A colleague called me two weeks ago. She delivered some news to me where she was stunned that I had not received the new title that someone else we know now has. Over the next few days I heard from the person themselves that she had been with the department for eighteen years, four years longer than I, and seniority is many times the reason for such advancement. My friend and colleague is someone I like immensely. Yet, more and more I am a little alarmed by the way she imparts opinions about our experiences at the job. For such a young, bright person, she is extremely negative and bitter. She makes some leaps of judgement about peoples' successes. So much so that although I may feel the same way about why someone may 'get' ahead as opposed to my efforts, I equally know when I unpeel the layers, that I would not choose their actions to achieve their results. I have told my friend this. We live in a tiny country. We are all horrifically over qualified for most of the jobs we can get, and no one leaves their job just like that. The more academic, the more education....oddly, the more challenges appear. The compitition to succeed at all cost is aparant. The need to foil others success or to step over others to receive your own is very high. All of this is perfectly normal and not condusive only to geographic location. It just happens with people at work. I suppose I observe this because I pick up a sense of helplessness from my friend and that gets me wary. She is capable, she can mind her own business and get whatever it is that she is seeking. But instead she prefers to lay blame on others, and that I find unfortunate.