On my first day at the foreign trade department of Shengshi Factory, I witnessed the brutal workplace involution with my own eyes.
At ten o’clock in the morning, inquiries for mainstream product categories exploded. The entire office instantly fell into a frantic order-grabbing frenzy. Every colleague stared rigidly at their screens, clicking their mice and keyboards at top speed to snatch every new incoming inquiry. Even meaningless price-check messages that only said “How much?” were instantly swiped up and quoted without a second thought.
This was no longer ordinary hard work. It was nothing but draining, pointless internal competition — a fierce fight that exhausted everyone for zero real gain.
Those who grabbed inquiries looked complacent and relieved, while those who failed drowned in anxiety, refreshing their screens nonstop. The hallways and pantry were filled with voices of comparison and restlessness. Everyone was desperately performing hard work, trying to prove their dedication. Yet most of their busyness was nothing but self-moving, inefficient exhaustion.
“I grabbed forty inquiries this morning! My performance is secured today!”
“It’s useless. Most mainstream inquiries are just price-comparison orders. Nine out of ten make no profit. We’re just gambling with numbers.”
“Still better than sticking to SAP and waiting to die! At least there’s traffic. No profit is fine — at least it looks busy.”
While everyone drowned themselves in low-price involution, they also spared time to mock me sitting quietly in the corner. Watching me calmly reading SAP product materials without rushing or panicking, they assumed I was just a timid new employee who had already given up.
A senior coworker beside me took pity on my laid-back attitude and leaned over with experienced advice. “Don’t be so passive, Lu. In this workplace, if you don’t compete, you lose. Go grab some inquiries quickly. Even fake performance is better than wasting time on this dead-end SAP track.”
I looked up at him with a gentle smile, yet my tone was firm and clear. “A hundred low-quality price inquiries are never worth one high-precision client. Fake busyness never beats solid accumulation.”
He laughed at my words, thinking I was a naive newcomer who knew nothing about workplace rules. Shaking his head in disapproval, he dived back into the endless, futile competition.
No one understood my calmness. My indifference was never laziness or giving up — it was pure, sober workplace wisdom accumulated from years of industry experience.
I never joined office cliques, never followed meaningless competition, and never wasted my energy on gossip and trivial judgment. While others exhausted themselves in order-grabbing, comparison, and anxiety, I devoted every spare minute to SAP product parameters, performance principles, overseas market reports, and factory foreign trade rules, steadily building my professional foundation.
The cheapest thing in the workplace is pretended busyness. The rarest thing is the patience to deeply cultivate a niche track.
Others rely on traffic and low prices to gamble for orders. I rely on professionalism to build unbreakable industry barriers.
Throughout the whole day, the foreign trade office remained noisy and impetuous. Only my corner workstation stayed peaceful and focused. I sorted out SAP product logic, analyzed track pain points, and organized overseas market demands and customized solutions. I looked relaxed on the surface, but behind it, I was accumulating strength step by step.
Still water runs deep.
No internal friction, no blind following, no impetuosity. Choose the cold niche, cultivate it deeply. This is my ultimate principle for work and life.