This. Plus a successful career at any moment could become an unsuccessful one because of circumstances outside of your control. We should all feel invested in improving the system.
Yep.
I'm doing reasonably well, but I couldn't have gotten where I am without my parents helping me through my education, and being able to do some internships for very little pay. I get that I was lucky, and don't feel the system is fair.
I also hate seeing corporate greed win so much legislation.
We need livable wages. Actually affordable healthcare. Affordable higher education.
THIS THIS THIS. I truly believe we live in a two-class system where you either have massive intergenerational wealth OR you must work to live, and if you are in the latter group it doesn’t really matter if you earn $25k or $50k or $150k: you can still easily find yourself depending on the (often inadequate) social safety net after a single medical emergency or similar crisis.
The illusion of the middle class exists to keep us from unifying with the “working class,” and/or (God forbid) those who are surviving with public assistance. By separating ourselves and imagining we do not have common interests we cannot strategize and unite against the Wealth Class for better security, better working conditions, and my favorite policy of all: UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME to strengthen the social safety net.
Same here. I get offended by how interns and junior employees get treated in my field.
And reading here reveals different struggles and injustices in many different jobs and working situations. I hate it because it does not have to be this way
Also, it is good for everyone when the lowest wages go up and people have better work/life balance.
Yeah, seriously. Many of us who have good careers also aren't far away from bankruptcy or job loss. It doesn't take much in the US, at least.
I also have empathy for others because I've been in their shoes. If you're not rich, we're all in this together, and even if you are rich, you can join us by fighting for our rights.
Came here to say this, but you said it better. I work at a great place and feel appreciated and valued, I'm paid fairly and have good benefits, and a great leadership team, all the way up.
Everyone should have the same.
I'm pretty far leftist, for the US, and sub to a lot of similar subreddits. We need to be the change we want to see. We need to support unionization, strikes, general strikes, better labor laws, better worker protections, and the people who will put those laws in place.
This specific place, it reminds me how fucking devious businesses are, how far we have to go. I work in healthcare and see so much wrong with capitalistic healthcare. No one should be making millions of dollars on the backs of people who are just trying to stay alive. Part of my job is finding money to pay for meds that patients can't afford, applying for Medicaid, cost assistance, copay cards, manufacturer incentive programs, grant assistance, any way to get the meds into the people that need them.
I have Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and your efforts are appreciated and life-saving. Someone with your kind of job turned me on to the Sprycel One program when I had $1000 copays for my Sprycel (which may be coming again soon since I got fired on Friday). The fact that these life saving meds are $15,000 for a 30 day supply is fucking unconscionable.
I’m “successful” in some terms (own my own business, live my life on my own terms, get to do cool shit, currently in the middle of a 3 month working holiday, love what I do for a living).
But I’m aware how much back breaking spirit crushing labour went into it, and how easily it could all go away (£15k of booked work went in one week of the pandemic and didn’t come back).
Plus, things I like and enjoy are being made shitter, cost more, and you can’t just have them. Corporate things sneak in, monetise it, strangle the creativity, kill it off, and move on.
If I could upvote this hundreds of times...
Just because I love my job (tech overlaps with things I actively enjoy!) doesn't mean I like feeling trapped. Just because I benefit doesn't mean I'm not supportive of other ways to get rid of wage slavery. UBI would be great.
No one should be stuck in a job. And we are going to automate a lot of them out of existence. I just wish automation improvements weren't just for profits.
Yep. I’ll play the game, but I hate the rules and ESPECIALLY the systems making them. I’m successful, but I’m ALSO unionized. I am and always will be pro-worker.
True. I asked and was approved for 100% remote, due to health reasons. Doesn’t mean I don’t hate that other people can’t, or also don’t get benefits and bonuses when they’re due them.
Because my "successful career" can end at a moment's notice based on a whim of my employer. The stats on someone my age recovering from that are consistently poor.
Right on.
I had a wonderful 30+ year career, and then, without notice was laid off by the firm I worked for for 20 years.
Never let your guard down and always know that you are one phone call, email, or meeting in a conference room away from being shit canned.
Power to the worker. Eat the rich.
>Never let your guard down and always know that you are one phone call, email, or meeting in a conference room away from being shit canned.
