Beware of Coworker Crabbing

You’ve worked hard.  You have put in extra time on projects the boss has asked you to do.  You have spent countless hours checking and rechecking your work for accuracy.  Finally, you are offered a raise or a promotion.

What the boss sees in you is a need for more challenging work.  He or she may even see management material in you.

Then it hits – you get the cold shoulder from coworkers.  People in your unit or department start stabbing you in the back.  They may even sabotage your work.

You wonder why they are doing this.  After all, you were friends.  They were the people who shared life experiences and stories with you.  They know your pet’s names, your children’s names.  They even know where you went to high school.

So, why are they doing this?  Why are you the target? 

Is it jealousy?  Perhaps.

Did they feel they should have been the one to get the boss’ attention?  Maybe

C’mon, we were all a team, a functioning unit – working together on projects.

Let me step aside for a moment…………

Along the Maryland shore many people like to take a bucket and go crabbing.  Once one starts to catch some of the crabs, they start climbing all over reach other in the bucket, barrel or basket.

So what does this have to do with your work situation?

Plenty!

There is a parallel here that happens in work place situations, in neighborhoods, and in social circles.

It’s called crabbing.

You see, once you get home and begin to take the fresh crabs from the container – the crabs actually reach up with their pinchers and try to pull the crab back down in to the bucket.

Crabbing.

Many coworkers, friends, neighbors, acquaintances and (sadly) even family members truly want to see you get by.  They just don’t want to see you get by them.

Your success, in their minds, makes them look like failures.  Your promotion for your good work ethic or creativity makes them look like a slacker.  Or, to a lesser extreme – average.

So, crabbing occurs.  Like the crabs in the bucket – your coworkers, friends, or those within your social circle start doing things that pull you back down into the bucket.

Staying in the bucket means risking everything for a life of same old same old.

Climbing out of the bucket means opportunity – and possible ridicule from your fellow bucketeers.

Remember, dogs don’t chase parked cars.

The choice is yours – move on – or live (and possibly die) in the bucket.

Ron Orendi