I don't know why but in the past 10 years that I've been in the workforce (as a healthcare professional), I have been treated like absolute garbage in a lot of the workplaces I've worked for.
The main issues I encountered were:
-More and more jobs and responsibilities piled onto me as time went on until I was doing the job of at least 3 people with no raise in pay (even when I asked for a pay rise to meet the increase in responsibilities I was given some bullshit excuse about why they can't pay me more, e.g. we don't have the capacity to do so….while some other employees who had fewer responsibilities or were more junior in position than me got higher pay).
-Pushed and pressured to work long hours with no breaks including working 6-7 days a week.
-Employer didn't pay me on time.
-Pushed/forced to do illegal practises.
-Pressured/manipulated/forced to work while I am sick.
-Low pay
The common theme was being totally disrespected and picked on unfairly. Everytime I asserted myself nicely and politely, I was met with passive aggressive behavior from my co workers or managers.
-One co worker (who is actually junior compared to my position) actually stormed off in anger and came back to yell at me because I politely said no to her unreasonable requests.
-Other co workers have blocked me or ignored me for politely saying no to their unreasonable requests. Two co workers refused to talk to me and when they see me outside of work they will actually actively ignore me, all because I politely told them I can't cover for them one time (they gave me very short notice, i.e. the night before to cover for them the next day because they wanted the night off to play games with their friends). I was genuinely not able to help because I was busy myself with other plans.
-I've even had a manager threatening me with “I know a lot of people” because I asked him when I will be paid my wages (he was more than 6 weeks behind in payment, and this happened multiple times).
-I've had employees asking if I can cover for them. When I politely said no because I genuinely couldn't do so, those employees became passive aggressive by ignoring me at work, spreading rumours about me that aren't true and generally being unhelpful, or unfairly picking on me.
I am a nice person generally and I do assert myself but everytime I asserted myself, the passive aggressive behaviors from the other staff make it so toxic that I eventually had to resign from the workplace.
Why is it that I keep meeting people can't take “no” for an answer?
Any advice? Thanks in advance
There is only one workplace that I've worked for where everyone was treated with respect, the owner was considerate and thoughtful and I felt included in the team as though I was a part of a warm family. It's very rare.