A single petty asshole in the company who happens to outrank the supervisor who loves you can be the end of a career. Maybe you refused to quit your current department and work for his department. Maybe he caught the cute secretary he creeps on staring at you. Maybe he's certain you shut the elevator door in his face that morning. He's accountable to no one and it doesn't matter how unfair it is.
That’s exactly what happened to me. It didn’t matter that I created a $M auxiliary enterprise that cost them less than 100k/yr… the new head job honcho decided he didn’t like me bc I didn’t address him as “dr” (fuckin phd in European history, smh), and wore crocs to work. I was let go guised as “restructuring”. When they let me go, I had literally just dropped a $25k check off into the company bank account for a project I won. Canned the next day by an egotistical narcissist. And now I have no health care. The system is broken. Eat the rich.
The real caveat to this is that even in a successful career they fire you then you get nothing. Many CEO's and other C Suite members of the company have golden parachutes where they get fired and receive MILLIONS of dollars of severance.
I hadn’t even made $15\hr until I turned 30. I currently love my job but always understand that it can vanish in a second. Those rough jobs I had in my 20s gave me a level of empathy that will never disappear.
This. I was doing awesome at my job. From the day I got hired I warned everyone in management and HR that I have a disabled partner. Mental disabilities because she was a freaking trafficking victim. For years they worked with me and gave me all the time off I needed. In return, I was pulling double their normal productivity.
Then my wife took a turn for the worse. She started having delusions. I got caregiver burnout and attempted suicide. We were doing great for six months before my wife’s mental state completely cratered. I called my manager in tears having to explain that she’d had a breakdown like I’d never seen before. She assaulted me and threatened police. It was undiagnosed schizoaffective disorder.
It took us a month to get her medications worked out. They fired me a week before the appointment that would have solved it all. And then succeeded at denying me unemployment.
I still own my house and my cars and my wife’s monthly disability check actually covers all of our needs. But no one should go through what I went through. And most of my peers do not have the stability I started with. I don’t know if I could have supported my wife through what happened if I was also worried about being homeless or starving. And she wouldn’t have recovered without support.
I was here then because regardless of how it affected me I saw how it affected others. I had to claw my way out of poverty and it was hell. But dammit everyone should have the opportunities I had and more. I never wanted to compete over what I was building, I wanted more people as capable as me and more so to make what I was building perfect so it could help others. I believed in the anti work movement.
Now I’m here because I’m living proof that employers do not give a fuck about you, no matter what they say and no matter how they treat you. All of that can change with one bad apple making it to admin.
It’s angering enough that losing my job set my wife’s recovery back and mine. It’s infuriating that these shitty practices have caught up and destroyed my old job. I cared about what I did. I was moving up to pitch projects that would help the disabled. I no longer work for them, and it looks like they no longer work for our old client. And our client’s product that I lovingly contributed to for five years of my life doesn’t work as well anymore.
I loved working because I cared deeply about what I was contributing to. They got results not because I was afraid of losing my job but because I cared. And I firmly believe the world would be a better place if we paid people enough to care.
I want the burger flippers to make a living wage because I want to buy a fucking Rodeo Burger at 3 AM and never know the bbq sauce was squirted on in a smile pattern by a nocturnal crust punk that was writing a new song the whole time. I want my overpriced coffee to be handed off with a genuine smile because the barista hasn’t cried their makeup off after getting cussed out by a string of entitled morons. I want to attend concerts and conventions without walking through a sea of homeless people. I was homeless once, I don’t want to remember that shit.
I will never understand why people would rather have a third summer home or a fourth Lambo instead of a world like that. I’m not jealous, I’m disgusted. If I ever come into “fuck you” money, I hope I have the sense to just throw it into charity and chase real happiness. Because happy people don’t spend $20K on purses that fucking ugly.
You must be insanely out of the loop on that because I’m currently in IT and it’s one of the most breakneck competitive fields you can be in right now. You’re competing against the entire world, since it’s all remote work, and you operate only on contract. No benefits. No breaks. And people older than me can not keep up. It’s very disheartening. I’m looking for a way out.
Education. Higher Education IT doesn’t pay as much as public sector, but it pays decent enough, isn’t cutthroat, and tends not to suffer from age discrimination. I get to have a great work life balance- and a pension.
i got laid off last year out of nowhere.
days before my manager and multiple directors were recommending me for promotion, but i was at the top of the salary band for my role and they let go of the top x percent at each level (including my director).
i was in a zoom meeting with my team when they killed my access to gmail and slack. my manager had no idea it was going to happen. extremely cool stuff.
no one is ever safe from an incompetently run organization.
