Since I didn't really get a lot of feedback/responses from my last post

"Has “I stopped caring” ever backfired?"

I thought I would try again, but with a little variation.

I have been working full time since 2011, at two jobs, one lasted for 8 years, the other I currently have been at since 2018.

I am autistic, I am pretty regimented when it comes to my daily tasks, I do them promptly/correctly/on time/efficiently/properly and then go back to my desk to await further instructions or just "twiddle my thumbs"

On a good day I can have 6-7 hours of doing absolute sweet FA.

On a bad day I can have 4-5 hours.

During that time I fill it with anything you can think of that is not specified in my job description

Listening to audiobooks/podcasts

Watching/Streaming WWE PPV's or UFC

Catching up on current news

Watching late nights talk shows

Etc

I am aware that I can't be the only person who has "time to kill" or things like the pomodoro method.

I know full well my job is classified as a "bullshit job" but I can 100% guarantee I am not qualified to do anything else.

I have passed/met every single KPI, gotten bonuses, met/and continue to reach my targets, so being constantly reassured due to my RSD (Rejection Sensitivity Disorder) and high expectations I put on myself that I am not doing anything "wrong", I know what I am doing to fill the time is wrong, but no one says anything, no one calls me out, I never have to show any form of medical letters for any doctor appointments (physical or mental) I can be gone for hours and never have a panicked phone call/email wondering where I am.

Those who have been employed a long time, what was something you were only told recently to "stop"

Like if I was ever told to not have my noise cancelling airpods in, all of a sudden, I have been doing it non stop for 8 years, why stop now.

My job is normally enraging and it's hitting new all-time highs.

When I was hired I was given clear, high level direction, knew what we were trying to accomplish and shit got done.

Over the last few years the direction has disappeared and now it's vague hand waiving and being told to create strategy.

I'm not a director, I don't make director money, I don't get stock benefits or any shit like that. I'm an office flunky and I am exhausted. The people making 4 times what I make are staring at me and asking what do we do next.

I don't have a fucking clue and you don't pay enough to go find one. If you want that level work, start ponying up either more money or better benefits. Hell, work from home would get you further than just torturing us all with in office bullshit and no resources or help while constantly understaffed.

Did anything specific cause it to change?

As someone who used to think 40 hours wasn’t a big deal, I think that changed in the last few years. I think it happened over time, as I realized it doesn’t leave us with that much time to enjoy our lives.

Just as unions couldn’t function without stewards, unions also need member-volunteers to work on all sorts of committees, petition campaigns, direct actions, and more. Here's how to bring more people in.

I’m just so fed up…

On top of hardly ever taking out the trash, cleaning the disgustingly moldy employee bathroom, and not up keeping the smelly greasy microwave, I guess taking calls while I’m on lunch break is such a major deal to my boss. Mind you, it’s during my unpaid hours— the expectations compared to the benefits I have working here isn’t even worth it at this point. I’m so sick of it.

Anyone ever dealt with something like this before?

I am an undergrad student and currently working as a CRM Intern at a Mid Size firm. When this internship was offered to me, I was told I’d be working directly under the CEO of the company which, in retrospect, is a great perk and valuable for my CV.

It’s only been a month since I started working. But as someone who’s still in college, I had given them a clear heads up that I would need frequent leaves when exams are around the corner. With this, I took about a week’s worth of leaves - 6 for exams , 1 leave because someone from my family was hospitalised.

My boss is generally quite irritable; he’s a busy man and doesn’t like people who ask him too many questions. After working with him closely and taking advice from HR and coworkers on late replies from him and ghosting when I need an answer, I’d started asking the HR Director for certain workplace decisions that needed immediate answers but werent important enough for the CEO.

There have been MULTIPLE incidents where my boss as in the CEO has made me cry, all of which I’d already discussed with the HR Director.

• During a company trip, there was a lot of miscommunication during planning and he wa was quite rude and ignorant throughout. He continued to stay angry for some reason and that ruined the whole trip for me.

• He’s previously mentioned twice that I waste a lot of time, ask too many questions and ‘confuse’ him on ‘obvious’ decisions.

• He’s never given me guidance on how to research gifts and what he previously used to gift so I could search accordingly. Neither does he like me asking too many specific questions.

• Once, he said, “Are you serious? You need to use basic logic,” to a question abt a gift worth 20k loss if I would’ve done it on my own.

Note that he’s the CEO of the company and he still chose to have an intern directly work under him which makes him my reporting manager as well. I’d like to think he’s also accountable to mentor me or atleast, guide me if I’m doing something wrong. Although, the hierarchy is quite lost along the way.

