I’m very stressed.
So I work for a photography company in North Carolina, we solely focus on schools and yearbook photos. I won’t say the name of the company but, they pay me 14/hr, that’s after 2 raises, but we’re in the slow season so I’m lucky if I get 15 hours a week right now.
Well graduation season is coming up and they’ve been warning us for a while now the last three weeks in may are “blackout” dates. Which means no matter what your availability is or if you need a day off it’s denied regardless.
We’re going to be expected to photograph and work every single day for the entire duration of the month. That’s on average working from 6 am to potentially midnight every day for weeks. Now getting all those hours are nice and all but not having a day off for those days is insane. I’ve tried numerous times to get just 2 days off and it’s repeatedly denied.
I have a standup show I’ve had tickets for since Christmas and my father’s wedding is at the end of the month but they don’t care.
Almost half of our staff has quit over the past month because of this and they refuse to up our pay, and on top of that I’m repeatedly disrespected by new management. They’ve hired a lot of new people that have no clue what they’re doing and they’re treating seasoned photographers like they’re children.
I’ve contemplated quitting so many times but I struggle for money, I’m just in a very difficult bind. I’m not missing my fathers wedding or the standup show so i’m prepared for the worst. They treat us like slaves, not employees, I have little to no tolerance for being disrespected at work.
They know too if I alone were to quit it could send the company into a downward spiral because they have that little of people but they continue to treat me like shit.
I’m just at a loss, I love what I do but I can’t sacrifice that much for a job that doesn’t give a shit about me. Any advice on how to handle this situation? Thanks.