35 years ago... and why life is not fair

[Platapus]

There I was, no S... Uh this really happened


35 years and a few days ago, I was a mid-career intel troop in the USAF. I was undergoing my upgrade training which is necessary to get promoted.

Part of my upgrade training was to conduct what is called a baseline analysis of a facility. A baseline is a "from scratch" complete description of the facility including tons of measurements and a lot of analysis. Back then a good baseline took about a week to complete.

I had to do several baselines for upgrade and they had to be from different types. For this was it was Industries and I could pick any facility I wanted. Since this was for training and evaluation, I picked a facility that did not need an official baseline and because I was a nuke analyst, I picked a nuclear industry.
By the end of the week, I was finished with all my research but did not have time to assemble my final report. Not to worry, this was for training. As it happened, I was scheduled to attend a class the following week so I could finish my upgrade task in two weeks.

It was for training and after all, nothing ever happens at Chernobyl.

So the following week I was at my class when the students started talking about this nuclear accident at a reactor. I asked which one but no one could remember the name, but based on the descriptions, it was my guy.



Lesson One in Life is Unfair


I was stuck in class that week. So a co-worker of mine took MY work and finished the finished the baseline, this time operationally. He became the defacto local expert on the latest status on Chernobyl. He got to do the briefings and got the accolades and awards and massively increased his reputation as an analyst.... on my work.


Lesson Two in Life is Unfair


When I returned from the class, I still had to complete my upgrade research task. I could not use Chernobyl because its baseline was already completed. Yes, my work that was used by the other guy would not count for my task.

So after all this, I had to go back to original training task and do the whole process again on a different facility.

Talk about adding insult to injury.

I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was pretty angry and frustrated. If it were not for that class, I would have finalized my baseline just prior to the accident and would have been the hero.


Life can be unfair.. always has, always will be.

[Mr Quatro]

I know what you mean Platapus a young girl lied about me doing something to her and told another member of my family the lie and then it took over twenty (20) years for me to hear the lie that I then had to defend my self from.

Talk about shocked

So I confronted her right ... and said, "I forgive you" and she said, "For what"

So no big deal, right? Except one of the people she lied to was a millionaire that died and left me nothing thinking that I had done a dirty deal on this young girl.

Yep! Life is not fair, but God is ... I don't really believe in Karma due to it is a foreign religion, but it is true that you do reap what you sow.

[Armistead]

I'll never forget my big moment. As a child living on a farm we commonly did the county fair contest, best sow, chicken, etc. I got a pig I named Aunt Bee from my grandpa that was about a year old. For the next year I fed, groomed and trained that sow. The fair came that fall and I was sure I'd win best sow. I came down sick that week terribly and my older brother took Aunt Bee and won first place. He got his picture in the newspaper and everyone made over him.

To add insult to injury my pop butchered Aunt Bee for Thanksgiving. I was just sick to my stomach and basically forced to eat her and threw up. I never ate ham or bacon again.

[vienna]

I've had a few situations where someone else has taken either the credit or the spotlight for what I had actually done; my response has been to just do nothing about the occasions when it happened; Why? Because, almost without exception, those individuals couldn't have done what I did and I knew they could never replicate a similar task on their own, so eventually they were faced with living up to the expectations their grandstanding had created, and almost always they either failed miserably or were inadequate in their delivery; that was when I would 'humbly' offer my solution to the problem and prove my own merits; I recall a couple of instances: one guy picked my brain for a project he was given by the company's BoD and I even created documentation in support of the project for him; I didn't mind doing it because I really find it difficult to turn down people who need my help, but when he did the presentation, he deliberately made it seem as if he had created the whole project all by himself (and I knew of at least one other employee who had also helped); the BoD was impressed and gave him another new project and the guy came to me for my help, at which point I just said, "Why, you are so very, very good at creating your own great projects, I would fell a hindrance to your genius"; he got no help from me and none from other staffers who had heard about how he had also burned the other fellow who had helped on his project; his new project fizzled, and his once bright light before the high executives dimmed appropriately; what can you say but...kharma...

