Author: Olivia

Run down on the company I work for. It’s a small lab company in my hometown. We travel the country setting up and maintaining labs. The company was started by 3 people, 1 who put their name as sole owner. 1 of them built the company with another coworker and the other done bare minimum and sits on a fat salary. Sole owner fired the one that built the company over the truth. A few months ago, boss comes to my office and ask a simple question. “What don’t you like about the job?” At this point I’d been here a year and 2 months. Good job, fun coworkers, good benefits, good pay, but bosses not so much. Told him my opinion and before I could actually start he interrupted me. Raised his voice and demanded my 2 weeks. I said ok then then he went on and on about…

Literally none of us want to work. Working sucks. It's boring, it's often unfulfilling, and the work we do rarely contributes good to the world. For many of us, our work isn't mission-critical and can be done by machines, we just work because we have to make money. But I don't hear the “No One Wants to Work Anymore” crowd complaining about the rich people who made fat cash on IPOs and retired early. There are so many of us that just want financial stability so we can do what we love and spend more time with the people we love, we're all in the same boat here. The retailer, the server, the laborer, the techie, the scammers and boosters, literally all we want is to live and not work.

I just got a new job recently. Boring office job – implementing software for a client type position. They recently fully “returned to office” (yes, every day of the work week) and I never would have taken this position if I wasn’t desperately in need of a job. I almost feel like a fucking scab. The employees who were fully remote quit when the company pulled this return to office shit on them and now I’m taking the position as if I’m validating that incredibly fucked up move. Oh well, it is what it is. Anyway, after being lucky enough to work remotely for a few years, holy shit is it unreal to return to working a job in an office when I clearly don’t have to be there. I get there, and I sit 5 feet away from the guy that I’m on a Zoom meeting with the client…

I am in the process of onboarding at a large summer childcare facility where we are required to wear a company T-shirt every day, and cannot wear those shirts outside of work (in case we were to misrepresent the brand by say, drinking legally, or being upset with someone outside of work hours). They only provided full time employees with 3 shirts, with the expectation that we either buy more of them at the company website, or do laundry partway through the week, then again on the weekend. I think this id unfair, is there anything I can do other than try and steal shirts when no one is looking?

I work a cashier job aboard a ferry. We serve pretty basic fried foods, prepackaged sandwiches, and chips. We also have a gift shop full of knick knacks. I often get assigned to the retail department, so it seems like most of my duties should be based around the gift shop, but in practice, it seems like I am expected to do the work of 5 different employees. Most days, I am expected to split time in both the food area and the gift shop. When in the gift shop, I am expected to ring up customers, create an inventory order sheet if we are low on something, restock items when we get them in, sweep the floors, and clean all the windows and display glass. When in the food area, I ring up customers, restock chips and candy, make coffee regularly, and restock the ice machine. When we dock…

Note: I'm not in the US and we're much more protected in my country. We all had last week off because my workplace was closed. Monday morning I had a migraine so I called off, saying “I'm sorry I won't be in today.' My boss responded with “you should feel sorry” and then mumbled something I didn't really understand but I was groggy from the headache and just hung up. After thinking about it for a while I texted her that what she said was inappropriate and we would need to talk about it later. Fuck that, I have rights and I'm sick of being made to feel guilty for being human. What she doesn't know is that I'm in the process of being tested for various autoimmune diseases. I'm stressed out enough by feeling shitty all the time and stressing about the cause, I don't need a guilt trip…

Last year the company my partner works for got purchased. Luckily he kept his job. A month ago the company I work for announced we're being acquired. TBD on what that means for me but I'm definitely job hunting. One of the local companies I interviewed at just got bought out. Not by a bigger company but by an individual. “Entrepreneurship by Acquisition” she called it. Last week my partner found out the company he works for part time on the side just got bought out. They “need to cut costs” so they asked if he would be willing to cut his hours by 30% and also cut his pay by 60%. They want him to work for $12 an hour. He has 2 advanced degrees. I went to lunch today with a friend and the small company she works for got purchased this year. Maybe companies are always being…