Not My Dream Job

Not enjoying my job at all at the moment.  Lots of little things are annoying me more than normal, stuff that I should be used to by now – cube neighbors having their volume too high on their headsets when they are on teleconferences so that I can hear the entire teleconference without the need for a headset, loud and long conversations about work-related issues in Chinese so that I can contribute absolutely nothing to the discussion, people who sit near me who I don’t know and don’t speak to and don’t even acknowledge any more, etc.  Generally, I’m still not that busy and still feel very expendable – not helped by the fact that someone who left about 4-5 months ago has inexplicably been allowed to rejoin.  This is yet another Chinese colleague who used to be at the same level as me but is now a couple of rungs above me (even after rejoining), someone who I don’t particularly like, and someone who I am not glad is back (I am not going to his welcome back lunch today) because I think he is a direct threat to my position and my advancement.  He went to work for a rival company in Seattle, but the fact he came back so quickly indicates a lack of character and that he is a quitter – a viewpoint I’m not afraid to share, mainly because after my Texas experience I can say the same thing about myself!  But I guess things could be worse – some other people in my group have been working long hours and into the early hours recently (I heard 4 am the other night!) to complete a deliverable.  Naturally they will probably get rewarded and recognized for their hard work, when I would perhaps argue that they have shown a lack of planning, a lack of time management and an inability to negotiate more sensible timelines.  But the fact that I have not had to work stupid hours probably reflects badly on me when it shouldn’t.  But as per norm for me, I tend to fixate on the negatives rather than the positives about my job.  The grass is not always greener on the other side; I should be grateful that I’m paid as much as I am to do as little as I do; and work has not, and I don’t allow it to, take over my life.