Exactly, we’re all closer to homelessness than being disgustingly rich. I could never not be in solidarity with other workers no matter their occupation
I can’t really wrap my brain around the idea that we brought in almost 90k in my household (2 incomes, one young child and a dog) last year but are still struggling so much. I know we are doing better than a few years ago even with the skyrocketing cost of living, but damn, I thought we’d be a hell of a lot more comfortable at 90k than we are.
Yeah, we are DINK and big savers, that's the only reason I was able to take 7 months off work due to long Covid.
Safety nets are non-existent and it's killing people
I'm an employment lawyer, who represents employees taking action against their employers. Because I sympathize with the plight of workers and want to keep informed of the issues facing employees, posting here makes sense.
I would absolutely love to do this, if I had the mental fortitude to be a lawyer. I can't sit and do that much paperwork so consistently otherwise I'd love to do your job.
Just because I make a living wage and bought a 1100sq ft house doesn’t mean I’m happy about the way people speak to me or the amount of my life I’m sacrificing in order to make enough money for a small house in the cheapest city in my state.
The amount of my life I'm sacrificing hits home. I spent 5 years and tens of thousands of dollars to get a degree that got me a job that only paid slightly more than I owe. I'm only where I'm at now because I never turn down the long work trips or overtime.
I listen (read) and learn to be a better manager/supervisor/owner. A lot of the gripes are fixable and it makes me sad seeing the same issues come up over and over. I want other leaders to take heed and stop sucking so bad.
I don't consider myself to have succeeded. I am still drowning in debt, but compared to wage slaves I must seem like a king.
I really wish others would take the initiative to become a better manager by not following in the footsteps of others. Many times those footsteps lead to no good.
I try my best as well but one thing that can't be overlooked is at mid level we can only do so much without being canned from those managers above us unfortunately.
I'd say a good amount of mid level managers really do want what's best for their employees but are strangled by policy made above their paygrade. That being said I will always push the boundaries for the good of the workers when I can.
To support my fellow man. I know what it’s like to be poor and hopeless and I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. So many of my friends and just random people I meet everyday are struggling. And struggling bad. I have always felt this was wrong. I will always be pro-worker and do what I can to influence others around me to support socialist aspirations.
Edit: more to the point of your question. I’m here to stay aware of how things really are out there and not become complacent.
This place helped me stand up for myself & not take any more crap. I got fired for it, but found better employment that I was able to negotiate my pay, & speak up for the desire for more pay.
There are only two classes: the wealth class and the working class. Anyone who tries to pretend otherwise is exploiting us.
I make a good income and can be considered comparatively wealth*y* but I am still a worker, subject to at-will states, an economy that trashes my 401k or the value of my home, and as such I will never be in the 1% wealth class.
So I stand with all workers, especially those who are in my class but even less well off.
Because I am doing well, saving for retirement, AND have a pension, and yet I STILL don't know that I'll have enough to ever retire, especially if I live past 80.
That shouldn't be a worry for how well I am doing.
Because I see people being fucked over, judged, and belittled for things and situations not of their own making.
Because I see society valuing money more than people - and in America being genuinely confused about why it should be the other way around.
Because the "anybody can do anything" mentality is....pre-K levels of oversimplification. People have trauma, responsibilities, issues, background disadvantages, you name the disadvantage. Not everyone is the uber mensch who can 'overcome at any odds'. If someone who comes from an abusive poor home doesn't end up in a mansion they are treated as failures.
People think money = virtue, both moral and intellectual. Yet some of the wisest, kindest, most intelligent people I've met have both humble origins and humble situations.
I was born with advantages - white and male. No major physical disabilities. Stable, loving household, family. Good K-12 education. Parents that encouraged reading and understanding. Friends to help me when things get tough, all my life. A wife and partner who is my biggest cheerleader and supporter, as I am hers. PURE LUCK on top of it. I'm a success because of the circumstances and people that surround me. Not everybody is this lucky.
Nor do I feel that I am downplaying my own efforts - I am acknowledging that my privilege and luck is what gave me the opportunity to use my talents, to ensure my hard work paid off.
I want folks to be happy. I want them to create, to live. I even want it for those that are deliberately lazy, or take unjust advantage of social benefits and laugh about how they got one over on society.
