Q: I work at a small company that makes a lot of money. Actually, I should say the owner and his wife make a lot of money. No employees receive high salaries no matter their jobs, but the owner lives the lifestyle of the rich and famous, despite he and his wife being far from famous. They are greedy, dishonest and calculating. They laugh at taking advantage of people, and bother their employees and company vendors. Most employees, if not all of them, deeply dislike the owner and his wife, but we are thankful to have jobs.

I am having a harder time than most of the other employees because I have strong work ethics, and I value and respect people. I take my work performance seriously and apply myself until the job's completed accurately. The others justify doing half-assed jobs because our salaries are lower than what other companies would pay. But the trouble is that getting jobs at these companies is harder because they are bigger and more professionally run.

An example of the owner's dishonesty is that his practice is to not pay any of the company's bills until legally threatened to pay. He and his wife have the money; they would just rather spend it on traveling, buying and decorating multiple residences, luxury cars, jewelry and anything else they feel like buying. We have all heard the owners' comments about how they cheat vendors out of money. He also holds out on payroll just long enough to make us sweat, and then he pays us. The minute I met him I knew he had a very dark side to his personality, and his wife turned out to be the same. They are quite the couple.

If the employees banded together and threatened to quit, he wouldn't care. He would hire temporary employees until he could find others to replace us. He has proven this to be the case. He has hired people from other companies, then not come through with promised terms, and doesn't care when they quit after several months. He just runs another ad and hires others.

I need the job, but the stress of having to compromise my standards is breaking me down. I would be better off adopting the philosophy of the other employees, but I don't know how. What's worse is that he doesn't care whether people perform well. I think he has so much money now that he doesn't care if the business runs or falls apart. It sounds crazy but it's true. What should I do?

A: You are asking how to lower your standards and work ethics to make working for your boss more palatable. That's like asking for Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, to be turned into the Wicked Witch of the East. You won't be able to do it, nor should you want to.

It will continue to be difficult to work for someone you consider immoral and dishonest, so honor yourself and use your anger to propel you into a serious job search. During this process, you must not share anything with your co-workers other than job-related communications and frivolous bits of trivia to maintain your social status with the group.

The payback is that their compromised work ethics will ultimately hurt them. As they stop caring about the work product, they will be accepting new standards, lower standards that will not be acceptable at a more professionally run company. When they leave for others jobs, they will take those lower standards with them. Once they do, they will likely be fired, and that really isn't the future you want for yourself.

Email your questions to workplace expert Lindsey Novak at LindseyNovak@yahoo.com and follow her on Twitter @I_truly_care. To find out more about Lindsey Novak and to read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Website at www.creators.com.