Month: November 2023

….My job starts you off with 24 hrs of PTO, or 3 eight hour shifts, for your first 3 years. Five years gets you five days, and so on, up to 25 years capping at 25 days. No sick time. You can still take unpaid time off, like you can request it and have it approved. But if it’s unpaid time off, you have to make the time up within the same calendar week, or else it counts against you as an attendance occurrence. Oh, and they’re paying us $12/hr. Don’t get me wrong, I like my job (call center) well enough. It’s fairly easy, low stress, and they let me work from home. I guess I would just like better benefits. There’s no reason to work this job, other than to avoid starving, which at such low pay, is a highly unrealistic expectation.

I’ve typically enjoyed my jobs, and I’ve had quite a few. I usually do 2-3 at any given time. I’ve always been able to get by, but last summer was hard. Out of desperation, I took a job that a major corporation has been trying to recruit me for over the past several years. There were reasons I hadn’t wanted to return to this industry, but I convinced myself it would be worthwhile. So I started the job, and on day 3, they made me sign a new contract with a load of stipulations no one mentioned during the 6 week hiring process. (I posted about this at the time, but I’m not sure if I deleted it or used a throwaway.) Among other things, the contract requires that if I quit in under a year, I must immediately pay $3k + $1k per month I stayed + any commissions…

This is an update to my previous For context: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/s/xkfJoGxaMW So I wasnt fired but I was written up and made to watch an anti-union video, ill probably be fired for what i told the “manager” lecturing me after, I told them “quit with the additude, all you do is sit in your office, you are not even a manager, you are a keyholder with a supiriority complex” She stomped off after that but idk I got a job lined up at hardees

I look forward to my new career.

We are the same age. Same level of experience. Different levels of privilege. He still went on to tell me I have the easiest job and should be grateful. How much more patronising could he be!?

I work for a fortune 200. Don’t work as many hours as they think. I’m guessing Microsoft is selling them tools to monitor my activity. Anyone have first hand knowledge?

It's that time of year when those with benefits are often seeing them roll over (or not) to the next year. Make sure you're using those up, people! If you have good insurance and an affordable copay, get to the dentist, refill your meds, book yourself into a meeting, but go to the massage therapist instead. Regardless of whether you have benefits, make sure you take advantage of your employer's other offerings. Have a shower at work? Shower there and lower your water bill. Do they offer coffee or snacks regularly or now and then? Fill a thermos and take some home. Heck, maybe you should replace your box of tissues a few sheets early, just so you don't run out. Put those remaining kleenex in your purse, just so you have some with you. Remember, only YOU can make sure your employer is providing you with as much as…

What do minimalism, the tiny house movement, vanlife, and homesteading all have in common besides being extremely popular with young people? They are a canary in the coal mine. Admittedly, I am no exception to the rule. I have an interest in all these things. Many young people are giving up on the conventional American lifestyle, and it is no wonder why. It isn't just America with this issue. Spend some time reading about the “lying flat” movement in China. Or consider the internet's “antiwork” movement. Boomers would like to imagine these groups as a small minority of whiney young people; the next decade will be a rude awakening. I can empathize with people who think this is a non-issue. I've contradicted my fair share of piers grumbling about “late-stage capitalism” or “corporate greed.” Any meaningful reflection quickly leaves these indictments feeling like low-hanging fruit, but I wrestle with the…