I have just joined this community and in reading the comments and posts here, it has made me feel like I'm not so alone.
For the last year I have grown increasingly infuriated with the way my employer has taken advantage of me over the last 10 years. I've finally started to change the way I view my job there. And more, finally started speaking up about things – which has been a real eye-opener because all my superiors basically agree with me but then do absolutely nothing about it. Well, I gave them a chance to rectify this but they will not pay me any more or give me a promotion.
I'm going to take advantage of every paid sick day and vacation day that I can. I'm going to do only what is required of me, and sometimes probably not even that! I'm going to take advantage of the trust I've earned, and I won't feel like I need to check in with a superior all the time. I'm going to take long lunch breaks, work from home whenever I want to, and run errands on paid time. They owe me for wage theft, manipulation, and abuse for 10 years. It's time I start to collect.
Most of all, I'm going to stop with this ridiculous charade that everyone there plays at – acting as if we're all volunteers together sharing in one mission. No! This is a job. I get paid an hourly rate to do what I'm required to do.
The next time one of my superiors gives me a task in that kind of “asking for a a favor” language, I'm going to respond in language that indicates that this is a job, not friends helping each other. I will ask for clarification on deadlines and expectations, if only to remind them that this is a paid job; I'm not a friend helping them! I will not speak about my job in terms of “helping out.” That kind of language is manipulative. I don't share in the glory of any achievements I am helping them to get, so why should I pretend?