Antiwork

For some context, I started my career nearly 15 years ago. For the record, this is not intended to be a 'back in my day' rose-colored perspective of the past. What I'm about to describe has probably always existed to some extent. However, there is a trend I've been noticing a lot more of, and I can't help but think it's as a result of the tight labor market. I work for a “consulting” company that farms us out to clients for project-based work. Most of the time the clients are in pretty bad shape. They have either experienced major staff churn or are significantly behind on a project that was expected to be completed soon. I'm not going to sugar coat it, most of them have deservedly obtained their negative reputation due to poor treatment of staff, lack of WLB, and poor culture overall. While none of the assignments…

Seriously this annoys the shit out of me! On one hand the company is asking their employees to be as effective, thorough and offer amazing customer service then you're also asking them to juggle multiple chats at the same time? Just because its not a conversation over the phone doesn't mean that its drastically easier to offer support. This is one of the reasons why mid-way through my shopify interview, I decided to bail. Its extremely taxing on one's mental state to be able to have multiple support chats and then ask them to be superstar at their job and post amazing numbers? Fuck off.

I recently learned that a local company at some point had a mandatory overtime policy, and get this, they manufacture truck bed covers. First of all, there should be a law against mandatory overtime in most circumstances in which the product or service you are providing is not critical to human life. When I say that I mean the only exception to mandatory overtime should be the food supply chain (groceries not restaurants) and medical care. That still covers a lot of people and jobs but if you’re running up to a deadline for an order of coffee mugs, too bad so sad, let the order be late. When looking into mandatory overtime laws, another BS policy is that employers are required to pay 1.5x the hourly rate for non-exempt employees (FSLA salary rules are also BS). The problem with that is it’s an incentive for employers to do overtime,…

The manager went from telling me she would sort it out (via text) to flat out ignoring my messages and I still have not received my paycheck. I need this money. State is Louisiana, US. What are my options?

Edit: in NYC, I am an employee They just expect employees to … not get paid for their regular shifts when they’re sick. How do they not know this is HIGHLY illegal? For context, I work as a tutor. I usually end up working for small business in the private sector. They do the best they can and I usually am able to email the CEO because the businesses are so small in nature. All but ONE company (it was a franchise) I have ever worked for has not had a formal sick time system set up for their employees. They literally just expect tutors to reschedule sessions for when they are well enough to work instead of following labor laws. While I’m happy to reschedule individual sessions without claiming sick time, I make an exception when it comes to teaching classes, which I have done at every one of…

I had worked for a government agency in the past. I started as a seasonal, then was hired at .8 fte. As much as I loved the work and the agency, the specific location I was at was super toxic between my partner and my supervisor. On top of which, my son was dealing with medical issues. All of this added up to me being miserable so I left. Fast forward 2 years and the supervisor who manages the seasonal workers for the role I was in is retiring and gives me a call saying I would be perfect for the job. I have management experience and did the job for 2 years and other roles very similar. I apply and interview with the director and two people I had worked with in past. 2 days later I get an email saying that they're not filling the position at this…

This is horrible. I'm at a retirement “party” that the company I work for is throwing for a person who worked at this factory for 30 years. Listening to the executives try to find nice things to say about someone they barely know and glamorizing how much of an “impact” this person had is cringe. The jokes are cringe. Listening to someone struggle to stay how meaningful 3 decades of work at a warehouse is painful. Now the executive asked anyone to share funny stories from the time they worked with this person, and the silence from the crowd of people here is brutal. 30 years and this is it. We got sandwiches, and this person got a potted plant. I hope I die in my sleep before I have to be the focus of a retirement party.