Work Related Stress (standard:drama, 3148 words)
Author: Rene Amador	Added: May 12 2002	Views/Reads: 4835/2821	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
There's only one position available and two people interested.

Work Related Stress 

by 

Rene Amador 

Robert and Tom had been working in the same firm for about two years
now.  Tom had been working there about six months longer than Robert.  
When the firm was looking for new employees, Tom passed Robert’s resume 
along to the human resources department.  He was doing his friend of 
four years a favor.  Robert was in desperate need of a job and 
definitely had the qualifications, but finding the job is the toughest 
part of gaining employment. 

As luck would have it, and luck had nothing to do with it, Robert was
immediately called in for an interview and three days later he was 
offered the job.  Robert, of course, took them up on their offer.  He 
and Tom were now working in the processing department.  Tom showed 
Robert the ropes of the job: how to process orders, where to send them 
when completed, who was responsible for shipping and receiving, the 
whole ball of wax. 

As two years rolled by, the two friends settled into the job and their
respective roles.  Of the two, Tom was the more outgoing.  Tom took it 
upon himself to start up new projects at work and easily worked with no 
direct supervision.  In times he wasn’t sure of what to do, which 
wasn’t obnoxiously often, he knew exactly who and in what department to 
direct his question. 

Robert also worked well with no supervision, but he didn’t take
initiative as much as Tom.  His demeanor was that he did what was asked 
of him.  It’s not that he was lazy. It’s just that he didn’t want to do 
something in the chances of overstepping his boundaries.  Basically, if 
something wasn’t his responsibility or if something wasn’t asked of 
him, he wouldn’t do it.  He knew what his job was and he did just that. 
 The best thing that was in his favor was he was a real people-person.  
His previous job experiences heavily relied on social interaction.  He 
was able to pick up quickly on what a person was asking and what the 
person was interested in. 

One Tuesday morning, during their usual conversation of the day, Tom and
Robert began to talk about their jobs. 

“You know,” Robert started, “I don’t know about this job anymore.” 

“Why is that,” Tom asked. 

“There comes a point in your job when you feel that all of the bases
have been covered.  It’s like, I’ve mastered this position and all of 
its duties.  What more is there?” 

“Well,” Tom replied, “have you thought about trying to move up the
ladder in the company?  I’m sure that if you submit your resume into 
the HR department they could tell you if any openings were available.” 

“I just might do that.” 

“It’s funny you should mention that.”  Tom sipped his bottle of water
and continued.  “I was thinking the same thing also.  You know, about 
the job and all.  Some days I find I ask myself, ‘Is this all I’m going 
to do for a career, pushing papers?’  Mind you, I’m not hating the job, 
but at the same time I’m not liking it either.” 

Later in the day, around lunchtime, Robert sat down at the computer and
re-typed his resume and printed out ten fresh copies.  He went to the 
HR department and handed his resume to the receptionist and inquired 
about any open positions. 

“Hi there, how are you, Karen?”  Robert also had a knack with
remembering names after meeting people only once. 

“Fine, and yourself?” 

“I’m hanging in there.  Listen, do you know of any positions that are
going to open up soon?  I wanted to hand my resume off.” 


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