An Honest Day's work

Yesterday was the first day in about two or three weeks that I actually gave what I would call and honest day's worth of work. I did a bit over 6 hours of actual work, then there was lunch, coffee breaks and all that fun stuff but I managed to do more work than a couple people in my department spent in the office; you see this is the kind of shit that will inevitably cause me to get pissed off over time because there is no recognition for actually doing my job. The people who come in late, leave early and goof off for part of the day (coffee, smokes, chatting etc) get the same recognition as someone who does their job and works their hours. I don't get it... I've never actually tried here, I've always done my job but never gone out of my way to try mostly because I don't know if they can handle someone giving 100%; with that said I don't think anyone in my little group gives 100%, some might think they do but rarely is anyone really close - that said some peope really do do their job; but for me this os overshadowed by those that dont.

Here's the sadest thing of all, our co-op placement from a local school often does more than some of the staffers here. Hell there's been a couple that have flat out been more knowledgable than almost the whole group. Thankfully they're the exceptions to the rule or the little secret that is this group would be blown wide open. I guess I'm just bitching because it gets to me even though it shouldn't since I don't actually work with anyone else in my group.

What do I do to not let this stupid shit get under my skin? I want to try doing the whole 100% work effort thing for a bit but every time I try this type of crap eventually pisses me off and I slack off like everyone else. How the fuck is someone supposed to stay motivated in such an environment?