Category: Antiwork

Good evening Reddit users, I live in Germany and have a question especially for the American users here. In documentary films or YouTube videos, I notice again and again that in America (or international, especially English-speaking companies), the job titles of the individual employees do not really have to do with the actual work in my point of view and are quite excessive. By this I mean that every second employee feels like „manager“ or „director“. Can you explain to me why this is the case or do I just have the wrong impression here? In Germany we have like for example in the supermarket chain Rewe a „Store Manager“ and then several „clerks“ (like normal employee).

The following is something I posted to a subreddit for the job I have. “I'm a PT produce clerk that closed last night and has another close tonight. I've always made it clear that my priority is school and that work comes second. I've also always made an effort to make sure there is no scheduling conflict and that I can get everything done on time. Have never missed a shift because I needed to catch up or meet a deadline. However, while I was working, I dropped my phone and ended up completely destroying the touchscreen. This is a problem since 1.) I need to access the touchscreen for two-factor authentication to log in to my university and 2.) I have an assignment due tonight that requires camera use for my phone, as well as at least a few hours of work. There was no way I could have…

Last week felt like any normal week. At least it started out that way. Wednesday morning I was hauled into a meeting with my team and none of my co-workers had a clue what it would be about. We all just shrugged when someone asked. My boss just said in the meeting that they have a three month notice period and they've been working it and tomorrow (Monday, 27th) is their last day. They said we would learn why later. Someone asked if they had another job lined up and he said yes at x company. Then after lunch we had a meeting with HR and my boss's boss to officially announce we were being made redundant. We were all shocked and didn't see it coming. My boss knew four months ago and stated that fact to us several times since we learned of the news. They just decided to…

Back in the fall, I was on the job hunt, and came across a company and job title that I thought I might enjoy and was also in my field. I applied, and entered into about a month's long interview process and in the end I didn't end up getting the job. Fast forward to this past week and I receive an email from someone at the company (who I assume is the person that was rewarded the position I had applied for), asking me for help and suggestions on a project they're working on and if I have any contacts they can use to reach out to. It just felt odd being contacted by a company that didn't want to hire me, and then have them reach out and want my help all of a sudden after months of no contact. That's weird right? Unsure of how to respond.

In three weeks I've made three huge goals to improve the jobs of my coworkers…the biggest is approval to set up a career ladder allowing for pay step increases for my team as they assist in training new staff and develop student success and retention seminars. Took meeting with my boss's boss for an hour with my plans. Two hours later he said “make it happen”. My team was so sick of abuse and neglect of former “leadership” for the past three years. Everyone left is completely bought in because I actually prioritized their well-being. It can be done….most people just want to pretend it can't.