Month: April 2022

I work in academia. Last year I got my PhD in biology and have been working as a postdoc at a state school ever since. Being hired as a postdoc was a nightmare. My mentor/boss didn't know how to properly hire a staff member rather than I student and I ended up being unpaid for almost two months while still going in to work ( less than 40 hours, but still). I used my entire savings to make it through those months of unemployment and have nothing left. Now I've been working there full time the past seven or so months and I thought things were going well. Today my advisor/boss comes up to me in lab, not even a private meeting in her office, to tell me she has run out of funds and I won't be paid this month or for last month or any month until this…

I took some classes in business management and had a very awesome management teacher that gave me some insight on a management strategy gaining a lot of traction. The strategy is like this: work your employees soooooo hard that they don't have time to look for another job. Pay them so little…. that they can't save up enough money to just quit. There is a sweet spot where the workers are soooo overworked and stressed they can't find a job and are paid so little they can't leave. If you find that sweet spot then you essentially have a slave. Things need to change…..

I’ve worked for my company nearly 20 years in a variety of roles. We’re medium sized with about 150 employees. A couple of years ago we were taken over by a plc and that’s when it all changed. It was never an amazing company to work for, but it’s really gone downhill since we were taken over. They’ve systematically been removing perks, we had a round of redundancies during Covid, and the rumour is there’s some more coming. Every week there are people giving notice. This week alone 3 people handed theirs in, and yesterday the finance director (a really good guy) was made redundant with no warning. Morale now is at an all time low. There’s not a lot of orders coming in, so I’m wondering if our parent company are just going to come in soon and shut us down. Thoughts? Thanks for the read!

I'm an introvert that works as a receptionist, but for the most part I make up for that by being friendly, helpful, organized, and being knowledgeable about certain programs the other receptionist has trouble using. I've been at this job for several months now without anyone coming to me about complaints on my work ethic. Well today my supervisor or and her boss had me come to their office and told me that they want me to be “bubbly” from now on, and then the next moment claimed they didn't want me to change my personality when what they said prior was contrary to that and then kept reiterating that “its important I be bubbly/ourgoing for the job” even though thats not who I am. I'm “expected” to excitedly say hi and bye to literally every freaking person like some cheerleader, even if it's just another employee minding their own…

This week, I was told by my boss that they'd be reducing my hours to 2 hours per day next term, down from 5. Or 2 days per week rather than a full 5 workdays. Which is, of course, not enough to afford food, let alone rent. Not my boss' fault; that's public education in Alberta for you. My school has a deficit of $200k compared to last year, and I'm expendable. So off I go to the want ads. And possibly eBay to sell my assorted Lego sets…

I busted my ass off for my company by volunteering for the more physically intensive jobs when they needed someone, which was very often. I stayed at this company for about a year. I recently learned of the fact that I was put under a “Low Performers” list and that infuriated the fuck out of me. I handed in my two weeks today. Fuck working hard for companies when not required – never again. I've learned my lesson.

I work at a clinic and my manger said today that nobody in the department has the balls to quit. She said we need this job because we are so young. I personally can’t wait for Monday to hand deliver my one week notice 🙂