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The Best Business Advice I Ever Got
In 2015, I was working in a French environment in a company in Japan. In a special French 1-year renewable contract, this was my very first real professional experience not as an intern.
My colleagues were all Japanese women and I quickly understood that they didn’t appreciate me one bit. Many things were told behind my back on a daily basis.
The one that hated me the most was my superior though. She had been in her position for the past 15 years or so and was well aware that her position and the department results prevented her from ever getting fired.
In the first year, I got constantly harassed at work. While the original reason seemed to be that they hated the fact I was a smoker, they let it grow and their animosity for me grew to encompass my entire personality.
In the beginner of 2016, after about 9 months in the company, while I was working on my computer, my boss, who couldn’t see me from her desk, got up to go get coffee and saw that I was laying down on my chair.
I was typing with my back far in the chair, in a relaxed position which allowed me to type faster while being more comfortable.
Out of the blue, she told me to sit upright. Under the shock of such a sudden request, I obliged.