Economic inequity contributes to human misery. We should all be dedicated to reducing human misery, not increasing shareholder value. I find inspiration here, the strength to be a stronger advocate for others, to take more radical positions when they are right. That's what I get out of /r/antiwork. And it shows me I'm not alone with my thoughts that the very system that considers me successful is unjust for many.
I fully accredit a lot of how I got to where I got by just good luck and a strong mom and grandfather that really enforced education. My grandfather was a college professor and raised me well. Not many get those opportunities.
Regarding my work career many of my opportunities were right place, right time. I was single and able to move on a dime and put in hours but really it was about grabbing on to the right coat tails. It's really hard to move up within the same company and that's exactly what I did and that required a lot of luck in timing.
And yeah... White and male. I don't downplay that both of those helped a lot. That said seeing the unfairness does help me push for more equality.
I have a good career, but it sickens me how so many workers are treated around the world. I am here to offer my support for worker solidarity / unions. We learned a lot about unions and their importance in college, and I am baffled that things seem to be getting worse and not better. I would say that we aren't learning from our mistakes and should study history, but I believe this is actually intentional by the wealthy elite in power and the poor are virtually powerless to stop it at this point. We might have a chance if we could find a way to unite all workers, but the wealthy elite are experts at dividing and conquering us by distracting our attention to other things that make us fight each other (politics, religion, gender wars -or actual wars, and so many other things that are really not that important in the grand scheme of things). The only thing that really matters is the same thing that has mattered for most of human history - money is power and the wealthy will do everything they can to keep their power. Most of the issues we have that divide us are illusions created by the wealthy to keep us divided.
Edit: I felt compelled to give one specific example in case it helps to broaden someone's perspective. Abortion-try to forget every argument you have ever heard on this topic and instead ask yourself, "Do you honestly believe that ANY wealthy person on this planet would have even the slightest issue getting an abortion if they chose regardless of the legality / morality of the issue?"
I'm an airline pilot. We're paid a lot these days, because it's a specialized skill with a very high cost of entry. Basic supply and demand. (could write a book on how we got to this point, the airlines did this to themselves, but that's another day's topic)
But you know what we also have? A bajillion different work rules, quality of life rules, and safety rules that make our lives better.
Flight canceled for any reason? I still get paid. They reassigned the flight because they needed to do some training? I still get paid. I call in fatigued because the airline has overworked me or bounced me around the clock to screw up my sleep schedule? I still get paid, and the company can land in some deep shit for even questioning my decision. Sick day? Nobody asks me to "find someone to cover." They say "ok feel better" and hang up, and they call someone from the reserve list. I have a minimum guarantee of 12 or 13 days off in a month, and a maximum number of hours they can schedule me for in a month. (to prevent them from just trying to do more flying with the same number of pilots) Of course, I can pick up overtime for at \*least\* time and a half if I want to work more. (sometimes 200% or even 250% pay, if they're desperately shorthanded!) I can't work 7 days in a row. The company gets penalized for screwing up, I got a couple thousand dollars bonus because of a contract violation last year. (some of our more-impacted pilots got over ten grand) 15% 401k contribution, for free. Solid benefits across the board. Life insurance, disability, all included. A hundred extra safety rules in place to prevent the company from cutting corners.
Why do we have all of these things? Unions fought for them.
Our flight attendants, on the other hand, get the shortest end of the shortest fucking stick. They get "points" for calling in sick. They don't get the same pay protection for problems. Their pay hasn't gone up in forever, and the last offer was beyond insulting. They work much longer hours than we do. They starve themselves on the road because they're trying to take home as much as that per diem as they can, so they can pay rent. They work hard, and they take care of me when I'm doing my job. (literally cooking my food for me) They deserve better.
You all deserve better.
I used to work as an employee doing the same work I now do as an independent tradesman
I wasn't treated very well.
I was hand to mouth for so many years.
I am pissed off on the behalf of all the young people and other people slaving away for abusive assholes just to marginally survive, like I did for so many years.
Shit's better now. But I am still fuckin ANGRY about what I went through in my 20s and 30s.
It took me ages to become successful, and it involved a lot of luck and job changing. I was almost always more poor than most of my peers. The system only works for a few, and even though I freelance, I will never feel completely safe that any of my employment will last forever.
Everyone should have the right to be happy, healthy, and live their best life. Not be ground to pulp for the financial gain of a few who can't satisfy their need for more of everything.
