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 earned.
So yeah, I wasn’t happy and I was also very sick at the time. I’d been masking hard the first few days, but day 4 I couldn’t fake being super happy. My manager started questioning me about why I wasn’t smiling as much that day.
I tried to deflect every way I could, but ended up in her office for two hours being criticized, interrogated, and forced to listen to positive things about the company. Over the next week this happened a few more times, including one time where she followed me out after the end of my workday, blocked my car door so I couldn’t get in, and insisted I needed to tell her everything if we were going to work together.
I basically got her to back off by sending her an email. Then I spent months in a different part of the building going through job training. I just finished Tuesday, and I’m now a full member of her team.
So now I’m spending every day with a woman who is constantly criticizing me in the most saccharin, passive-aggressive way. Right now she’s mad at me for taking a few days off for a surgery (my surgeon recommended two weeks). The topic of this morning’s meeting was that we need to stop using so much of our allotted sick time.
Beyond her toxic behavior, I know this job really isn’t for me. Yeah, I’m good at it, but I don’t enjoy the work (unusual for me). Part of me wants to quit the moment I get out of the contractual period, but my family is seriously pressuring me to make a career of it since the money is so good. The most common promotion from this role sounds pretty unpleasant though.
People keep telling me that everyone hates their jobs and/or bosses. I’ve had abusive managers, but I’ve never had a job get this toxic this fast. I’ve also never been pressured to sign a contract that bad, especially with no warning after I’d already started the job.
Right now I’m just trying to figure out if there’s some way to get through it without being miserable. It would be nice to make this kind of income, but I can’t really see it being worth the money. Any advice on how you see/survive situations like this would be appreciated.