I am deliberately pretending to be a little dumb and slow at work – sadly it is the best approach
I had half a dozen jobs in the last 20 years. I tried being smart and energetic, I tried to stand my ground, I tried to be calm, agressive, passive, active. None of these things seemed to work.
Right now I tried the a little slow and dump approach – and for the first time it seems to work.
I deliberately make some small mistakes that are easily corrected and do my work a little slower than average – the boss is sometimes annoyed – but thats it.
I suspect because with this approach I am not on the ”threat” radar? Competent and smart people are a threat to the position of someone.
But the little dumb and slow guy is not a threat to anyone so they leave me more or less alone. Anyone else has experienced this phenomenon?
Netizens comments
- Yes they don’t want you to suggest something that makes you look more competent because many managers are extremely insecure
- I will literally complete all my tasks in one go and instead of submitting them, I’ll take my time and show bits and pieces of the progress throughout the week so it looks like the job is eating up all my time and effort. Makes me look like a constantly busy and hardworking employee without actually having to be one
- I just started doing this same exact thing! I just left a good job because I moved to a different state. At that job, I was well respected, had a lot of experience, and was constantly pushed into management. I was an over achiever. Now at my new job, I decided not do that. Now I’m the slow dumb one and it’s a breeze.
- I have autism so my personality so it takes me longer to do things. People expect less of me because of my awkward social skills. I get lots of job interviews and I have the education and experience, but rarely land a decent job.
I can and probably should work harder so I can get a better job. But I don’t like having all the extra responsibilities that come with higher level work and the increased chance of getting fired. - people will not think you are any risk, they will empathize with someone they think is no risk of replacing them. now they will even try to help you out, out of pity.