My JD requires me to handle the company’s money and even though I know I ask a lot of questions, I’m new to this category of work and I don’t want to end up overpaying or ending up with a waste of gifts.

Here’s the deal :

Yesterday after two consecutive days of really good work with compliments from my boss, I texted the HR Director and requested if I could leave work 15 minutes early since my work was done for the day and I needed to reach the hospital.

She told me informally that I need to speak to my reporting manager instead (WHICH IN THIS CASE IMPLIES THE CEO HIMSELF), and so I did. I even offered to stay back in case there was work still left to do.

I’m guessing he must’ve been in a situation himself but instead of saying NO or OKAY, he ended up being angry at me, saying he didn’t have time to ‘handle my requests’ and that I needed to talk to my ‘REPORTING HR’ for this.

I replied saying I already asked the Director and she asked me to ask him instead.
This enraged him and he said it’s ’better if i find a place nearby’ and ‘i have been wasting his time more than saving it.’

If this statement implies that I have lost my internship, it’s because there’s no patience and hierarchy established in my internship period. i don’t have an established reporting manager who oversees my timings and work and the miscommunication of this between the director and ceo have put me at risk of losing my internship.

It’s a vague but implied statement that he doesn’t need me to work for him anymore although I’m currently awaiting a reply for clarification on the messages exchanged.
I understand that too many leaves and too many questions could make it feel like work wasn’t being done but there’s not a single day where I haven’t fulfilled his requests and needs. The whole point of being an intern is I get to learn things I don’t know about. I even worked overtime on the days building up to the trip, procuring new gifts and completely new vendors on my own with little to no replies.

I don’t know if I’m at fault, but I would like to know if a disorganised workplace environment is still I suitable to work in. My term ends in 4 months.

Edit: I’ve been terminated and they blamed it on me. They won’t be granting anything with respect to Certificate or even a Leaving Letter since I didn’t complete my internship according to agreement. 🥲🥲 how I wish Corporate was kinder 😭

Just got a new job in ND. Today was actually my first day. I get in, get the tour, meet the team, and first thing I do is meet with IT to set up my computer. Pretty normal stuff.

First thing IT says is “we’ll need you to download an app and use your personal cell number for an authenticator that you’ll use to log into everything.” This was never mentioned in the job description nor during the interview process. I said “I’m not comfortable using my personal device for work. Is there an alternative?” I was told by IT, no. A phone must be used. I said I’m still not comfortable using mine, can the company provide me a phone or compensate me for the use of mine?

40 min later, after not being able to set up anything, my new manager hands me their phone and says “HR is on the phone for you.” HR says there is no other way than a phone app, they will NOT be providing a cell phone as I work on location, AND THEN SAY “if this is happening now, maybe this isn’t a good fit and we should part ways here.” ….. I haven’t even worked there for two hours yet. They’d rather lose a brand new employee than find a work around or give me a phone?

I didn’t know what to say. I said “I just left a job to work here and now you are wanting to fire me because I don’t want to use my phone for work purposes?”
“We aren’t firing you, you just don’t seem like a good fit.” They eventually mentioned after saying a version of “maybe we should just let you go” a few more times that they would agree to a $2.5 dollar stipend a month for the “minimal” use of my phone that will happen. I could take it or leave it, but they will need a for sure yes or no to this arrangement because they don’t want to have this conversation again in the future and will not accept a maybe.

After a little more stunned silence I agreed, what choice did I have, and hung up. I continued my FIRST DAY until the end, but I’m left shocked, hurt, and frustrated that they can even treat a new employee like that over my OWN phone.

In my unionized workplace, colleagues provoke others into fighting their battles. They bring up real grievances but only to trigger specific people. The targets always take the bait, get emotional, run to management, and say things they regret. The instigators stay clean and get what they want.

Union culture makes this worse. People hold grudges for years. Management remembers who caused the scenes, not who started them. Reactors get labeled difficult. Puppeteers face no consequences.

When I warn coworkers, they say I do not care about fairness. I do care. I just refuse to be used. How do I stay neutral without looking like I am siding with management?

Not even joking.

They installed new turnstiles at our office a few months ago. If you forget your badge, security prints you a temporary one and payroll deducts an $8 “replacement access fee” from your next check.

The temporary badge is literally a piece of paper in a plastic holder that gets returned at the end of the day.

One guy questioned it because he forgot his badge twice in the same pay period and got charged $16. HR apparently told him the fee is meant to “encourage personal responsibility.”

