Question

Buh-Buh-Buh-Buhster's enquiring mind wants to know...

Is mediocrity the key to success?

It seems to me that it is. Regardless of whether you're an "office professional" or someone who works in the service/manual labor industries, it seems to me that mediocrity is the best route. I'll give you an example.

Mama Buhster works as a prep cook at a popular restaurant. She is given a sheet with all of the things she needs to make and the time in which she has to do it. While this 65 year old woman is running around like a chicken with her head cut off so that she can finish all of her tasks and have time to get a head start on the next day, her co-workers who are half her age are doing their damnest either to hit their time exactly or stretch it out so that they can get paid overtime. Does Mama Buhster get any extra rewards? Nope. In fact, those other assholes still get fairly decent performance reviews and raises. The worst part is, people encourage her to just slow her work down and to go with the flow because "that's how it is around here."

And apparently questioning the system that you work in to hopefully improve the process gets you in trouble too, as Miss Misc pointed out in a previous post.

Thus, it seems to me that being mediocre and not rocking the boat is the best way to get ahead these days. Pretty sad lesson to learn at such a young age, eh?