1- Always take more responsibility.
One thing everyone should know is that you can't be fired if you are irreplaceable, by taking on as many tasks and duties as possible a person becomes so important that firing them is simply no longer an option to the employer. In fact by continuously doing more and more work the boss is forced to promote you.
In my job I have a really terrible supervisor, the guy is unable to perform any of his duties and it's wonder how he got to his position, he got hired due to the college's need to fill the post and somehow they picked him, he's only been there 3 months as of november and joined the college after me.
I'm very lucky though that he is around, while having an incompetent boss is stressful it does give me a lot of room to grow, his incompetence forces him to rely on me and he tries to shift as many responsibilities as he can on me, not that I mid because the more he relies on me, the better.
"The weakness of making others depend on you is that you are in some measure dependent on them. Although this is true, you will not have the unbearable pressure of being on top, and your superior will in essence be your slave, for he will depend on you.
Louis XI (1423-1483) the great Spider King of France once asked his astrologer to tell of his own fate and how long he had to live. The astrologer replied, “I shall die just three days before Your Majesty.” The king was vexed because he had planned to kill the astrologer that day. His belief in astrology was so strong that he never doubted the astrologer and spared his life. The astrologer proved his mastery of power and actually survived the king by several years."
2- Friends can be huge payoffs but they are risky.
The college I am currently working for had major staff shortage when they hired me, I was asked to find people to fill multiple positions and I asked my friends, it seemed like a good idea at the time, I needed help, they needed jobs, what could go wrong?
Actually.... nothing did go wrong but it dawned on me much later that I did not know my friends as well as I thought I did, a friend and an employee are two very different creatures and mixing them together can create something very difficult to control.
An employee screwing up is bad but it can be handled, when a friend screws up at work though it's a different ball game altogether because it's hard to treat them as just another colleague at work, things get complicated really fast.
Another thing is that your friend represents you and his/her screw-ups will reflect on the person who recommended them, still I am glad I asked who I did as they have done nothing but make my life much easier.
3- Keep your feelings to yourself
Work is frustrating and can quickly lead to many people doing (or more likely) saying something they will soon come to regret.
One of the most common problems at work would be related to the boss, however no matter what learn not to bad-mouth the person hiring you, your superior or in fact anyone working with you. It's one thing to vent to a co-worker one day, it's another to be fired in the next.
Friends who work with you are useful in this regard because there is no risk in sharing how you feel with each other, you're both stuck in the same boat yet regardless it's best to keep a cool head and a closed mouth.
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