Here is a real strange one. I LIKE rules and routine. I dislike authority.
I am a hard one to place in work. I don't know if anyone else is the same. I have had a few jobs in my 25 year work history and it is a real mixed bag because I do not get on with a lot of bosses. actually a lot of working styles I don't either.
Left to my own resources and with clear expectations, I am a tireless worker commuted to the organisation's rules, policies and regulations. Ask me if I can do whatever, and I will do it.
Demand I do something, or give me a hard time for a mistake, or change things, or be ambiguous....shit goes down. I do not give a damn about position or rank. I go off.
Bosses who know me recognise this in me and find ways to deal with it. Going head to head doesn't work. In truth (I am embarrassed to say) they usually distract me with other shit until I settle down.
The bosses that don't, I go head to head with and it makes for a stressful environment and job instability (I look for another job)
Four years at this job and I see people come and go and look to get promoted or sidewards promotions. Fuck that. Fuck the change. I earn what the Managers earn and without the stress of learn new skills or risking failing. I know my job inside out. I know the rules and policies and regulations and the Managers let me get on with it.
Albert (may I call you that), I have learned to keep my mouth shut at work. When asked to do a task I simply work as directed whether I think the boss is right or wrong.
Because I keep my mouth shut, people confide in me. I have learned to suppress my impulse control issues in this regard. And I never offer judgement nor do I run to the other person and tell. I think because I never offer judgment that others think I am trustworthy, which I like to think I am.
These are just a few tricks I have learned over the years to get along with authority. Still, in private I question their motives. I do not respect them for talking shit about others and question their motives, "what is their end game?" And they way they want things done serves only them, usually. Hardly anyone considers the big picture, rather they concern themselves with their self interest.
Human interaction is strange. People interact face to face by talking about the weather. Their true interaction, it seems, comes from talking behind each others backs. Strange indeed.