Author: Olivia

I have serious heart problems. My cardiologist told me I should only work so many hours a week, and to minimize my stress by lightening my workload. I have a note and everything in my file at work. Problem is that my job is severely understaffed and they can't afford to honor my physicians guidelines. So I'm working over 50 hours some weeks. The boss tells me I can work no hours a week instead if I keep bringing my situation up. I think he doesn't believe me even though I have documentation of my condition. I have bills to pay and food to put on the table. I make decent money where I'm at, but it's to the point where it's batter to just suffer with what I have rather than start over somewhere else for better accommodations and less money. Idk what I should do. Sorry if my…

I don’t know how anyone is supposed to survive in the United States. I work full time for a public school and just got done my taxes which show I made about $15k last year, my first year out of college. My private student loans from discover are $2,000 a month, non-negotiable. My rent is $700 a month. Those costs alone already have me underwater. I was always poor, I never expected myself to live in a mansion, or even a house. I was always content staying in a small apartment but now even that’s out of reach. I feel like a burden to everyone around me because it is literally impossible for me to survive without other people chipping in. I’ve been working since I was 14 and have nothing to show for it at 26. I was always told if I worked hard and went to school things…

Record profits, record CEO salary, record inflated patient costs, Optional adherence to inflation for labor costs. CEO: thanks for working so hard in the pandemic, everyone, we couldn’t have done it without you. Here’s 2% “increase.” CEO: Hold on, we didn’t mean that. There are algorithms helping us adjust this. 2% does not actually equal 2%. CEO: Fine. We had to take a philosophy class… we will give everyone a minimum 4% “increase.” Please, put some pepper with your salt.

I came to a realization… I have changed jobs and careers multiple times throughout my lifetime. Eventually, I finally found a job that I sort of enjoy, is relatively easy, and it pays well. Yet, after 2.5 years of doing it. I am exhausted. I find myself unable to get out of bed sometimes. I find myself not caring whether or not, I go to work. I am not sure if it is management (favoritism towards certain coworkers), my coworkers (condescending towards other coworkers but ass-kissers towards management), the customers (rude and hostile sometimes), the job (repetitiveness), or me (lazy, depressed, and unmotivated). What I know is, I need to know the course of action before I have kids. Otherwise, I will be locked into a career I hate for the next 30 years.

They also offered $1000 as a “gift” for signing the contract. This came on the heels of a lawsuit that was brought forth against them because they had been illegally misclassifying their staff as contract workers for the last decade. We are all full-time employees who should be entitled to employee benefits and years of back pay for stolen wages. Not to mention the rampant culture of racism, exploitation, and general abuses of power by those at the top. I did not sign the contract. I advised all my coworkers not to sign the contract and to consult a lawyer. Everyone signed the contract because they were afraid that not signing it would put a target on their back. They were right — I have since been phased out, slowly but surely, my hours (and consequently my pay) were reduced to almost nothing. So, I handed in my two weeks…

I'd been working for this lab for about 8 or 9 months when I was fired. Initially I was hired to work in two particular departments, had a signed contract, everything. During the interview process they mentioned that they were hoping to do cross training as some of their other departments were growing and needed a little back up sometimes. That would come at my discretion however. I was free to choose what I would and wouldn't take on. Inherently I asked about raises involving increased work responsibility. They told me that they usually only did yearly raises but that under extenuating circumstances, they'd considered it at any time. Before I was hired, there was no room for growth. Which was the main reason they only did raises once a year. Fast forward four months or so. At this point I'm fully trained, basically to the teeth in the two…