Above & Beyond

A few months ago my lovely company introduced the so-called "'Above and Beyond' the Call of Duty Aware Programme" to reward individuals in the company who perform exceptionally.

The main reason behind this was the fact that we never, ever get a single bonus as the objectives set by the company to trigger a payment are always unreachable, and people felt deceived/disappointed.
The "Above & Beyond" scheme does sound like a frequent flyer programme and the rewards are, let's be honest, rather modest: a £50 Amazon voucher.

My level of sarcasm at work has increased exponentially over the last 7 years and things like the latest award just make me laugh (bitterly).

"R***** agreed to work some very unsociable hours over Christmas, in order to provide essential support cover. This included being on call for E***** on Christmas day and New Year's Day, and being on call 24/7 all the way through the Christmas break. In order to prepare himself to be able to support E***** over the Christmas period, R***** also cancelled a holiday he had planned during the last week before Christmas. This level of commitment is an example to us all. "

Oh the sad, sad bastard! I think I even said that out loud at work.

I'll never win the "Above & Beyond" as the chances I am going to bend backwards for the company are very slim (after all, I was here when we had redundancies before - 3 times - and all the talk about "us being the company" proved to be just that).... but there's no competition for the "Bitter & Twisted" award: I win, hands down, any day.