Antiwork

I hate that worth is determined by what you can bring. Other than small children really, you have to earn worth for people. As soon as you hit a certain age it’s “when are you getting a job?” A 15 year old slaving away at McDonald’s isn’t gonna teach them shit other than fast food service sucks ass and so does the pay and people. I mean my first job I made BARELY over minimum wage. 7.25 is my state minimum wage. I don’t remember exactly what I was paid, but it was less than $8. The reason they gave was because I wasn’t 16 yet (not sure how that’s relevant). Then after 6 months I got some stupid ass raise that still wasn’t over 8$ an hour. Humans have worth like anything else. It’s a life. You don’t ask to be born. Worth shouldnt be measured by material possessions…

So, I've been having a few (phone) interviews in the past few days. I want a bartending job at higher-end places. The ads say must be available, nights, overnights, weekends, and holidays. Okay, fine and dandy. So, I'd tell them (for example): on Thursdays, I'm available only nights, Friday and Saturdays I'm fully available for both nights and overnights, and I'm available on certain holidays depending on which ones you'd think I'd be more needed. So, I'll let holidays more up to their discretion, but I'm open to holidays as a whole. Somehow, they do not like when I tell them my availability in this overly-detailed manner. They tell me: “no thanks.” I'm like, “what?!” They always ask for what availability do I have… and that's the one I have.

Just to preface this – I’m guilty of this because I have to do this as part of my qualification to become a teacher; however I still don’t think it is right. I brought this topic up a few weeks ago with some friends saying that work-life balance is basically non-existent most week days and I really don’t think it’s fair teachers have to do all of their planning, marking etc outside of school hours (I’m training so I don’t even get paid for the school hours – I pay for the privilege of teaching others). My friends are basically resigned to it being “normal” for jobs to give up hours after your paid shift ends to get stuff done. I’m utterly baffled at this. This is only anecdotal, but has anyone else noticed this amongst their friends? This acceptable to work far longer hours than you’re being paid for…

I know this is one of many hot topics around here so I want to get as much feedback as possible. Long and short is that I lead a cross-functional team that has gone above and beyond (both in product and hours) to fulfill demands from the higher ups. I want to recognize their efforts and thank them for it, but none of them report to me and I'm a junior level manager in a large, bureaucratic org – I have no power to influence things like days off or bonus pay. I did get approval to do some kind of “recognition gift” worth approx $20pp, but was told it can't be on alcohol so my initial idea for a round of beers is gone. Is there anything I can do that doesn't come off as condescending? Should I just spend my own money and take them out anyways? What's…

I posted a few times today. Last one I swear for a bit. So when I got this job hr began wage negotiations…I had decided I wanted to make as much as I did at my last job, I just wanted out, gave the number and silence. Mind you I knew I had the job already. After a moment I hear “honey we don't pay that low, we start at (several dollars more an hour) and you have experience so it's going to be more….few more minutes I hear how about (a couple more dollars an hour on top of that). With full benefits, of which theirs are amazing, with better hours, etc. It was at that moment I realized how much I've been under valuing myself all this time by quite alot it seems. I'd just assumed going up a dollar an hour or so to each new job…

TL;DR: I went through three interviews (about seven hours of engagement total) for a $16/hr part time data entry and analysis over two and a half months only to be told that I wasn’t getting the job because they didn’t want to “trap” me in it. This year has been the first time I’ve ever been unemployed for longer than a few weeks in my life. After the office I worked for closed for good in December, I decided to take a full month off to treat myself. I submitted an application in mid January and heard back by the 21st. The company liked my resume and application answered and wanted to book an interview. The earliest opportunity was on February 14th, and as much as I hated to wait that long, I did. I did other interviews in that time for jobs that I wouldn’t be able to afford…

I consider myself pretty politically moderate. I like to understand everyone and all points of view. I must be missing something about the “Abolish Labor” movement. As such, I'd love to hear answers to some questions. How would enterprise ownership work? Would we take all shares of all businesses and distribute them equally to employees? Would an employee have to give back their shares when they quit? How does this work for sole proprietorship businesses which are little different than a person just working? If a sole proprietor decides to add an employee years after starting a venture, would that employee automatically receive half of the business? Are employees ready to take the risk of downside of business ownership? I.e. Let's say that that sole proprietorship had debt. That debt is now assigned to the partnership that includes the new employee. Now, lets' say that the business does very poorly.…