35, male, idiot.
Took me a long time to find a career path that i actually liked ( due to various reasons) and I applied to a Digital marketing agency when I was 28.
Low position, minimum wage (around 700€) but i wanted to learn, since i was very interested. Due to my upbringing and personal issues, I also struggled with saying 'no' to any request, along with me being an overachiever.
The whole vibe in the company was “we are a family, loyalty for ever, dedication will be rewarded”….
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Boss was a serial entrepreneur and he basically kept on loading more and more work on me, I accepted without complaint. From one project to another, i kept on working and performing, basically never a thank you from his side, just verbal abuse if stuff didn't go his way. I basically had to beg to get a moment monthly salary bump of 70€,.
Boss is bipolar and goes from “okay' to 'i will fucking fire all of you” within 3 minutes…every week.
Move forward 2 years
Agency going well, i created a great team of 15+ ppl to handle various tasks. Boss decided to move into a new and very competitive industry. I'm still tasked to oversee the 'old” team. After all, I will be rewarded for my efforts at some point
I'm plagued with migraines and stomach issues every week.
Within 2 weeks from the initial idea, we started working on a new platform. I basically did the extra work of 3-4 people, doing most of the research, connect writing and SEO for 8+ languages ( companies usually have at least 1 person to handle one language).
Anyway, kept on working 10-12 hour days, because “we will all be rich, rewarded for our loyalty”. I'm still barely above minimum wage, boss and his bestie COO keep on raking in the big bucks.
People in my position would earn around 2k€ or more easily…
Migraines, stomach issues basically every day, working on painkillers. Different doctors can't find anything wrong with me physically.
After setting up 2 specialized departments for this second project, managing 30+ people, working my ass of, he still tells me in not doing enough, i should push harder, give me more work to do. Every mistake is on me, every achievement is his doing. But okay, soon he will share the wealth with all of us, for our dedication.
One Friday i can't handle the pain ( very bad migraine), i leave work early, thinking I'll be working on Saturday, as usual .
I couldn't.
Barely had the energy to move from bed do fridge.
Monday comes, same. Couldn't get up, i call in sick, felt horrible for missing work. Doctor writes me a note .
After a week, no change.
After a month, boss calls me ( nobody else of the “family' from the office), to ask when I'll be back, work is piling up
Tell him that i don't know .
Another month, still can barely move out of bed. Doctors diagnoze, complete mental and physical burnout.
Third month, I tell the boss to fire me, since i don't know when I'll be back. He starts complicating about 'paying me extra for my unused vacation days”… Tells me how he did me a solid by paying me an additional 500€.
I get some papers to sign, that's it. No word from anybody else, at all.
I'm resting for 6 months, burning through my savings, before I can even thing of going to work again. I start going to psychotherapy to fix my shit – best decision ever.
I find out, that ex-boss hired 4 people to cover for my work, they were not enough.
I got a job with basically 3x pay, my own hours and with work from home without 1 week of looking.
More than 1 year after I'm out of the company, he contracts me on Instagram, out of all the channels.
Some BS about 'how are you?” And 'Do you blame me for how you ended up? Idk.. sometimes i feel like you blame me. Maybe. Not sure what to think. I was super correct with you…”
Wtf? The guy is so far to guys own ass, he wouldn't see a fire even if he was standing in the middle of it.
The project we've set up is doing great btw, by now it's a multi-million international company, bring very well known in most of EU. Ofc I got jack shit off the profits, apart from a fucked up stomach.
TLDR – boss pushed me to my physical and mental limits for more than 3 years, and then he asks if it's somehow his fault
Thanks for listening to my Ted talk.
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