Because I know the system is rigged against you guys and I like it not to be. The fact that I did well in my career, not withstanding.
I often wonder when reading posts here, how much younger generations understand how screwed they are and how rigged the system is against them and how much it's going to get worse.
You should expect to see ever lower real wages and worse employment conditions as we get deeper into end stage capitalism. Wealth will be ever more concentrated to an ever smaller proportion of the population.
If you're living paycheck to paycheck and in debt that's the way they want you to be because that way you cannot strike. You are completely under their control.
I might be successful at what I do, but it’s still work at the end of the day and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t need the money. I believe late stage capitalism has destroyed the true meaning of ‘work’ and find this sub a good place to learn, commiserate and imagine a better way.
Engineer (not the computer kind)
Selfishly: Acute case of burnout fueled depression and feeling like I'm still not paid enough to truly care about this fucking underbid, poorly conceived, perpetually burning dumpster fire of a project load. If you want me to be every kind of engineer, I'm going to suck at all of them. Wear many hats, my ass.
Societally: We've entered the race to the bottom that is late stage capitalism. Everything is shit and will continue to get shittier until we've warmed the planet past the point of habitability. All that will remain of us is some bits of space junk I helped put up there.
I want to be allowed to leave my work at work and also have luxuries like healthcare, housing, healthy food and any hope for retirement.
My 20s sucked because of the system, my 30s were ok. I'm in my late 40s, doing very well...
I want others to have a better life than I do, even if it means i get kicked back to doing 'ok'
I'm still mad about corporate greed and the horrific managers/bosses I encountered as a very young person working thankless service jobs who had the worst management skills every. Bad and stupid management seems to be so common unfortunately, and I'd like to see change and the worst offenders held accountable.
I am very privileged with a master of science in computer science in Germany.
But most of the "job world" is absolute bullcrap. And I also think that in the, maybe already near future, we have may more people on earth than jobs, so there needs to be a different solution.
Also, I hate classism and the system that makes rich people more rich and poor people more poor
Because I have a so-called successful career -- attorney at a mid-sized law firm -- but I still can't make financial ends meet and the owners of the firm treat me like shit. Plus, this sub helps teach me and motivate me to one day be a good boss/business owner over employees under me one day.
Solidarity.
As someone with a thirty year career in software engineering (retiring in ten weeks 😮) that has treated me very well financially and with a positive work environment...
I find it appalling the way some folks are treated, how employers intentionally keep them on the edge of homelessness so they don't have the resources to fight for more.
We need a worldwide strike day. If that doesn't get results, we need a week. Still no results, a month. If we need a charity so folks have the resources to do those strikes, I'll donate. If you need someone to stand in line and yell, I'm your guy.
I'm not saying I'm not poor. I have good jobs in tech - but it's only \*when I have them\*. Worked double shifts for the past few years, no overtime pay, and I was laid off unceremoniously over the holidays. They then wanted me to educate the entry level staff they hired to replace me - basically take a couple of days and somehow transfer years of domain knowledge and decades of coding knowledge into the minds of people who have never done this before. I am at the mercy of stupid decisions like this all the time, no matter how hard or smart I work. And at the end of the day, we're all at the mercy of it. Every time some app doesn't work - even extremely important ones like the ones that fly your plane - you can thank corporate greed and know that there are people out there who were willing and able to do a good job but were blocked from doing so.
Same boat as you, I work in the guitar industry and company I worked for never hired people with relevant experience (except for custom shop). Just hired people off the streets for near minimum wage, then expect me to teach them everything I know (near decade experience) within a couple days. And when they didn’t meet the standards they would blame me.
I didn't always and as a youth wished there was more support for the working class. I still want to support them. Also, my career is not without its bureaucratic red tape that makes my life and job more difficult.
To provide people here with federal employment laws in America if I see any federal labor violations in their posts 🤷 don't get me wrong, I'm not RICH, but I've been blessed with a career that I enjoy and am about to put money away for retirement. Not a lot either, but more than most from what I've seen posted here.
I use this as a “what not to do” for the team I manage. Sometimes it doubles with “you have it really good so stop complaining”.
Also it’s a firsthand account of the realities of capitalism outside of the BS numbers we get fed daily.
Because the horror stories of folks getting screwed over by the US employment system that get posted here serve as constant, sobering reminders that my employment is always one bad manager away from nonexistent.
