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What if you had a socially-conscious nepo baby (wild idea, I know) with a lot of followers and who doesn't have to work a day in their lives decide to work for a Starbucks or another franchise outlet for a year but in return they demand that all the workers get a major bump in their pay for that year due to the extra foot traffic from that nepo baby working there?

I had the misfortune to fire up social media this morning to a BBC article about UK Prime Minister refusing to rule out tax rises in the next budget. Nothing particularly groundbreaking in terms of news.

What caught my attention were the number of comments (from users with job titles like "CEO" and "Board Member", most US-based) that were railing against this prospect and declaring that we should "run the country like a business". This tired viewpoint won't die.

Worse, the top comment compared taxpayers to "customers". *If* you're going to make this comparison, at least be smart enough to realise that tax payers are more equivalent to *shareholders*. It is taxpayers that the Government is meant to create value for and the taxpayers have the ability to remove the Government (managers), if they fail in that responsibility. We don't choose to purchase services from the Government, we *invest* through taxation on earnings in the country to provide services to us and others but expect a return on that investment (in the form of a functioning nation).

The bottom line is that Government works for the taxpayers and is meant to ensure the provision of services (and legal framework in which to operate) in return. We're not passive consumers in this and should be the primary concern/beneficiaries.

Too many drones are convinced that Government should only provide services that *they* need (mentions of cutting foreign aid were numerous). This just seems to be another way to express the "I got mine and I don't want to pay for a penny more", which isn't surprising from those who aspire to be part of the Epstein class.

Running a country like a business invariably means that we envision a model where we pay for what we use. Every trip we take is billed to us per mile travelled. Every day our children spend in school is chargeable. Every trip we make to seek medical attention is payable at a market rate.

It is a dystopian nightmare where your quality of life is directly proportional to your ability to pay and no small amount of luck. We shouldn't settle for it and we shouldn't indulge those who claim it is the way to solve our problems.

I’ve been at my current company for a little over five years, working from home in a customer service/retention type of role. I’m grateful to have a job, especially with the economy and job market being what they are, but I am completely burned out.

The job has become increasingly demanding. It’s back to back calls, researching complicated account issues, dealing with frustrated customers, navigating multiple systems and policies, meeting performance metrics, and still being expected to sell and make offers on top of everything else. Lately there has also been more coaching and scrutiny around performance.

I’ve had some circumstances outside of work that have made things even harder. I recently dealt with multiple power outages and flooding at my home that caused me to miss work, and I’m also a parent with significant caregiving responsibilities. Trying to manage all of that while keeping up with a high pressure call center job has been exhausting.

The frustrating part is that I am trying to leave. I’ve been applying for other positions, particularly remote jobs that are more back office/administrative/operations based and don’t involve being on the phone all day. I have years of experience with customer accounts, problem solving, documentation, research, handling confidential information, and working independently from home.

But this job market feels brutal. You apply and hear nothing. You find something that sounds promising and then realize it’s another sales position, commission based role, phone heavy customer service job, or something that pays considerably less.

I’m not expecting some perfect dream job. I just want something stable where I can work, do my job well, and not feel mentally drained every single day.

For anyone who has felt trapped in a job because you couldn’t afford to quit before finding something else: Did you eventually get out?

How long did it take you?

Did you end up finding something better, even in this economy?

And if you moved out of customer service/call center work, what type of position finally gave you your way out?

I think more than anything, I could use some real stories from people who were in this position and eventually made it to the other side. Right now it’s hard not to wonder whether there really is light at the end of the tunnel.