To Be.....Or, Not To Be has always been the question

To have a fulfilling life with reasonable ups an downs; I have to say one has to master the practice of Relationship Management. This takes decades and I do mean decades to even grasp the heirarchy within ones own professional organization. Many times I see a new cadet get placed at a firestation and his naiveness to the competitiveness of his colleagues makes him prone to mishaps where he is made the butt of everyones laugh that day or at that training exercise. That cadet failed to recognize that his mentor at that particular firestation felt threatened enough by this more agile,younger,faster,more assertive cadet to bleed out his self contained breathing apparatus by 1/2 a tank; making the cadet look like he lacked conditioning while wearing and working in his full structural firefighting gear which adds 70+ lbs to your weight before you have even attempted to step out of the truck to put out anything that looks remotely like a fire. So typicly, the fire crew gets out and begins their little training exercize and the old smoking firefighter is working calmly and noting to the Captain that the cadet appears to not have any stamina to put himself in a good light,now the Captain knows the kid has consistantly done the best timewise when it comes down to his SCBA cylinder running out of air last among them all week,so he is floored when the kids cylinder alarm starts ringing before the rest of the crews meaning that engine company has to pull out of the rescue prior to the other engine companies times and distance into the exercize within that district. So come decision time the Captain will evaluate who remains at his firestation or who gets sent out to a diffrent district entirely; That cadet we all have been in one aspect or another either with a girlfriend who wanted to date the same guy you did or that coworker who always seems to save the day while making everyone else around him look grossly incompitent. The true tact comes from recognizing the social cues that others around you send off subconsciously, interpreting that and have your mentor firefighter want to leave that station of his /her own accord.