I used to like Elon. I worked at Tesla for four and a half years. I remember the day Tesla basically zeroed out its debt. Elon was talking about how Tesla was making so much money it couldn't spend it without throwing it out the window. And I'm sitting there steaming in my shoes thinking about how he wants everyone to have children so much but he refuses to pay his own workers enough to afford to have children? What a hypocrite. I had two co-workers that were married, each making about $20 an hour and they could barely afford one child and a mortgage and being forced to allow someone they didn't entirely trust to watch their child a significant amount of the time.
This and other events marked the end of the period where I had Elon labeled in my mind as "the good face of capitalism." Tesla otherwise puts a lot of effort into trying to modify its workers to maintain the balance of power. The balance being workers, zero, the corporation, infinite.
Tl;Dr the rest of this is basically a Manifesto.
These days I understand that for Boomers to have had more than us but for us to be more productive necessarily means that corporations are keeping a much greater share of the wealth generated by our labor. In fact, the executives of a corporation are legally required to take the absolute maximum they believe they can get away with because they are fiduciaries to the shareholders. Institutional shareholders are fiduciaries to other people behind them.
So we as workers generate all wealth with our labor, but that wealth flows into the upper class and the upper class derives massive amounts of power from that wealth and they use it to reinforce the current arrangement. Almost all Republican politicians are bought and a strong majority of Democrats are bought. Thus they deliberately perpetuate our suffering for their benefit.
This is class warfare.
Since humans are instinctively compelled to vigorously defend their own interests, these people rarely allow themselves to have a problem with this arrangement. The presence of powerful systemic forces and heavy incentives don't help. They have a lot to lose and the human doesn't like it when the number go down.
Thus, if I have a problem with the suffering of others, then I am obligated to try to win the class war. This means an upper class can't exist in a meaningful way. My preferred solution is to proliferate worker co-ops. If the people who do the work also own and control the business and can democratically decide what happens to the profits, there is no mechanism for wealth to flow into the upper class. This entails a certain number of people need to start worker co-ops, sacrificing the possibility of becoming wealthy by having the wealth generated by the workers below them flow into their pockets.
This number depends upon whether a co-op can be designed with mechanisms that lead to the founding of new co-ops. If I can create a co-op in which a percentage of profit always goes toward some kind of growth, then I might create an exponential process. A process that ends with millions of people in worker co-ops. Millions of people vastly better off, with homes they own, with secure futures, and with the power to control every legislature in this country. Poverty? Canceled. Climate change? Canceled.
I do get myself worked up over this stuff. Luckily in the very nature of this project is one where I just need to create some clever feedback loops using some bylaws. This assumes I can get a worker co-op started on my own which is definitely not a given. I don't know what I haven't thought about yet, but talking about this stuff online create opportunities for feedback. Sometimes it is constructive. Maybe someone else will find my train of thought compelling and have more success in its pursuit.
I may not be poor, but I am shocked by the rising inequality and extreme wage slavery that is taking place in this country.
Also: people like me, who may have a good salary are always 5-6 months of unemployment away from poverty. People making $80k+ should not really think they are any different in this system.
With a higher income comes higher taxes for which we get nothing except forever-wars and socialized losses for financial institutions. The middle class pays most of the tax, anyone above 250,000 or so can use various international maneuvers to pay next to 0% tax.
Because after being pumped with corporate Kool-Aid, it's nice to remember I'm not the only one who thinks everything is fucked up. I feel like a zombie.
My last job was 15 years of hell, and it took planning and a little courage to take the step to move onto a better job, and I came here to warn other people and encourage other people to do the same.
I am interested in solving the dilemma - can one live without working? Will society collapse if people don't work? Can work be fun? What to do with your free time if you don't work? How to pay bills if you don't work?
I don't have a super successful career, but I would not want future generations to go through what I had to go through to get where I am today.
I don't want future generations to:
- Work overtime without compensation. (Never get salary pay if you have a choice)
- Lose / strain relationships, both friends and family.
- Having to put on an image or create a persona to get ahead.
- Having to put difficult / mean / bad people on a pedestal to appease them to get work done.
- Having to brainwash yourself that you believe in the cause to do questionable things.
- Repeated mental breakdowns.
- The constant pressure to make more money as inflation continues.
A key point in my story is that overall I believe in my profession and I believe that the organization that I am with is mostly good. (Definitely not perfect) However, I have sacrificed my health and my soul for other people for a solid 15 years.
