“Someone needs to put this guy in his place.”

For 2 years I’ve worked as a janitor for a company called Cleanmaster. I have no wife, no kids, no friends, just my job. For 2 years I’ve broken my back for this company. For 2 years I’ve gone above and beyond to do the best job possible to keep my employers, and their employers happy. For 2 years I’ve been promised better hours and better pay, yet I’m still part time, making minimum wage, struggling more and more with bills that keep getting higher and higher. For 2 years I’ve picked up the slack left behind by co-workers who weren’t doing their job, then watched those same co-workers get raises and promotions because of my hard work. For 2 years I’ve been very patient with this company… My patience is quickly running out.

About 6 months ago, they hired a new guy, Jason Cardor. My boss, Mr. Sharlow asked me to train him. “Sure, no problem.” I said and I proceeded to train him. Within 2 weeks, he had double the hours I did. Within a month, he was telling me how to do my job, even though I was the one who had kept the site complaint free for the past year and a half, which it had never been before. 3 months in, he was promoted to my supervisor and his arrogance went through the roof, still I tried my hardest to get along with him. After 6 months of his obnoxious attitude, I politely asked Mr. Sharlow to put me with a different supervisor as I did not like Cardor’s attitude towards me. He told me I should be more respectful towards Cardor. “I don’t like your attitude.” he said and he denied my request. 4 days later, Cardor got a second promotion.

The day after Cardor’s promotion, I ran into another of my co-workers, one of the good ones, Stan Lowenstien. I told Stan about my meeting with Mr. Sharlow. I told him about how I was upset with Cardor and how Mr. Sharlow threw my complaint back in my face, and then on top of that, gave Cardor another promotion. “I don’t understand it.” I said to Stan. “I’ve worked hard for this company since day 1. I’ve always delivered the best results with my work. I’ve never complained about anything, even when I had good reason to! Cardor has never done anything special for this company! He’s nothing but an arrogant jerk with an obnoxious attitude! Why does Mr. Sharlow favor him so much and show so much discontent towards me?” Stan started to laugh. “You don’t know?” He said. “Work ethic means nothing in this company. Mr. Sharlow only favors people who butter up to him. Think about it. You might be a hard worker, but how often do you actually see Mr. Sharlow? Almost never right? Cardor, on the other hand, makes sure he’s in constant contact with Mr. Sharlow. He acts like Sharlow’s his best friend. He compliments him every time he sees him. He’ll do anything he asks, even if it’s outside of work, at the drop of a hat. Heck, on the weekends they go bowling together. You might be professional. You might be polite. You might be a hard worker. But that guy’s an apple polisher, and that’s all that matters around here.” A small piece of me snapped when Stan told me this, and everything was suddenly so clear to me. Everything finally made sense, and at that moment, I knew what had to be done. “Stan” I said, “Someone needs to put this guy in his place.”