My big mouth strikes again.

So I had the opportunity to spend lunchtime today listening to a very prominent publisher at my company talk about her extensive and varied career in the business.

I'm not entirely sure publishing is the right industry for me, but given that I've spent four years pretending so, I was receptive to her enthusiasm for the business and comforted by her confidence that young people can climb the ladder (despite not entirely knowing what the ladder looks like in these changing times) if we refuse to give up.

After the speech, my coworker and I lingered in a common area and quietly gossiped for a few minutes before heading downstairs. At least, at first we were quiet. But when my friend brought up the example of some of our colleagues, my boss included, who rank higher than us but who have been in stagnant positions for more than a decade (ie, decidedly NOT changing with the changing times), I lost my cool.

"Her ways are outdated!" I said in a voice far too loud for a common area on any floor of my building, particularly the elevator bank of the floor where the executives work. "And I am not getting promoted even though I have ideas! I am so FRUSTRATED!"

My coworker gave me a warning look and in my peripheral vision I saw the head of Human Resources. I fell silent, and, silently, the three of us got into an elevator. Longest 30-second ride of my life.

I mean, it's not the worst thing for him to know I'm dissatisfied. (If he even knows who I am, which he probably doesn't, although he did personally interview me when I transferred to my current department. But that was two years ago.) And it's not like I was *directly* talking shit about my boss. Just dissing her work methods and saying I could do her job better.

No biggie, right?