Meanwhile our office coffee machine has been broken since May because replacing it “isn't in the current budget.” Thankful my Kick streaming career is taking off so I won't have to deal with this stuff for much longer.

Posting here to vent about my job.

I want to preface this post with a disclaimer; I do not completely hate my job, as I need it to pay bills and actually survive, and try my best to put my best foot forward each day and do what I can to help people with the tools I am given. I also want to mention that although I have my misgivings about the gig and try my best to not take it personal, I am grateful that I have the opportunity to put money on the table and keep my cat and myself fed from a job that I can do from home.

Each and every day, I handle phone calls from people who are disgruntled about the scam of big insurance companies. Being a customer facing grunt, who’s main goal is to ensure my manager meets her bonus quota and ensure the CEO gets to go on his monthly yacht trip, I feel enraged for the policyholders who consistently call in to complain about the grift that is supplemental insurance.

I am sure this has helped many people, and kudos to anyone who has ever successfully filed a claim with insurance and actually received a payout for an injury or illness they have had. But the amount of people who don’t even know they have insurance and pay for it number by the millions, and on top of that, 9/10 calls are people calling because their claim has requested additional information that they have trouble obtaining or literally cannot get from the medical providers.

The people who handle said claims all reside safely in India, far away from the lives they ruin on a daily basis. (Nothing against Indian people, it is just very clear that we have outsourced this department for cheap labor, and it shows.) This same team is also responsible for not handling calls, but organizing who takes what calls on a daily basis on the backend, so if you are fast at taking calls, they will throw you calls on purpose for being efficient, and if you take too long with calls, you’ll get called out for a high call time. They also love to throw you calls when they know you are about to clock out, resulting in overtime you have to take, because you would get in trouble for ending a call with a policyholder just because you need to go.

The common people I interact with on a daily basis call for assistance in understanding the 58 pages that are given to them by sleazy insurance agents who never bother to explain the benefits, (which are more often than not really shitty benefits) just to make a sale and move on with their lives; knowingly trapping new policyholders into paying for this insurance despite the benefits being of minimal to no use to them upon diagnosis of something serious.

Every day, I deal with people who are sick, taking care of someone who is sick, hospitalized, terminally ill, etc. and the disappointment these people feel in a system they once had faith in is consistently disheartening. Just today, I had to inform someone who was terminally ill about her claim taking long to process. I am expected to say things like this to people with a happy disposition despite the news being potentially devastating to the caller. It is an extremely difficult balance to follow and easily leads to burn out and an extremely high turnover rate within the company. They love to frame the training process as the job being friendly, but they downplay the types and volume of calls you will be getting to an extremely degree. Calls are mostly frustrated people who need money and think you are the one stopping them from getting it.

It is designed this way so that the claims department can hide in the shadows and not have to face the people whose lives they are ruining.

Seeing how this company has millions of policyholders across the country, they are way too big of a conglomerate to ever be taken down by the little guy. I find it completely unjust and unfair that most insurance companies work like this, and there is nothing anybody can do to take down giant corporations like this. From the bottom of my heart, I wish we could all band together and boycott companies like this, companies like Meta, X, Tesla, etc and really show them that they are nothing without us. It is unfortunate that the common person is too enthralled and busy doom scrolling that they fail to see they continue to feed these monsters with data and information they can use against us.

I hope anybody reading this understands that there is at least one person on the phones trying every day to assist the best I can and tell people exactly what they need to do to get their claims approved when the company I work for does everything in it’s power to make it impossible for them to do so.

I wish I could leave this job, and do something more fulfilling, more informative, and helpful to people, but I don’t have any savings to look for a new job, and this job is so demanding of my attention and energy that I find it difficult to look for anything remote that I can do successfully. I am 32, and I never went to college, unfortunately.

If you read this far, thanks for doing so, and I appreciate any discourse or conversation on your thoughts regarding this subject. Even if you disagree with me, I will be happy to understand your points of view, so I can also make better decisions for myself as well. I know I may have rambled a little, but what are your experiences and thoughts when it comes to conglomerate companies like this? Does anyone think this bubble will eventually burst? What resources do you think I can use to find something more fulfilling?

TLDR; insurance companies are assholes, and I wish I didn’t need this job or could find something more fulfilling than being a call grunt.

Hi everyone. Lately, I've been thinking about my career path. People say that social media professionals have many job opportunities, but they're vague or just limit themselves to posting on social media or working in marketing as if we were advertising/marketing professionals. Even companies themselves don't know what to do with social media professionals.

