I have been in the Beverage and Hospitality industry the past 8 years working in every possible role you can imagine, from dishwasher to Bar Management for a Nightclub. I am no stranger to high-stress, fast-paced environments.
A few months ago I decided I wanted to get some more “professional” work on my resume. I took a job with an international company as an Office Admin. Seemed alright. $21/hr, good benefits and during my interview my boss touted “work life balance” and “fair distribution of work”.
Well, that was a lie. This job had me working 8-5 Monday through Friday, constantly answering phone calls and dispatching our service technicians. It immediately became apparent that the office was severely understaffed, and the Regional office held no sympathy towards us. Very quickly the high-ups started micromanaging every aspect of our day, from the moment we clocked in to when we took lunch and even to how long our phone calls lasted.
The final straw was when we received an email stating that service cancelations were too high, and we need to be better at customer retention, going so far as to stating that “new hires are not exempt from these expectations.”
Keep in mind that during this past month I managed to make more sales simply over the phone than our actual sales team. The kicker? I only receive 2% commission on these sorts of sales, a fraction of what the sales team makes. I felt defeated, taken advantage of and dehumanized.
It all culminated earlier this week when I had a bout of what I assumed was food poisoning. I texted my boss tuesday morning saying I was ill. She never got back to me. My coworker eventually called me, asked if I was ok and I told her I was losing half my body weight in fluids every hour. She told me to stay home (rightfully so).
The next day I don't feel any better so I text my boss again. She then calls me and says I need a doctor's note when I come back.
I haven't been here long enough for my insurance to kick in, so I didn't have medical insurance. I sucked it up and went to Urgent Care, partly to get the note but mostly because I was certain I was wildly dehydrated.
After waiting for a bit, the physician gave me an IV and a prescription Imodium. Then she started asking me questions about my lifestyle. I told her many things, and then she asked me about my work life. I kind of cracked and word-vomited everything I just wrote above. She looked at me and said “You may have eaten something bad, but your body was absolutely ill-equipped to recover from it. In my opinion, you are experiencing dangerous levels of stress.”
Then it all clicked. None of the management at the company cares. The whole interview process was simply a snake oil salesman trying to prey on a naive young professional.
This job was working me to death. It had only been a little over two months and my body fully revolted and refused to let me continue putting myself in this environment.
Listen to your body. Any manager worth their salt will take your concerns of burnout into consideration. If they don't, find employment elsewhere, before you wind up with a $350 medical bill and ruining one of your favorite pairs of pants.
-end rant