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Antiwork

How do I stop caring?

I've been working since I was 18. I've had 10 jobs in my life. It seems like the same thing happens over and over again: I pick up whatever I'm being taught pretty easily because I'm competent and a fast learner and I gain my footing quickly the supervisor sees that i'm capable and starts giving me more things or my coworkers start asking me for help with finishing their stuff. I inevitably gain the reputation of being the one who will pick up all the slack I see that process A isn't being done correctly and that is leading to process B being screwed up and then process C being a crisis. So I try to head off problems at process A so that I don't have to end up being the one taking care of fixing the crisis. I get super resentful and burnt out because I end…


I've been working since I was 18. I've had 10 jobs in my life. It seems like the same thing happens over and over again:

  • I pick up whatever I'm being taught pretty easily because I'm competent and a fast learner and I gain my footing quickly
  • the supervisor sees that i'm capable and starts giving me more things or my coworkers start asking me for help with finishing their stuff. I inevitably gain the reputation of being the one who will pick up all the slack
  • I see that process A isn't being done correctly and that is leading to process B being screwed up and then process C being a crisis. So I try to head off problems at process A so that I don't have to end up being the one taking care of fixing the crisis.
  • I get super resentful and burnt out because I end up being the only one taking care of shoring up the cut corners

I know the solution is to stop caring so much. Just pretend I'm dumb and do only what I'm assigned and dick around on my phone for the majority of the day. But dude, I can't.

Like I want so much to be one of those people who leave work at work and don't let it effect their lives. I want to come to work and just skate by doing the bare minimum. But I can't.

I can't deal with having to be stressed all day due to problems that could have been nipped in the bud if anyone other than me gave a shit. I can't deal with going the extra mile and giving extra effort because if I don't everything will fall apart and it will end up being my problem to fix or I'm the one who will get bitched at for it by management.

I'm so tired of supervisors taking advantage of my helpful nature at the first sign by dumping extra responsibilities on me because “they can't trust anyone else.” I'm tired of being punished because I'm a good worker. I've had so many supervisors tell me that I'm incredibly valuable but then they do nothing to try to keep me when I turn my notice in.

So my question to you, Reddit — how do I stop caring? I've been at my current job for about 6 months and every day I want to gouge my eyes out because I see the pattern starting again. But how do I tell people I won't help them or do anything extra without becoming the bitch? How do I just watch problems turn into catastrophes knowing that they're gonna end up on my desk?

I can't stand office drama and politics. I can't stand the apathy. I feel like I need to get high every night when I get home just to cope. I just don't want the rest of my life to be this way.

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