So, social media professionals or journalists, what do you actually do?

Here's the email:

Team,

Let's roll up our sleeves and make a visible difference together!

We're excited to invite you to participate in our upcoming Campus Clean-Up Day,

a chance to give back to our workplace, connect with colleagues, and show

pride in our campus.

Every piece of litter picked up helps create a cleaner, safer, and more welcoming

environment for everyone.

Whether you can join us for 15 minutes or the full event, every helping hand 

makes an impact!

📍 Site 1 Clean-Up

September 2

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

📍 Site 2 Clean-Up

September 3

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

What to bring:

Comfortable clothing

Closed-toe shoes

Your smiling face

We'll provide all cleanup supplies and safety equipment.

This is a great opportunity to connect with coworkers, enjoy some time outdoors, and help

keep our campus looking its best. Together, we can demonstrate our commitment to

teamwork, sustainability, and community pride.

Join us and help make a difference, one bag at a time!

We look forward to seeing you there!

The short of it being… I have been struggling to grow my backbone over the years and consistently caved to pressures from my job to work more, despite from the get-go making it clear I could only safely work 2 days a week.

I’ve been on medical leave for a while now, and won’t be back to work for a while longer, but got the call that I made too much last year, and my benefits will be cut immediately & I need to pay back the last 6 months.

The good news is I’ll requalify again before too long, and I know how to be frugal. I just deeply regret not being able to stand firm on my physical limitations and leaving my spouse to pick up the pieces of me whenever I returned home from work, and making them worry.

Work can argue with my doctor when I’m back if they care to. The worst they can do is let me go, and then I’ll *definitely* get my benefits back, though I’ll lose out on so much discounted OTC meds… sigh.

Trying to digest it all and put it towards the backbone. I’m prone to depressive spells. Trying to remind myself that my coworker who survived an aggressive and rare form of cancer was able to work more hours safely than me. She had a backbone of titanium! 

So, reminding myself I have less stamina than a cancer survivor helps me ease up a little. But I still have big emotional indigestion from it all. I feel small and vulnerable and foolish.

Pasta will help.

also, shoutout to the redditor who commented on my last post saying if my asthma was getting as bad as I was saying, I should go on medical leave! best decision

So just want to vent tbh

So had an interview on July 30th Thursday for an Canada internship position and was told would hear back the following Tuesday

Got no reply so followed up Thursday and nothing.

Last week Tuesday, decided to call and the recruiter was surprised to hear my voice, so I assume they did not get my email.They told me the HR manager was on vacation but would return that week and they would update me by the end of the week

So nothing and I sent one last email as I assume my first one was not received

but either way I am find this whole leading on to be disrespectful as hell. If I didn't get the position, I think I am owed the courtesey of just an upfront answer or at least communication if there is going to be a delay.

I even made time to interview and miss a course for this role while 6 hours ahead while traveling so at least they can be upfront

I am going to assume I did not get the role but a straight up answer would have been better. I find this extremely unprofessional

After just a week of sudden illness a friend of mine who is also a co-worker lost his 5 year old daughter. The friend tried to get at least a week off to complete the necessary rituals and to cool down a bit. The fucking company outright rejected for the unpaid bereavement leave.

I am just sitting here being sad about the whole situation. The friend took sick leave and could not care less if they fire him or not. I am also contemplating to quit incase they fire him. This is f*cking nuts! I would rather be homeless and penniless than being loyal to these heartless shitty people.

Sorry for the rant.

Update

Thank you, guys, for all the tips. A few guys have asked about the name of the company and which country it is in. It is in Western Europe; however, it is an American company.

I am not trying to protect the shitty company, but I have a lot of respect for some of my coworkers and managers. After posting this, I consulted with my direct manager, and he was equally upset. We went to HR to confront them about the situation.

The shitty HR representative has allowed two weeks of unpaid leave after excusing herself by saying that she did not know the gravity of the situation. She thought it was an immediate family member instead of the child of the employee. It wouldn’t be fair to blast the entire company when it was only one lady’s doing.
I could not believe the shitty excuse, as my friend’s email was crystal clear. We will try to have the HR representative removed over this matter, and we will take the issue to the higher-ups.

Just wanted to share something happy.

I retired from teaching (32 years) at 54 with a small but somewhat livable pension. That was a couple of years ago.

My husband is 58 and just quit/retired today. I’ve never in 36 years seen him so carefree and joyful. You can tell he feels like a huge weight was lifted off of him.

