My Fiancé had been in her job for around a month now.
The job description had said, she would be working Mon to Fri with every other Saturday off and every Sunday and bank holiday being off. ( United Kingdom )
So far she hadn't had one Saturday off and she generally feels like she neither has personal life nor any time for our relationship. I work as a head chef and part time musician late in to the evenings so as a consequence we are like passing ships.
The conversation at home mostly comes down to talking about her issues in work , and it gets very frustrating, repeating your self with advices , and no action being taken out of fear of the bosses reaction.
Well today, the bubble had burst and after careful planning, she had submitted her resignation.
To my disbelief , the owners of the company had scrambled in panic ( my fiancé is a great , hard working administrator and brings a lot to the business ) , and offered her a deal. She would get every Wednesday off and every second Saturday with a possible pay rise down the line .
The conclusion I have drawn from this situation is, sometimes you have to put your foot down as an employee, and walk away from the job role.
You never know, sometimes you might be valued enough to be offered a deal, and sometimes you're treated as a disposable , in which case walking away is the best thing to do. After all, we do not want to be treated like a number , but as a human being. Either replace us with robots or accept the fact, people are flawed and have their own sets of values .
BTW. She still said no, because she wishes to pursue her career as being a self employed Spanish tutor, and is opposed to having a boss being patronising and boasting about the profits whilst paying employees absolute minimum, trying to squeeze every ounce of effort from them .