For once, just fucking once in my flea-bitten, horse-assed life, could I be so happily blessed to hire into a role that accurately and rigidly defines my work? Here's my anecdote from my first serious job:
I was an “Operations Clerk” at a company (that I swear has had its name sufficiently fictionalized so as to not immediately recognize it…) called DuPonk. Around 2010, I dropped out of college, got hired at DuPonk as a General Operator. After 3 months on the floor doing 12-hour swing shift, I applied to a clerical role that was 7 pay-grades higher than my starting $10.25/hr, effectively doubling my income. While working in this role, I was essentially the secretary of all the engineers, and since the reason I dropped out of engineering school was NOT the fault of my brain, the team was very-VERY happy to have me.
I was fine with the extra work they added, because it was far more technical and engaging than the role described. I automated and macro'd much of the work I was originally assigned, and that freed me up to work on far more interesting tasks. Most of what I learned about manufacturing was from that excellent team of engineers, and they were pushing for the company to send me back to school to finish my engineering degree.
But some of the higher-ups disliked that a non-degreed pleb would be so hard-charging. I was told I needed to “put in your time,” and to “stop dressing like you're salaried.” I wore a polo shirt and slacks! Did they want me to rub shit in my face so I looked appropriately blue-collar?
Regardless, while the engineering team was pushing for me to get sponsored back to school, I was reassigned managers. This started a trend, as I would get reassigned workloads depending on which department manager I was placed under. I would get six managers over the next three years, reporting to none of them for more than nine months.
I wound up absorbing and retaining tasks from Shipping/Receiving, Warehouse ops, Engineering, Production, Maintenance, Environmental/Health/Safety, Accounting, IT, Business Process, and Quality. I was the every-man, the guy you reassigned when someone was retiring and needed their job learned in 2-4 weeks.
I busted my ass, and I was so active in DuPonk's safety meetings that some of my presentations were recorded and sent to sister sites in the division. I was so active on the safety committees, they mistakenly thought I was in charge of the grand committee when that position had been vacant for two years.
I trained a sister site in freight reconciliation, because they had no clue how I could handle six ship points by myself, as only a quarter of my job, with no errors; when they had four full-time clerks that couldn't keep one factory ship point on-task.
No change in pay grade, no matter how hard I worked. I would ask, get rebuffed, get told I didn't have a degree, and that I needed to put in my time. I argued. I was told that they would have to re-write the job description and post the job for internal bid. I told them to, because I'm the only one who could do it. I showed how 85% of my job was “…other duties as assigned” and that my position absolutely needed to be rewritten. I got silence. This went on for an additional year. Constantly absorbing tasks from pay-grades two or three levels higher than me, and also salaried work. Employees from other sites were confounded when I explained that I wasn't salaried and didn't have the freedom to work overtime to train them, or permission to travel to other sites on company business and time.
I was written up for being 6 seconds late.
Six. Fucking. Seconds. For a job I worked solo. I didn't hold up a production line, I didn't keep someone late because I didn't relieve them. It was me and my computer. That's it. Six seconds…07:00:06
It became obvious why when a few months later, I was told that I couldn't be given a pay raise due to having disciplinary actions on my current record.
The plant was doing poorly. The whole industry went tits-up. They shut down production centers. Retirements were bought out early. Professional staff were shifted or parallel-promoted to other sites. Corporate drew a line, said X many positions needed to be eliminated. Contractors were laid-off. They were scraping by the skin of their fingernails. They had four weeks to eliminate jobs, so they took the shitty way out and went by seniority.
They drew the line right at me. My position was to be by seniority, and I was to be assigned a role vacated by a laid-off contractor. I was to be an “environmental operator” which really meant I was a garbage man who worked the unheated recycle shed, sorting white paper from yellow paper, and crushing aluminum cans from the lunch room. And my shift started at 3:30 AM.
This wasn't a who-moved-my-cheese situation here. I knew who in upper-management hated me, had it out for me. I have friends and mentors from that workplace who have been my best work references when I reapplied to school, internships, and my first engineering jobs. They could have eliminated any contractor job they wanted. They chose this opening for me because they knew I'd be miserable.
My previous role was so critical, with all the loose ends, odd jobs, and bullshit I had accumulated, my job ended up staying in place nearly six months after the drop-dead date. Corporate finally demanded to know why this singular position hadn't been eliminated, and I was hastily asked what work I all really did. It took three people to absorb all the work I performed in that position. The phone rang all day down in the recycle shed.
Oh, but I work 3:30 AM to noon. Sorry, fuckers. And I'm not allowed to work overtime, because no overtime was permitted for anyone.
I complained to my boss about how I couldn't get my job done because I'm still doing my OLD fucking job. The one they eliminated. Why did I have to do a job that was obliterated?! You know what solution they offered?
“Well, we could change your shift to start at 7AM…”
I was miserable. It was a polar vortex and the recycle shed was unheated. You know how cold your feet get in steel-toed boots when it's -7F outside? But I saw exactly what they intended. They wanted me to be on-call for my old position for 3.5 more hours each day.
So I said no-thanks, I had started to enjoy getting off at noon every day. Fuck 'em.
I had over 100 voicemails, unlistened-to, when I resigned 4 months later. I would have resigned sooner, but I was going back to school, and had to wait for the semester to start.
On my last day, I needed to turn in my badge and do an exit interview, and be escorted to the gate. My manager forgot about me and I ended up having to fucking page him over the plant intercom just so I could leave that place and never come back.
Never work harder unless you are paid more first, and remember that inflation is lowering your pay every day. Start acting like it. They will take everything you give, and have the audacity to demand more. They will punish you for your work ethic. They will grind you out. They don't give a flying fuck about you. They don't. They never have, they never will. So get mad; get mad at all the lies you've been forced to choke on.