I used to work for Llyods bank in the UK (Wales). I was in phone banking. The turnover rate was well above 40%. Half of my team left within the first 8-10 months on the job. I should say the racism and the verbal abuse was intense, it occurred everyday multiple times to the point where your psyche could no longer ignore and cope with it. Our schedules changed every week. One week you could be working from early mornings, and the next from late afternoons, so your sleeping pattern was constantly being unbalanced and your body could simply not adjust. Off days were spread out. We almost e never got 2 consecutive off days. My team was also expected to create a WhatsApp group and chat during off days and even grab drinks. If you did not do that your teammates would ostracize you and would badmouth you to oblivion. Teammates were also very transphobic; the internal culture at the bank HQ was also very transphobic and would not shy away from laughing at your appearance to your face. HR was incredibly rude to the point where talking to the created more stress than simply trying to deal with any sort of problem. The pay of course was shit: £18,000 before taxes are deduced. Most people also spent their hard earned money at the kitchen which of course charged for every meal, hence the bank making back a the money which you are paid. The managers were all a bunch of degenerates, mostly male, but the point here is that they espoused a macho attitude in the workplace often mixing their workout powder and drinking their workout shakes on the floor. Very immature and very sexist. Lots of individuals who were promoted were promoted because of their popularity and social likeness, similarly to high school culture. In any case, within my first year I began feeling burned out and unwanted to the point where it culminated in using sick days for rest. Vacation days were also bizarrely expected to be used as rest days being that it was implicitly understood that the rate of work was too exhausting. So vacation days were taken every month in a manner such that by the time summer came around your 25days paid leave was reduced to just a couple of days. Christmas slots were impossible, and you were expected to work on Sundays as well.
One day I woke up as usual, prepared my lunch, ironed my clothes, brewed my coffee, sat down looked out the window, caressed my cat, smiled; that moment felt peaceful and just right. The contrast between that moment and the toxic environment at work, that in fact is work, was difficult to ignore or write over. I simply did not go to work that day, did not call in, shut my phone off, and went to the park. After 3 days my manager whatsapped me and told me they were letting me go, if I could return my badge, to which my reply was absolutely not, I had already disposed of it in the trash. Never got a reply. It was the best decision of my life.
Since I had saved up some money because working at Llyods made it impossible to have a life outside of work, I used that money to go back to school. Now I have 3 masters degrees, a PhD, and am on my way to starting my post-doc. (Controversial to day but) fuck those petty little ignorant pawns who knowingly reappropriate the very system that oppresses them, who relish in that very system and impose it on their peers as if they were somehow less capable, less intelligent, like sheep or cattle in need of direction and lecture, I need of juvenile rewards like printed golden stars and cheap certificates of “achievement” made on MS word. Fuck them!