Antiwork

I was working at a statewide grocery store chain similar to Safeway or Albertson’s from November 2018 to May 2021. In 2020 when covid first happened, what they gave us in lieu of hazard pay for being essential workers was an $100 gift card each month for the store, which they then would tax us out of one of our paychecks for, in addition to the money they were getting back with the gift cards and the tax write offs for them. They didn’t tell us we were being taxed the full amount of them out of our paycheck, I had to use a third party pay stub website to look at one of my paystubs for unrelated reasons, (the only options they had for receiving wages was either a company card or direct deposit, and I had direct deposit) printed it out and asked my manager about it before…

Context: I am 19 years old working at a large southeast chain grocery store, and I was hired in April 2021. At the time, the state minimum wage was $11.75, but I started at $12 as a customer service lead. I was promoted to office assistant in October 2021, with all of the accompanying responsibilities and raise (or so I thought). My boss (B) had told me she had officially promoted me after I finished training for my new position, and I could see on my schedule that I was indeed promoted as I was listed as the store's office assistant (which is basically assistant manager-lite, I help out with running the front end of the store and in the cash office, and there are a few other people who have this position). She had said that because she “changed my position in the system”, it also “calculated my raise…

I’ve been thinking about a dollar amount in savings between cash and investments that will motivate me to walk away from a job, any job. I settled on $500k. That’s enough to ensure I can wipe my debts and have a good chunk left over to live on for while so that I can figure out next steps. What about you all? What’s your number?

The reality is that US is not going to get European style welfare states. The economic system is arranged in such a way as to prevent that. The only solution is violence or complete overthrowal of capitalism if you want any changes. Also European countries themselves are moving away from that. This attitude of, “we just need to change government policies”, is the wrong way to go.

I work an 8:30-5:00 office job. When it comes to lunch breaks, I still think of the mindset, “I get 30 minutes off to relax, eat, and unwind a little.” However I see many of my coworkers eating and working at the same time! I’m wondering, is this the same deal for most people in the US? Or do you get to leave the office for a bit to get lunch?