I’m American and did 5 years in the military right after high school. This is important because the military demands that you get very comfortable making decisions on your own….i left the military over 20 years ago and went to another government agency that hires a lot of veterans(think public safety) and I’ve been with that same agency ever since…we have a lot of vets and a lot of non vets. Anyway, being prior military and comfortable making decisions, I hardly, if ever, go to my superiors for advice or guidance. I know that I don’t know it all and when im faced with a scenario that I’m not sure how to proceed, I will ask for guidance. So it’s not that I can’t ask for help, but rather, I’m more than comfortable making decisions and facing the consequences if/when I made a bad one. After all, this is how you grow and become a better staff. It’s how you learn….,Now, I’ve been told several times that I’m appreciated and that they(my supervisors) appreciate me being on their shift….my issue is that we have a lot of staff(who have also been here close to 20 years) who do not make decisions and run to the supervisors for every little thing. The supervisors then ask me to guide those staff on how and what to do. Heck, today alone, it’s been 3 times I’ve had to stop what I’m doing ti help these senior staff members negotiate a scenario at work. These are routine scenarios that if these staff were made to “figure it out” they would figure it out but because the sups allow these senior staff members to come to them for routine issues and then it’s dumped on me to assist those staff, the staff never learn anything. These staff stand to the side and have me do it all. They don’t take notes nor do they pay attention to what and how I do things and so when a similar situation comes up again for these staff, they have no experience to fall back on and they simply run to the sups who then turn to me to help them. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been told time and time again how great-full they(the supervisors) are that I’m on their shift and how they have every confidence in my abilities..my issues is is that their “appreciation” is limited to these very cheap words. Every couple years we go through negotiations and I’m part of that negotiating team and during these negotiations I’m constantly told of all the things I don’t do. I’m government and my sups don’t pay me with their own money but yet they never miss an opportunity during these negotiations to down play and minimize my efforts and the efforts of other senior staff. My complaints are not really about these staff but about my management team that has allowed an environment where others are allowed to be the bare minimum and I’m forced to pick up their slack and am not compensated for my extra efforts. I’m not at the point where I’m doing the bare minimum and will have the sups carry my load too.