Antiwork

I just remember this happened a bit ago, right at the start of the pandemic when I had gotten laid off. I was job hunting and as a college kid naturally took anything available if it paid at least minimum wage. I got an offer to be a barista at a little coffee shop near my place. The verbal agreement was $15 at full time. I get to my “training” shift, and find out I’m just supposed to be working. I had never made a drink before! I get to work, and everything was filthy. I cleaned the espresso machine and it obviously hadn’t been cleaned in weeks. One coworker was cutting food above the dish washing sink, literally with the cutting board perched on the dirty dishes. There was mold on the sink! I was absolutely horrified and I cleaned as much as I could. At one point a…

So last September I fell at work and tore my right rotator cuff. I had surgery at the beginning of December. I’m still on medical leave. I only get 66% of my pay on workers comp, so needless to say money has been tight. Work keeps bothering me wanting payments for insurance premiums. They don’t seem to understand that even before being on medical leave my family is living paycheck to paycheck, and now even more so. The came up with the brilliant idea of cashing in pto and sick time to cover it. Hard pass on that. I’ve earned my time and I will be taking time off at some point this summer when I’m healed up. Just needed to vent.

I recently got a new job in which I was required to do a certain amount of hours of training (unpaid) I was alright with that so I finished my training, get the schedule from my boss for the week in which she tells me actually that oh wait she doesn't need me to come in this week, I think alright I'll just wait this week and get a shift next week. Now she seems to be ghosting me, I sent her a message yesterday asking for my schedule for the week she read it and just had not responded since. Do I demand pay for the hours that I had “trained”? Is there anywhere I can report what she did? Or do I just start looking for another job now

This is an employer-written question. You can report inappropriate questions to Indeed through the “Report Job” link at the bottom of the job description. “Can you see yourself making at least 200 calls a day? (Our sales reps are on the phone all day trying to reach decision makers)” That is a very ambitious goal. If there are 480 minutes in an 8 hour day, and 200 calls is the goal, the average call length would be 2 minutes, 24 seconds. Zero seconds between calls. No problem being on the phone all day. I do that now. But 200 calls per day is what one might call ‘unrealistic.’

Is it just my own media bubble of being subbed here and visiting daily, that leads me to think the majority of 20-30 year olds are not just 'a bit lost'..But are utterly decimated by the undeniable math of the impossibility to ever afford a home? to even afford rent? to even afford food that one is excited about eating each week? The looming nightmare of being one incident away from being a helpless cripple on the streets? The humiliation of dating with such paltry lives and health? The humiliation of generational-propaganda to lead us into being viewed as irresponsible losers by our parents? The pains of feeling like failing parents that we are running out of ways to provide and protect for our children? The humiliation of being so exhausted and stressed each day from doing all the wild steps just to maintain some semblance of functionality in our…

So we have a group meeting in the morning and are told that we need to be committed in our work and not just involved and our boss tells us this story from the CEO. There was a farm that had a chicken and a pig. The chicken had an idea and goes to the pig and says, “Hey Pig, since the farmer is always so nice to us, we should do something nice for him.” The pig says, “Ok, sure.” The chicken says, “We should make him breakfast. I'm thinking ham and eggs.” And then some explanation about how the chicken is involved, but it is the pig that is committed. So we should kill ourselves for our work? How many people did this story go through for it to somehow still make it down to the employee level?

I came across a job listing with a position I thought would be a perfect match, with the salary listed as $13-$16 an hour. I figured I would ask for, and get, $16. I have over five years of experience. I put a ton of effort in, including a cover letter, was so excited when they called, only for them to tell me they “Hire everyone at $13 an hour and it's not negotiable.” Experience is irrelevant. If they would have just posted $13, without the range, I would have never applied. What should I do? Is it worth reporting as inaccurate? Are they all like this, posting a range while only hiring at the low number only?! I'm so frustrated right now.

I thought I did, but I guess I don't? So, I'm a healthcare worker; graduated literally months before the pandemic. After licensing and getting my first job, the US went on lockdown right as I finished my 6 week orientation. Then I was thrust into the thick of it with no protection, warning, or idea what the actual fuck was going on. But recently graduated and feeling a calling for healthcare, I soldiered on through the pandemic for very little pay considering the exhausting and – quite frankly – terrifying work. I worked non-stop for two years putting in crazy hours because hey, “Heroes work here.” Sure, the hazard overtime pay was nice, but goddamn did putting in all those hours burn me the fuck out. This isn't about that. This is about how after starting what many HCWs are doing – travel work – I finally have what I…