Work Problems - Blog Posts

dancing in my storm, may 2025

Surrender the Snail

Muted Square in the Zoom

They didn’t say my name in the meeting. Not once. I was there and had written half the report.

The credit went around the table like a bottle passed hand to hand. I watched it skip over me.

At lunch, I sat with them. One of them asked me, “Are you new?”

I’ve been here fourteen months.

After a while, you stop correcting people. You stop reminding them that you’re part of it. You become good at inhabiting the background. Or a muted square in the Zoom.

But I’m still here. Still opening the spreadsheet. Still writing the copy. Still dressing up and disappearing.

They didn’t see me. But I saw everything.

They asked if I wanted to file a complaint. I said no I’m trying to stay employed, not enter The Hunger Games.

The performance review said you were “pleasant under pressure.” You thought about telling them it was acting. But why ruin a standing ovation?

HR calmly studying "the policy"...

Me (the cat) making sense of what happened

Notice me (fraidy cat) still perched on the company's shoulders

(I need money to be fed)

((ugh / rearr))

Clémentine Dondey (French, Unknown Birth Date, c. Early 19th Century) - A Soothsayer studying a Book of Necromancy, 1847, Paintings: Oil on Canvas

Say it with me now:

You owe your employer NOTHING.

How Abusive Workplaces Mirror Abusive Relationships