I graduated college a few months ago and to everyone’s surprise, I couldn’t find a job in my field /s. After running out of money, I started applying to jobs under my experience/education level.
I started a 15/hr job in retail that I am told will lead to a management position in a few months. I hate the fact that I am essentially selling people expensive shit for commission, but I the things I sell are things that are in a field I love and I meet a lot of artists.
Anyways, this is my first full-time, long-term job, so I really didn’t know what was normal vs fucked in terms of benefits. I accepted the job out of desperation, but now that I’ve been there for a bit, I’m disgusted with the PTO policy.
It’s 40hrs per year, which includes sick days. I’m not sure what’s “normal,” and my mom told me that this is “just the way it is when you start at a new company,” but it seems like complete bullshit to me.
I’m usually a fever/no voice/vomiting kind-of-sick for at LEAST 3-5 days in a year. Not to mention all of the days I’m a headache/stomach ache/tired/mental health day kind-of-sick, which I feel like the average person experiences at LEAST once a month.
I live with a toddler who brings home god knows what from day care. Last year I caught covid, the flu, and a stomach bug in the span of two months from her. Each one took me out for a week at minimum.
Not to mention, my long-term partner who I used to live with, just moved abroad for the foreseeable future. Going from living with the LOYL to being continents apart is devastating. Knowing that we wanted to start planning visits soon kept us both going. What am I supposed to do when they visit? Leave them sitting in my room for 40 fucking hours a week?
And no matter how hard I work to save up money, I certainly can’t visit them. Sure I “have enough” PTO to go for a week, but what happens when I get sick later on?
Oh and we all get Sundays off plus one weekday that is not Monday. Meaning I never have two days off in a row to go into complete “relaxation” mode. Nor will I ever have a Saturday off, which has already caused me to miss out on some events/gatherings with friends/family. I wouldn’t mind these things if I could prioritize and take off a Saturday or Monday when I needed to. But that’s just not possible with five days.
My partner’s country has minimum PTO of over a month and unlimited sick days. It’s so exhausting watching them find a job with great (should be “standard”) benefits at ease. I feel like I am begging for scraps. I’m so frustrated that I like this job and I like the other benefits (access to expensive artistic tools) but it’s just not livable.