I’m burnt out. Im only 29 and I’ve legitimately lost all hope for finding work that isn’t burning the candle at both ends.
I’ve been a trade painter for almost a decade now, before that I worked some shitty retail jobs, with the typical woes of poor management and rude customers. Then moved furniture for a few years for a private company, at the time I was too young to realize my boss’s “I only have x amount right now can I give you the rest later?” Or cash splits on checks were both tax evasion and withholding federally mandatory overtime pay from me.
My first painting gig wasn’t great but, also not the worst. Typical stingy boss, had company vehicles we were supposed to run crews in but a week into every job we would be forced to drive personal vehicles to sites up to 4 hours round trip, habitual avoidance of paying ride time and refusal to pay agreed upon mileage to employees that got duped into doing so. Always an excuse as to why we couldn’t get raises. Still pretty young at that point.
Since then I’ve dealt with habitual tax fraud by misclassification of employees as contractors, once by extorting a signature on 1099’s by withholding proof of income for medical reasons, causing 18k against my credit which I’m still recovering from. Working 60 hour weeks and getting paid for 50 hours regularly at another company. Several shitty companies firing me for demanding my checks on time and stealing hundreds of dollars in equipment (at least three times in the past 4 years) which cause hits to my credit and late fees on bills and rent equivalent to thousands. I just can’t do it anymore.
When I express my woes to my boomer parents, they say shit like “welcome to the real world.” Or that my opinions of a fair workplace sound like some “woke” bullshit. I don’t get it. I can’t afford to live in a rental from the 50’s and my pops bought his first 2 year old used car with a summer job. What the fuck is wrong with this place?
My check was shorted for the 3rd time I could prove today and my employer gaslighted me saying I was making a big deal out of nothing, then every subsequent manager (there was a real too many chiefs not enough injuns deal on this site) proceeded to berate me until I walked off the job today. They also promoted two people with 0 experience to lead roles for their sheer loud mouthed mess and arrogance after dangling the position in my face and telling me it was mine, while the superintendents (their bosses) treating me as such and acknowledging my qualifications, which was the final straw. I’ve had four offers this week alone for equal pay. But after the interviews I’m not hopeful. From “talking about your pay with coworkers is a fireable offense” onward I don’t have high hopes. The supervisor from the site messaged me and said verbatim “what the fuck is your problem, be a man and fucking talk to me”, when I did and after being told my unpaid hours weren’t a big deal, money which equals my gas and food for a week, I was told to get the fuck out of here. I’m just done dude.