How did it come to this?

I began my employment at my current state government employer in 2006 and worked really hard progressing through a series of levels after five years service and successfully completing a graduate diploma to gain the prerequisite qualifications to progress further.

I then undertook tertiary education to further enhance my formal qualifications at a considerable financial cost and time because that is what is required. I also undertook every challenge that was offered, worked overtime without remuneration because the job required quality outcomes. I was up to midnight most nights preparing for the next day and weekends were written off for the first two years.

Then, when I was preparing to go on long service leave in mid 2014 and nearly worked myself into a state of exhaustion, I noticed a shift in attitude going on that wasn't rewarding hard work, it was rewarding alliances that agreed primarily with one person to shore up their power plays.

These people are pathetic, they did not even have the courtesy to speak to me face-to-face, they just undermined me at every opportunity knowing I would be away from the job for three and a half months. This was really the period I lost respect for these individuals - sad really.

So upon from my return from three and a half months break in September 2014 after everything had changed, I set about fixing this up. I already knew these people could not be trusted, I was threatened off-the-record and told that if I ever repeated this threat - it would be denied.

Until that time, I had been a model employee, albeit somewhat opinionated but the attitude of those you had been entrusted in a management role changed all that. What they had never expected was my resilience and appetite for a fight - they didn't get to walk all over me as they expected.