Example of staying true to yourself argumentative essay

I have always prided myself for knowing my values, for being comfortable with who I am, and for knowing what my philosophy in life is. I have always believed that honesty is the best policy. Although I know that I have many faults and imperfections, the one thing I try to always ensure is that I stay true to myself and to others.
This honesty, and indeed, my entire value system, was put to the test in my last job. It was a job that I really liked and the company was also a very good one. They offered great benefits and a very competitive compensation package. Because I liked the job so much, I also referred my friends. As such, having my friends as my workmates added even more to the fun. In addition, my boss was a former boss. I think part of the reason he hired me was because I’ve already worked for him in the past and because we’ve remained good friends since then.
My dilemma started when I started noticing that my boss wasn’t being as honest with the job as I expected him to be. For example, he wouldn’t own up to his mistakes and would always find someone else to blame. He would also ask me to do a lot of the tasks that were supposed to be his tasks. While I didn’t mind doing them, I expected to at least get credit for them. However, he would take credit for the work that I did or act as if they were my tasks all along instead of his.
As the frustration built up, I tried to think of ways to fix the situation. I started by telling my boss about how I felt, hoping that he would hear me out and understand. However, despite many tries, my pleas seemed to go unheard. I then tried to talk to my boss’ boss, but although she listened to me and said that she would try to do something about it, nothing much changed.
However, it wasn’t long after that I started getting negative feedback from my boss. He would tell me about how he received negative feedback about me farm my colleagues but whenever I asked him for the specific details, he wouldn’t be able to give me any. He would always give me vague answers.
Things started to get even worse as I soon found my colleagues and my friends turning against me. I was thankful that one of my colleagues was honest and courageous enough to tell me about what was happening. She told me that our boss was forcing her to say negative things about me and even though she really had nothing to say against me, she felt compelled to mention a trivial misunderstanding that occurred between us. She made sure to point out to our boss that it was a personal matter and was not work-related. However, my boss asked her to file a report against me with regards to that misunderstanding. In her fear that she might lose her job, my friend did file the report against me, but she felt so bad that she made sure to tell me about it and she assured me that she didn’t intend to cause me any trouble. HR just laughed off the report as the complaint was so trivial. They just advised that my boss, my friend, and I sit down together and settle the problem. Since my friend and I really had no problem with each other, we kept asking our boss when we would sit down and discuss the issue, but my boss just kept evading it and acted as if it was already settled.
It didn’t stop there, though. I would soon realize that the things I told one of my other friends in confidence have reached my boss. By that time, the said friend has already started acting strangely around me. She could no longer look me in the eye and she kept avoiding me. I now realize that she must have felt guilty, especially since we’ve already been friends for years.
My boss also continued to find fault with me, all of which he reported to HR without first discussing them with me. On hindsight, I think that he was trying to get me to leave my job. Since I performed well at the job, he couldn’t really fault me in my performance. As a result, he tried to fault me on things that were personal and subjective in nature. He criticized me for my personality traits, particularly for being straightforward, which he claimed was perceived as being rude. However, since I greatly value honesty, I didn’t really find value in sugarcoating what I said as my message might be misinterpreted. I also thought that honest feedback would be more helpful for people rather than telling them something untrue just to spare their feelings. I also thought that he was on my case because he suspected me of being the one who filed the report against him. However, although my other colleagues were also involved in that action, I never told my boss about their involvement as the things that we told HR were said in confidence.
Needless to say, my boss continued to make my life miserable. It got to a point where the atmosphere at work had become so intense and so negative that even my workmates were hardly talking to each other anymore. Hardly anyone talked to me either. It was as if they were so scared that associating with me might get them into trouble with our boss. By this time, I also could no longer eat or sleep well and I dreaded having to go to work again the next day.
My boss still continued to ask me to do things that were against my will, which I naturally resisted. For example, he would ask me to cover up his mistakes or to go against company standards just because it was more convenient for him. Although I knew that going against his wishes would get me into more trouble with him, I just couldn’t take doing something, which I knew was wrong. In the end, I realized that I’ve done everything I could and that the only thing I could do at that point was leave. I had to choose between my job and my values, and I came to the decision that if I had to emulate my boss’ values in order to keep my job then I’d rather lose my job. After all, I didn’t think that I’d be happy and have the peace of mind if I had to keep doing things that were against my will.
On hindsight, I can say that I made the right decision as I’m now happier. I now have a better job and am earning even more than I did before. On the other hand, the friends who betrayed me are still stuck in that job and are still having the same complaints that they had before. Moreover, the friend who broke my trust still can’t look me in the eye and remains very uncomfortable whenever I’m around.
I’m so glad that I stayed true to myself. I also realized that in the end, nothing can be more rewarding than doing what is right.