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Antiwork

My workplace are pitting people against each other for taking any sick time

So I'm in a call center sales job (which I despised enough already for a mountain of reasons). We are split into teams, but it's not like a traditional team. You are all pretty much pitted against each other on a scoreboard. If you're doing well, the managers will point it out and tell other people to try beating you, if you're not doing well, you are encouraged to overshadow your co-workers for meaningless sales points. ​ I had an email sent to me yesterday saying that if your entire team goes over 60 days without a single person taking any sick time off (literally even an hour for an appointment or something), they will get an extended lunch (30 minutes turned to 1 hour, what a treat) and a £10 voucher per person for food. I was feeling the beginning of an illness come on before even getting this…


So I'm in a call center sales job (which I despised enough already for a mountain of reasons). We are split into teams, but it's not like a traditional team. You are all pretty much pitted against each other on a scoreboard. If you're doing well, the managers will point it out and tell other people to try beating you, if you're not doing well, you are encouraged to overshadow your co-workers for meaningless sales points.

I had an email sent to me yesterday saying that if your entire team goes over 60 days without a single person taking any sick time off (literally even an hour for an appointment or something), they will get an extended lunch (30 minutes turned to 1 hour, what a treat) and a £10 voucher per person for food.

I was feeling the beginning of an illness come on before even getting this email, and it's gotten worse today, so by the looks of it I'm gonna be off sick soon. I'm not one to skip work because of the sniffles, but this is getting rough and being on the phones takes focus and a lot of mindpower, the kind you don't really get while sick.

I've just been moved to a new team this week, my 3rd or 4th team since being here (8 months) because they shuffle us around so much we can't even properly make friends with anyone before being moved around again. I think my new team are gonna have an immediate dislike for me because of this. It just seems so shitty to me to pull a move like this, which will obviously cause people to like each other less. Not that respect and teamwork matter here at all.

It's just me and my mother in the house and we split the bills. she is recovering from cancer so can only work part time. I can't just go without income, so quitting outright isn't an option. Right now I've got about 5 months of rent saved up since I'm not a big spender. I'm gonna save another month or 2 up and blow this shithole. Work on some passion projects and find somewhere even slightly more human that this place. Should be able to do that by the end of the month. It's a huge leap of faith and is probably stupid, but I'd rather take this risk and piss off some people than be dead in 6 months because all my joy in life has been stripped away. (it's not just this sick pay thing, it's far, far more)

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