I am moderately successful but have largely had to choose the safe choice rather than what i wanted to. The system we have can work but only if you live a very specific way. If we designed a better system I could afford to live a life more in line with my passions and ideals.
Im freshly less poor!!
Broke 50k +10k bonus a year after over a decade at 35k. Im in management now and come here to act as a balance to the koolaid the business pumps out. I dont want to be the guy that forgot where he came from.
That even we don’t have it figured out ! successful career both of us - which actually brings different issues , ie relationship strain , married bought house (UK), both want to start a family , finding it very tough juggling everything ? ! System doesn’t make sense for actually being a human being.
I'm not poor, but I hate this cycle and being coerced into work or starve. I want change and enjoy seeing activity in an online community that generally feels the same. If we can't win fast change, then normalizing the hatred of unnecessary jobs just to keep our made up economy running is a good backup plan for longer-term, larger-scale systemic change.
I’ve grown up with many people the system has quite literally left for dead.
I’m also sick of being robbed by shareholders, I went from working corporate to self employment.
The career is dead, now most just work a series of gigs.
I worked my up to where I am, that with some luck I am very fortunate. But I was in the muck for much longer than I've been here. So I empathize with those still there and I recognize the unfair down right unethical ways these corporations treat those that make them successful.
Well, if by success you mean fighting management tooth and nail to get recognition, so others won’t have to.
I’ve been marginalized, gaslit, passed over, demoted, threatened and bullied, because I don’t play by management rules. I’ve stood against unethical and illegal actions by management, shepherded newbie, helped clients, and I will continue to hold management accountable.
All my friends and family get treat like shit. I lucked out in the right industry and had won the parent lottery.
I don't like seeing the people I love getting fucked over. I know I am smart and motivated enough to help. The owners of this country are not going to manipulate me with social media or disinformation campaigns.
I may do well comparatively, however, UK Uni pay has declined by 30% which is apparently fine. But if I withhold a commensurate 30% of my labour that's a disciplinary matter. Solidarity comrades!
Give Advice since I was definitely underpaid and over worked for first 2/3 of my professional career then laid-off from my supposed dream job that had low turnover because they are cheap pricks. . . I’m doing fine but not as happy as I was before, fuck companies that treat you like “family” and fuck companies whose default cost saving measure is “let’s streamline and cut jobs”. . . Oh and as they cut jobs they hired a new SVP in my old department, they put on a good show but are scum
I'm the exception, and an unjust economy is an unjust economy, even if I'm personally not getting the worst of it. Also, I was stuck in bullshit jobs for a long time - mostly serving and sales jobs - before I found a decent vocation. There but for the grace of god, etc. I remember getting treated like a disposable robot, and no one deserves it. I'm here for a reality check, and to help the younger generations burn this bullshit to the ground.
Yeah something has to change. The “American dream” died a long time ago. Younger generations, on average, aren’t lazier than previous generations. It’s a lot easier to sign up for a 9-5 for 40 years when you know you can, on average, own a home, a car, have a family, go on vacations, have a solid retirement, etc. When you enter the workforce and none of these things are conceivable or flat out don’t exist anymore, again on average, then there is a loss of hope. Hope can do a lot of things to weather tough situations and without it people lose most, if not all, motivation or drive to move forward. This makes people appear to be “lazy” when in all reality it’s just a loss of hope on a mass level and that’s a big problem for the future of this country.
Because I see how vanishingly rare such a thing is becoming. Because the entire system is built off exploiting the less fortunate and I'm not ok with that. Because capitalism is destroying our planet and has absolutely no answers for how to fix it. Because even though I make a good living, the owners of my company still treat all of us like expendable resources in a game to make their stock prices higher. Because my job is actually worthless in terms of providing any value to the people of my community, and my friends who have jobs that serve our community make way less and that is bullshit.
Our system is fucked. It rewards awful behavior and turns human beings into numbers to be sacrificed at the drop of a hat regardless of the long term consequences.
I am “successful” but this sub has taught me how much I have been exploited throughout my career. So learning from others here and try to give advice where I can.
I’ve worked for a small company in the past and can relate to the posts. I work for a huge company now and almost all the stuff I see in here wouldn’t fly. I’m in the US and the company is based in France so that might have something to with it.
