Okay- who are these rock&roll employers we see advertised on TV?

Granted, I've worked for some of the smartest idiots and geeks in the world (academics and civil servants). So perhaps I've been a bit sheltered when it comes to employers, but I don't think that's it. I can't remember the last time I heard someone say, "My boss is really cool. She is organized, fair, and open-minded." What I hear over and over is how assinine, nonsensical, wacked, unfair, uncreative, mean, and ignorant people's bosses are. Please, fill in your own adjectives. This is why I went into organizational psychology. But guess what? They're crazy, too. Which leads me back to...ME! Am I the craziest of them all? I don't think so, but I have to consider that idea. Am I a human among monkeys, or a monkey among humans? Either way, it ain't a good fit.

Case in point:

As one who was nonverbally and unofficially sanctioned for speaking her mind, I was unable to solve problems at any level when I worked at a large government library. The irony is, I consider myself a good problem-solver. My problem-solving approach, however, involves getting to the heart of an issue, which at the library was usually a covered knot, tightened over time by denial of its existence. Attempting to expose the knot was taboo, let alone actually examining it to try to loosen it. When I first understood the dynamics of my workplace, I sought immediately to help coax the knots out, naively thinking this was desirable. What I discovered was that any sort of exposure was a threat to the organization on several levels. First, to question decisions made and procedures implemented was considered disrespectful. Second, to grumble about psychologically abusive working conditions was considered insubordinate. Last, speaking openly and critically about flawed policies and procedures team-, division-, and directorate-wide was professionally suicidal, akin to one of the emperor's ministers pointing out that he had no clothes. In ignorance, I committed all of theses transgressions within the first few months of my employment. I have the ability to understand quickly certain workplace dynamics, overt and covert. This is both a blessing and a curse.

I suspect that one of my transgressions was the formation of a brown-bag forum for fellow new librarians, as I felt a need for more support within my new workplace. I thought others might feel the same. And so they did! The head of my directorate

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