Embrace the Suck

From a recent email conversation:

    Cory described that to face the dread of another physical workout as "Embrace the suck".
    I liked how the term, accurately described the feeling.
    A ex-marine recently told me it was a commonly used in the marines, and it referred to soldier referring to the Marine Corp as the 'suck'.
    I also like turkey-peak, Fobbit & pig-looking-at-a-wristwatch.
    from http://www.npr.org/2007/03/08/7458809/embrace-the-suck-and-more-military-speak
- Iowa Andy

    "Embracing the suck" takes two. One (1) is the organization that sucks. The other (2) accepts the organization for what it is, due to lack of alternatives, initiative, or ability. I'm starting to get to that point. I paid a lot of dues over the past two years, rewriting a sanskrit scribble code base while ignoring and avoiding the soul-sucking organizational wallow.
    It's the lifers versus the talents. The lifers know how thing were always done. The talents know how other places do things successfully. It's pretty much a one way street, with the lifers creating weirdly byzantine procedures primarily in order to assure their continued lifer-ness. Bosses have the unenviable task of balancing keeping the operation sucking along while not discouraging the talent. The talent comes in occasionally with an eye-opening improvement, and the lifers scatter like roaches.
    I, however am tired of it. I've given up on promoting a cooperative, informative, development oriented workplace and instead will trim my hours, avoid commitment and hopefully point out deficiencies while
using my now characteristic humor.
    Have I taken embracing the suck to the next level? Have I "become one with the suck"? Well, the pay is ok. - Irba

...  Along with the interesting things you do in the military, there's a ton of crap and boredom along with it.  To get along you have to try to accept the crap in an almost positive way.  I get that.
    I guess it's also called "having a good attitude," although it's one of these weird, sarcastic, passive-aggressive, oxymoronic approaches where people claim a "good attitude" toward something they describe as "sucking."
    Well, I'm totally guilty of that.  I've had to drink my share of Kool-Aid, and at times I've tried having a genuinely positive attitude about it.  It's never worked, so I always have to settle for an ironic, "Yeah I'm totally psyched about our new initiatives to leverage our core competencies by firing all the good people." - California Bob