More on the subject of job security: I’ve found it helpful to think of it as a currency. I get some by doing the job I’m paid for, and I get more by doing it well (or at least better than it’d be done without me). Then I spend some of it for a chance to push back against obnoxious things — not as much as I’d like — and I save some, in case of emergency.

Yes, I have heard of social capital. It doesn’t fit the situation perfectly, but no metaphor ever does.

One of the annoying things about this job is that it costs a small but noticeable amount of job security to take a bathroom beeak. I’ve overheard management praising me for sometimes not needing one in a full-time shift (I average a little over 1). And when they’re mad at a worker who took three or four breaks in a shift, that will come up, even though it has nothing to do with the reason they’re grousing about him…