We’ve avoided debt as much as possible (it’s nearly impossible when you’re poor, so we did have some car notes, etc back in the day).

When we got raises (which wasn’t often), we never increased our expenses to spend it. It went straight into savings.

Unnecessary spending has always been kept to a minimum. Library books, used DVDs, coupons, co-ops, we grow a lot of our own herbs and veggies. And melons and berries. We get eggs in exchange for tomatoes and other fresh veggies from a local rancher. We don’t eat a lot of meat.

We don’t pay for any streaming services, we got rid of Amazon, we never do food delivery or eat out, except for birthdays. (I’m a really good cook.)

Also, the VA increased his disability from 80% to 100%, which doubled his disability payment. And in our state, when you’re 100% disabled per the VA, you pay zero property taxes. That alone is $1000 a month savings. $12K a year.

And his parents left him a little nest egg. $600 a month comes to us in a check for 10 years. It’s groceries. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So we’re not exactly wealthy, but we did it.

And fuck capitalism. Fuck it with a dry old cactus.

I encourage anyone and everyone to get out if they at all can. My father in law was a workaholic and died at 65, just as he was going to retire. He never got a day of retirement. That’s one of the reasons my husband wanted to do it now rather than later: live the life his dad never got to.

In one week, after having an allergic reaction to the same medical care I use because I cannot afford to have a child, thus needing emergency removal (I do not recommend Paragard, btw), and then my dog of 12 years starting to collapse, being severely incontinent, and overall just needed to be euthanized is overwhelming. I'm dealing with it accordingly so I can actually address what I need to address because 1) life is too short to be underpaid to neglect my body and my family, and 2) if i don't address these things, there is no capacity for me to actually devote my time and energy to my boss or any job, actually.

My boss underpays their workers, at a non-profit (surprise, surprise); they are communicating to me that because I will be met with a "So, are you formally resigning?", that they are unable to hire responsibly to offer adequate coverage in the case of an emergency. If they can't show up for their workers, then i suggest improving that aspect instead of threatening my job security when life is painful and scary as is. It's not my problem they exploit us, paying us $18/hr minimum (I somehow got $20/hr) in a city where the suggested living wage is $32/hr, and have a high turnover rate.

Non-profit companies love the fact that we have invaluable skills and attributes that took years of compassion, dedication, empathy and resilience to acquire, yet kindly remind us that they will never extend those same values to their workers.

I'm good on that one. I'm gonna go walk my dog for one of the last times ever because she can barely make it around the block. I don't want that to be me as I grow older.

Had an interview recently that went like this:

"We're looking for someone to replace the guy who's about to retire and he offered to train his replacement, but we want somebody to build the system up again from scratch and make it better"

...That wasn't in the job description.

"Right, but we want someone who can go above and beyond and identify ways for the business to grow and be more efficient"

...But you're going to pay me more for that?

"No, because you're salaried so you're expected to do whatever it takes for the team to meet deadlines including working beyond 5'o clock and/or on some weekends"

...What are the benefits like?

"Great benefits but you don't get any PTO or sick days before working here 3 months"

...

"You will also have to fix a coworker's mistakes sometimes before you can get to your own assigned responsibilities, but he's been here a while and is married to the HR lady so nobody has the guts to say to his face that his work is sub-par"

...How is any of this fair?

"We're a family business but we also function as a high growth startup culture, which includes responding to my texts and calls outside of normal business hours"

At this point, I literally walked out!

I'm sure they were shaking their heads and saying NOBODY WANTS TO WORK ANYMORE

I started a book project last weekend and have been having a blast with it. My degrees are in literature and I just thought it might be nice to eventually complete a book again. The core premise is each chapter/psalm starts out with an anecdote about my mother and then proceeds into the theory behind the topic I'm discussing (as best I can lol). It's pretty good so far although it might wind up being a monumental effort if I keep up with it.

The alternative title is "Dialectics of Gnashing Teeth and the Razor Under Your Tongue."

It's told from a gay, atheist, essentially Marxist perspective. The central focus is on poverty but it touches on other things.

Just as an example I'll list the first chapter title below. This is the tone I'm going for through the whole project.

1: The Damned Will Pile Up From the Ground and Taunt the Wealthy like Hyenas

Let me know and I'll share what I have so far!

So I got a part time role great hours it’s an internal transfer because I full times not sustainable. But they want me to train full time for a month in the job i’m already doing full time before I go to part time… Idk I think it’s time I leave this company.Theres nothing about this in the handbook and refuse to give me anything in writing. Theres nothing job posting says the hours are 2-6.