Even without instruction and explanation - watching how things really get done is an antidote to the hard work myths. Here are some of the key things students learn. Office politics is everywhere. There is no politics-free environment. Students assume that universities are free of back stabbing and back biting.
Professors get tenure on merit.
They also imagine the lives of professors they admire resemble that of St. Francis of Assisi more than Darth Vader, but that's another story. Campus employment disabuses them of such notions and provides the first look at how far individuals will go to gain power and how hard they'll work to retain it. Politics is about the acquisition, use, and sometimes the misuse, of power. Power means getting and keeping control of situations and people and nobody still breathing lacks an interest - or can afford to. Despite all protestations to the contrary who has command power matters.