The Band Plays On

When things don't go well it's interesting to watch how the office reacts. Human nature is very predictable. As I write this our sales have hit a slump. It's during times like these that you see what happens in an office. Real stress comes in the face of uncertainty. Oh you may put in long hours, or have lots to do. But true character comes when you are faced with situations where our survival mechanism kicks in.
Back when I was an undergraduate I used to work on campus where they had Network Services Department. We had students come in with problems related to e-mail or connectivity in their dorms.

Now we also had a law school on the campus that was for the most part a separate entity. However we would get students in from time to time and it would only take me a moment to have you pegged as a law student. My observation is that Law School does its best to bring out the worst (or at least amplify aggressive character traits) because of the immense competition and pressure. My friends would tell me stories of underhanded things students would do to bring someone down in rankings so that they would place higher in the class. One of my friends had his textbooks stolen in class and resold that day, pages in books at the law library would be torn out for certain assignments, people would lie to each other, etc. If you survived this environment it very well would change you. You would become more visibly defensive, arrogant and intolerant. All of this would be apparent when they talked to you. These experiences contributed some to my decision to veer more towards computers than law.

But these stressful elements are a great way to see people's reaction and character in a rare opportunity you wouldn't normally gather. Use these opportunities to study them and learn. You may be surprised even how you react to them.