So last year my partner and I moved to a city, a fairly large one, and we both got jobs. Partner works at a really nice grocery store that treats their workers fairly (it's not the best job but everyone is decent, pay is good, tips are good, no complaints from my partner) and I got a job at a large global advertising company (I will be extremely vague about my work because of a document I signed) that promised a good work/life balance, lots of time off, amazing benefits, and everyone I asked during my interview said that they loved the atmosphere of working at The Company.
I was lied to.
I would like to take some time now to talk a little about my past work experiences and schooling.
I do not possess a university degree of any sorts, I do not have a college degree by most people's standards. What I do have is a 2 year DEC in “Creative Arts” where I learned about photography, radio, broadcasting, journalism, cinéma, early modern drama, animation, and how to skip as many gym classes as possible. I also went to college for photography to get a college degree in it but left after a year without getting the degree.
I have worked at exactly three above table jobs before my current one.
Beer Store – like 2 years – Sold Beer (great crew)
BulkBarn – One Day (screw that place) – Stood around
Start-Up – nearly 2 years – Everything from dusting to fiscal planning.
I now currently work as a Programmatic Coordinator (aka programmatic trader) and my job is to be basically a stockbroker but for digital ads.
I only got this job because a recruiter approached me with it and I accepted to be interviewed thinking that I wouldn't be hired once they found out that my advertising experience was mostly based in creatives, writing copy, and planning marketing strategies for a small mom&pop startup. I was wrong and super excited when I got the job.
The perks, the perks were amazing! And when I signed my acceptance of employment I saw that they also had a document for me to put down my pronouns and preferred name. I am trans/nonbinary, and have a hormonal imbalance that makes me look very androgynous so I was excited to finally be able to be out at work.
I was lied to.
My first day I find out that everything has been setup in my legal name, my deadname, the one I explicitly said not to use. I even interviewed with my chosen name not my legal one.
So I send a request to HR to get it all changed and they did the bare minimum and only changed it on about 75% of company's things. As a result I get deadnamed at least once a week and all my coworkers now know what my name used to be.
Strike one.
By the end of my first week it was very clear that there was not going to be any training except my boss stumbling around trying to explain how to do her job while constantly making mistakes and having to backtrack.
By the end of my second week I was finally given an actual job description since I am the first person to hold this position. It was way more than what was said during the interview and not at all heavy on the things that I enjoy doing. It's all just walls of numbers and no planning.
I didn't get paid until my 3rd week and it's been 14 days since my last pay but I honestly have no idea when the next one it coming. It's supposed to be every 2 weeks but I have worked for 35 days total and have only gotten one paycheck.
I have had to work through my unpaid hour lunch break nearly every day since I started in order to get everything done and still at least once if not twice a week I end up staying late because “deadlines have to be met”. But I can't apply for OT for that time…but the company says it's against modern slavery yet I have to work for free. I have asked my boss about this and her response is what was in quotes.
They found my personal Facebook account with my legal deadname that I keep only for family and added me to a group chat without asking me if that was okay (that I can remember) so now everyone in that group chat now has a photo of me pre-transition and my deadname (I know it should have been on private, lesson learned) which I hate.
I just feel really lied too and I hate my job and don't want to work for a company that demands I give 110% of my time and life to them when they can't even pay the extra 40 bucks to cover my OT.
I have always worked for free at my past jobs at some point in time but that's because those jobs earned my free time.
The startup required a lot of personal time to be given up, and it was bad pay, no benefits, lots of travelling, weird hours, but I had the freedom to walk up to the CEO and say “I think we should do this for the company” or “I know I said i'd get it done but things happened so I didn't, just a heads up” and be listened to and respected.
I wish my current coworkers would all just close their laptops at 5pm and not open them until 9am.
I wish that HR wouldn't ask about my name and pronouns if they are just going to pretend that they didn't.
I wish I hadn't have taken this corporate job because the work might actually have been fun, but corporate life is a nightmare in a button-down.
Thanks for listening to this rant and hopefully I respected the rules of the sub.