Hi Reddit. I don’t know if I’m looking for advice or just to vent, but I’ve reached my breaking point and I’m about to lose my mind.
I work in human medical research. I’m an assistant and I work with 3 PhDs. I’ve worked here since August and I’m currently drowning. I get here at 8 am and work 8-5. Everyone else has pretty variable hours, but I’m always the first one here so I can start everything as soon as I get here. For the past month, I’ve had so much work that I get here at 8, work until 1, take 15-20 minutes for lunch, go back to work until 5, all without stopping. And even then, the work isn’t finished and the PhDs finish up after I leave. I also come in once every weekend to feed our cells and check everything. I live 35 minutes away from work and commute in every day. My bosses live 4 blocks away and bike or ride the metro.
Recently, I’ve made a few small mistakes (nothing that would have any serious consequences) but it’s 100% because I’m so overworked that I can’t keep up with what’s going on. I’m running about 5 different sets of cells, plus doing all of the side work. I’m mentally exhausted and I keep having these crying breakdowns at work because I’m just so burned out.
My boss is Japanese and he’s a super hard worker, so I don’t feel comfortable going to him and telling him that I need less work and that they’re expecting way more out of me than what I’m being paid for. I’m doing more work than the new PhD we hired a few months ago and I’m probably getting paid half of what she makes, plus I have to go in on the weekends and she hasn’t been asked to. But I have set up a meeting with our PI to ask him how to handle this and to air my grievances. I’m a very hard worker and I’ve never had to ask for less work before so I’m incredibly nervous about this meeting. If anyone has any advice or words of encouragement, I would greatly appreciate it!