Month: April 2022

I was speaking to my grandmother about how burned out I've been from my 8:30-5 job. She told me that during her 30 years of work, she hated almost every second of it. She'd ask herself, while she was walking out in 90 degree weather, dripping with sweat, what she's even doing there. But she forced herself to continue because she had kids to feed and a mortgage to pay. She had no choice. And before she knew it she was in her 60's. She had other aspirations and dreams, but she felt she had to dedicate her time to this job to gain good retirement and health benefits. And the worst part is that she was right. My grandfather was diagnosed with a cancer-like illness 5 years ago and his prescriptions cost like $10,000 before insurance kicks in. If my grandma didn't have her health plan from her horrible…

I was told by an employee that they need to keep track of EVERY customer. Because if a customer leaves without paying (AKA dine and dash), every employee working has to pay the tab out of their tips. I don’t know if this is standard in the country or legal, just passing on what I was told. Either way, it’s a terrible policy. Karakter is a beachside restaurant. They do have a bar, but they are a restaurant. Sint Maarten is a country in the Caribbean.

A bit of a controversial opinion, but allow me to explain. The concept of “Universal Design” is almost 60 years old now. The idea behind it is to design everything according to certain accessibility principles, to make sure that products and infrastructures are as accessible as possible to everyone. So for the past 60 years, whenever a road needed updating, whenever a new house was built, whenever a website was created, the people involved should and could have applied Universal Design principles to make sure that most people with disabilities are not left behind. While the world has never been more accessible, most improvements were a merely side product of technological advancements and rarely a conscious effort to improve the lives of people with disabilities. However, that isn't even completely true. Sometimes affordable technologies exist but only get implemented when absolutely necessary. Imagine how cheated people with disabilities feel, realizing…

My job let go of 50 people last year before sending the entire workforce to work remotely. They fired them all at once in a giant zoom meeting. They didn't tell any of the other staff and it was chaos. Basically, let go of everyone they hired in the last few months because “we just don't have the traffic anymore”. Cut to yesterday. Job let go of 50 more people. The only warning was an email inviting them to a zoom call, and some employees didn't find out until trying to clock in for their shift later in the day. As my employer fires based on seniority, I was honestly amazed I wasn't on the chopping block. They didn't just let go of lower-level employees, they let go of a supervisor and my position is the middle man between the two groups. TODAY in, once again, a mass zoom call…

Holy crap, it looks like I'm one of those stories now! I quit my job without having anything lined up next. But, I had been applying and interviewing and had gotten so many bites I was pretty sure something would pan out, so I took the risk and quit while applying around. Today I got an offer from one of those interviews, and managed to get myself the biggest raise I've ever gotten in my life. In addition to a flexible schedule, work from home options, and a job title I really want! I've been desperate and struggling since the crash of 2008. I spent 12 years of my life completely hopeless and angry every day. The economy nearly killed me and I am not exaggerating when I say that. And now I'm one of those stories! If you dream of quitting your job, start applying now. It's an employee's…