Apologies in advance if this comes across as ranty
One of my first serious job after college was retail, I was a supervisor. The problem was, was that super higher upper management would trickle down and be incredibly harsh on us. We had super high standards because we were an international company that started out overseas. And every time the standards weren't met, the supervisors and the sales associates would get screwed over and we're the ones that would work 5x as hard to fix everything
Then I left retail, worked an office job for a BIG company. I ended up at the bottom of the food chain…… it got so toxic and got to a point where we were constantly micromanaged, we had to track when we were actively working and when we had to go to the bathroom, etc. And we also had to meet specific performance metrics. And when we were caught “slacking” or “falling behind” we would get put on performance plans etc etc. I got tired of this nonsense and decided to pursue something else, somewhere where I can dictate my own work/life balance etc.
Well now I'm an independent contractor. I thought it would be great, I can work when I want, I can work however long I want, etc. Well now I feel like I just entered another shithole, capitalistic hellscape. Despite being 1099, I'm literally being “micromanaged” by my “overseer” and me along with other independent contractors are being scolded at and guilt-tripped for not working when they want and not working as hard as they want us to…… Ummmm can you say toxic?
I just feel stuck and I feel like there's no such thing as a “dream job” because as someone wise once said… “I do not dream of labor”
/rant?