Life! God bless the word processor (the generic term we use for Microsoft Word...or Word for short) Because the first word that you have read is the last word that hit my mind when I completed this article. The true marvel is that I simply move my cursor to the start of this article and type it in. I don't exactly know what that word will be as I am typing now but I am sure it will sum up the totality of what has just hit me.

We all know what a performance review is, or at least we know a good one from a bad one. It is that yearly (if you’re lucky) time when your manager is required by some obscure HR person to fill out a lengthy, often multi-page form that essentially says one of three things: You are great. You are ok. You stink (usually followed by “You’re fired” in 90 days or less). 

I am sure everyone has heard the story by now of Steven Slater, the Jet Blue attendant, who decided that his day was not going too well.  So lousy was his day that he grabbed the microphone, yelled obscenities, flung open the door of the plane, and escaped down the evacuation slide.  Now this employee is a cultural hero.  Facebook and MySpace pages have been erected singing his praises.  T-shirts extolling his name are for sale.

There is always at least one person (and often entire groups) who, when chaos strikes the workplace, can be heard proclaiming in a half joking manner, "Hey, its job security!" People laugh and agree.  I have even used the phrase myself when I’ve been told I have a Sexual Harassment investigation or an Employee Relations issue to deal with.