessary and would limit my flexibility in deciding what would be optimal for me to do my work well. I spoke to my supervisor about it and he didn't seem to have any strong feelings toward it either way, but when we had the meeting with one of the managing partners it was certainly a different story. Long story short, the "position of the company" was that they wouldn't budge on this. 

The outcome may be expected and a little annoying for me, but this is not what I want to focus on here. For me, this was one of the first experiences in this job when I had an open conflict with the management team and it showed me that after all (even if they like you very much and are so concerned about your well-being, etc.), they are the boss and as long as you work there, they have the last word on these matters. This might seem obvious, but for me it was different to experience it first-hand. First conclusion: even the nicest employer is always going to put the company's interests first. Second conclusion: you should do the same with your own. Apart from this, I feel proud for sticking up for myself and arguing my corner. This is a skill that will definitely come in handy.




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