The other one was one was when, unbeknownst to myself, a consultant for a company I was working for, had taken some work product I had created and actually had the nerve to put his name on the work and submit it as his own; I found out completely by accident; a co-worker was having some difficulty with her PC and I offered to take a look at it while she was at lunch; I was checking out the wiring out the back of the CPU and had crawled under the cubicle's countertop and was out of sight; as I was working, I heard a small group of people enter the next door cubicle and I recognized one of the voices as the Director of our unit; they were discussing some documentation and I also recognized it was the work product I had created; after some discussion about the merits of the work (fortunately they were favorable); I heard the Director say "I think we are all aware 'John" didn't produce this work"; someone else said, "It's obviously [vienna]'s work; his style fingerprints are all over them"; the Director then said, "We can't have this; tell 'John" were are cancelling his consulting contract effective the end of this week.", and they all left the next door cubicle and never knew I had heard the whole discussion; 'John' was let go, as ordered, and I was appropriately "shocked, shocked" by the turn of events when he informed he was sacked; again...kharma...


I kind of wonder if the guy who screwed you over was able ti live up to his ill-gotten reputation on his own after the incident you shared; bet he probably had a hard time looking as good when nearly everything wasn't handed to him for free; it has been my experience and witness that very much more often than not, the rise to false glory at the expense of others leads to very real downfall in the end...


One thing I have always done is give credit where credit is due and, if I have been leading a team, I have always made very sure those on the team who contributed were fully noted and rewarded; not only does it lead to better team unity, it also helps engender loyalty, it costs one nothing to give the credit, and, most importantly, it is just the right thing to do...




<O>

[Platapus]

To be honest, I don't think the other guy intentionally tried to take advantage. He was the analyst on duty and during emergencies you use what every information you have to get the mission done.



He may have been caught up in this as much as I was kept out of this due to circumstances. I do wish that he informed our command about the how he used my work so I could have gotten some unofficial praise, but it is what it is or was what it was.



Besides, this was caused by my great analytical ability to determine that "nothing ever happens at Chernobyl".

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Platapus

There I was, no S... Uh this really happened


35 years and a few days ago, I was a mid-career intel troop in the USAF. I was undergoing my upgrade training which is necessary to get promoted.

Part of my upgrade training was to conduct what is called a baseline analysis of a facility. A baseline is a "from scratch" complete description of the facility including tons of measurements and a lot of analysis. Back then a good baseline took about a week to complete.

I had to do several baselines for upgrade and they had to be from different types. For this was it was Industries and I could pick any facility I wanted. Since this was for training and evaluation, I picked a facility that did not need an official baseline and because I was a nuke analyst, I picked a nuclear industry.
By the end of the week, I was finished with all my research but did not have time to assemble my final report. Not to worry, this was for training. As it happened, I was scheduled to attend a class the following week so I could finish my upgrade task in two weeks.

It was for training and after all, nothing ever happens at Chernobyl.

So the following week I was at my class when the students started talking about this nuclear accident at a reactor. I asked which one but no one could remember the name, but based on the descriptions, it was my guy.



Lesson One in Life is Unfair


I was stuck in class that week. So a co-worker of mine took MY work and finished the finished the baseline, this time operationally. He became the defacto local expert on the latest status on Chernobyl. He got to do the briefings and got the accolades and awards and massively increased his reputation as an analyst.... on my work.


Lesson Two in Life is Unfair


When I returned from the class, I still had to complete my upgrade research task. I could not use Chernobyl because its baseline was already completed. Yes, my work that was used by the other guy would not count for my task.

So after all this, I had to go back to original training task and do the whole process again on a different facility.

Talk about adding insult to injury.

I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was pretty angry and frustrated. If it were not for that class, I would have finalized my baseline just prior to the accident and would have been the hero.


Life can be unfair.. always has, always will be.

That's really quite a story. I had no idea that you had that background in the USAF although from previous posts, I assumed you had a military background.



One of the many reasons I like Subsim is the diverse group here with vast experience in military disciplines like Submarines and Aircraft and other related experiences.


As for me, I have made being in the wrong place at the wrong time an art form.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Life may be unfair, but there's absolutely nothing stopping us from making it more, if not perfectly, fair.

Well, maybe excuses. There are always those.

[Kapitan]

Life can be very unfair however I consider myself one of the luckiest people as I have had so many opportunities.

I have had my work copied as well (pretty regularly) so I share your frustration on the matter.

As for Chernobyl one of the opportunities I ceased upon was going to visit the place which I did in 2017.

I feel for the people who had to leave again another life's unfair issue right there.