A new outlet. I need one desperately.

Work is a means to a goal. The ultimate goal being a paycheck. To that end, I have the perfect job. But when I look back on how things were, and how they are now, I become dispondant. I vent to my allies, my comrades-in-arms. There are three of us, against The Corporation. Not good odds, but we have an advantage. We are competent. We are intelligent. We are angry. We have little hope of true victory, but at the very least, we'll be entertained on some bitter, cynical level.

Today we saw one of our peers promoted. But not just any peer. The second most incompetent peer in the department. He was promoted to a position we were not even aware was available.

While the appointment in and of itself came as a shock, the company's behaviour and what it indicates does not. But I get ahead of myself. Some background.

I work for a company in the techology industry. It's name and type is unimportant -- consider it the "Everyman" of Corporate America. I have been with the company for almost a year now (four days until my anniversary). I have had the priviledge of working myself to exhaustion for the lofty title of "Contractor".

For those who have yet to be initiated into the Wild and Wonderful Ways of Contractordom, you have no idea what you're missing. Where else can you be expected to do all the work of a regular employee, but without all the benefits?

One long, grueling year. This company has managed to pull itself out of the bowels of near-bankrupcy on the shoulders of contractors such as myself. Our reward? A foosball table in the break room.

I'm in a somewhat priviledged position, however. I'm a supervisor. This means that I'm still Dirt -- but I'm better paid Dirt. I'm Dirt that has an insider's viewpoint. I'm Dirt that, were the company intelligent, would not allow to exist. My entire job is a "co-employment issue". I, a non-employee, pass judgement on other non-employees for the sake of the employees.

For some time, however, I was Happy Dirt. I enjoyed my job, as much as I could enjoy any job, and I truely liked my co-workers (including my bosses, proudly brandishing the gleaming White Badge of True Employment). For nine or ten months, life was good.

But then the situation began to deteriorate. Control began to slip as departmental walls began to disappear with reorganization. Bosses with severe problems began to blur the lines between personal and professional. We were caught in the middle. And made the targets.

We had a group of individuals in our department who have been put in a position of pseudo-power. They were responsible for answering the questions, dealing with angry customers. But they did all of this for no increase in pay and no title. When time passed and they began to realize that no benefits were forthcoming, they began to question things to their supervisors. We in turn did our job and voiced these concerns to our managers.

The answer was clear. "If they don't like it, nobody's holding a gun to their head." Yes, that is a direct quote.

The White Badgers then had the gall to wonder why morale continued to drop.

The reorganization brought with it a new position, however, and that previously abused group (now thinned, after months of neglect and apathy from management) had the opportunity to be acknowledged, both with a title and a pay raise.

Only to then discover that the pay distribution, much like everything else with this company, was completely one-sided and biased. Discovered, of course, by the loud-mouthed bragging of those who received the pay increase.

So we again went to our managers and voiced our concerns at the injustice. We were rewarded for our efforts to create a fair and equitable working environment by coaching session by our agency.

Thus the lines have been drawn. Our drive and passion was acceptable, only so long as it was being used in service of our Bosses. We learned this lesson, and it was hard, but necessary. We were Contractors, and so long as our badge was a sickly yellow, we were Dirt.

But Dirt is the foundation upon which all things stand. We will be patient. We will observe. We will record. And we will see justice done.

Or we'll just be fired and move on. Who the heck knows? Regardless, I need an outlet, and this is what I have chosen. Updates will come Monday through Friday (most likely), and from work.

This Blog is dedicated to my working environment and the drama therein, both past and present. I make no promises or guarantees for its readability for anybody but myself -- but then I'm writing the darned thing, so I'm the only audience to appease.

Today is Friday. My Blog's beginning is my week's end, but that's alright. Things promise to only get more interesting from here on out.