My friend just got a great job with the County, a job he knew he had even before it was posted. Just as a side note, I have a great teaching job and consider myself ethical and fair. I despise nepotism because it denies talented applicants even a fighting chance, and worse wastes their time and energy which could be spent elsewhere much more productively. Bosses owe favors to friends whose kids are searching for jobs, and boom! Little Timmy with the fierce 420 jones sits in a corner office while a more qualified applicant wonders why her fantastic interview went nowhere. Not that my friend isn’t good at his job and deserving of the position. He does tend to know the right people, rub the carpet nap the right way, and definitely is the proper gender for the golfing set. Employers tend to hire those who they perceive are most like themselves, and there is hardly a better way to do that than to hire from among a pretty if stagnant pool of associates, lunch buddies, neighbors, and friends. This will assure the status quo is respected and the comfort zone of those at the top is never infringed.

At risk of topic-straying and hoping that you can follow the tenuous thread, I met a guy at a bar last night who told me, a complete stranger, that his profession was “document forger.” Yes, he admitted this openly. Since when has unethical-slash-criminal behavior become socially acceptable, or even commendable? I sipped my drink, ruminating on my difficult journey to my Master’s degree. Why work hard, he seemed to be saying, when you can simply work “smart”? Why act ethically when the playing field has never been close to level, and these days more resembles a fun house floor than a football field?

So, my recommendations for a successful 2012: screw the boss, blackmail the HR manager, fake a PhD, and for God’s sake get out on the links on a Sunday and gladhand with the good ol’ boys over a cold one while ogling the Jose Cuervo girls young enough to be your granddaughter.