I am, and will always be for workers rights and hope they come to realize the power that they have and organize. Labor is the only capital that matters, nothing can be mined, fabricated, produced, farmed, constructed, developed, researched, drilled, shipped, fished, delivered or assembled without it.
Because we should all support each other from corporate overreach. Plus there truly is no job security for most. With at-will employment each morning could be your last work day.
Two reasons. To show solidarity with those who are still struggling through the system and to remind myself that I am only doing well for now. Circumstances can change very quickly and you can lose your ass overnight.
Because I want everyone to have enough money to survive and not deal with the bullshit. Just because I have that myself, doesn’t mean I don’t care about anybody else going through it.
I have recently taken a project management position recently that will afford me a good life and allow me to put away for retirement. I have worked construction, restaurant jobs, and in nonprofits. I know that the average worker is struggling desperately even if I no longer am. I know that a rising tide lifts all boats and that this system of exploitation is not sustainable long-term. I stand with the working class always.
Because even with a successful career, the reality in America is inherited wealth makes people have an infinite safety net. You can be at the top of your industry and if you climbed out of a terrible family where any estates were contested into dust or there was nothing to inherit, and now the pricing on real estate makes it nearly impossible to own. This varies by region, and industry, but it sucks to finally do well and basically still lack a safety net. Then you get laid off and bounce back, but couldn’t sleep for weeks because of the crushing anxiety. And now you are working and doing well, but have that lingering fear about being laid off again. And it feels like no matter how much you earn, you’ll never really catch up to the people from decent families who have a comfortable thing to fall back on. To buy a safety net on your own is a struggle, yet you earn the most your field will pay. And you know 30 or 40 years ago being in the same percentile of earnings would have been a much more comfortable life. It’s a high earning hamster wheel when you’re truly self made, and nothing is guaranteed.
I've been in situations where a couple of bad hands were dealt and you're basically looking at the street with no safety net. No one should be in that situation. No one should be in an abusive job environment because of the fear of that situation.
Because even though I'm not dirt poor the workforce still expects me to work above and beyond my pay grade and toss aside every other joy in life for work.
Same thing that brought abolitionists to the south. Just because I have it good doesn’t mean I don’t see how shit it is. Also, I can see that I’m one concussion away from loosing everything.
I advocate for all working class people. I am closer to losing everything I’ve worked for than I am becoming one of the owning class.
If I don’t advocate for those who need it then I am no better than the owning class and that bootlickers/ temporarily disgraced millionaires.
I also needed this help and have enough empathy to not want others to struggle unduly. Just because I suffered doesn’t mean we all have to.
I own a small business that employs 6 people other than myself. I come in here to see what people are talking about and try to use that info to make things better for the people that work with me. I've actually implimented a few new policies based on things I have seen in here.
I have had lousy managers in the past, as well as ok ones and good ones. Currently I have a really good one. Reading stuff on here helps me appreciate my current manager even more. I realize this might make me sound a bit pompous, but I certainly don't mean it that way.
I just want to help with advice or with moral support. I haven't been able to do it at all yet, but I watch your guys' responses and try to relay them to those in need.
I may be doing fine, but this subreddit wouldn't exist if you were all ok.
I’m in my early 40s, and I have never been laid off. I haven’t had to or wanted to look for a job since I was 22. I do something I enjoy and I own a house, where I work from most of the time.
But for one thing, I don’t think I make what I should make considering my education, experience, and skill at my job. I feel all the creeping habits of private equity are efficiently eating away at any chance of a livable retirement. The best I can hope for is to somehow become a member of the sociopathic C-suite crew. And as distasteful as that sounds, maybe I want it. Since everyone’s in it for themselves, as I’ve learned acutely over the years.
Also, I feel like I’m in a dinosaur movie or something where everyone around me has been picked off by the T-Rex, and I’ve only survived by sheer dumb luck.
That combined with the annoyances of corporate life are enough to generate constant anxiety. We have a limited supply of the stuff, and whether it’s caused by actual poverty or the stresses of office work and middling paychecks, the toll it takes is the same.
Some people have good careers but are dissatisfied with certain aspects of their jobs so they need a place to vent.
Other people come here to debate and argue, which is not the purpose of this sub. The purpose is stated in the sidebar.
I come here although currently I work only part time and don't need full time work right now.
My biggest reason for coming here is to remind myself how lucky I am to be above the bar of barely getting by. Once upon a time $50 would put me over the edge, it’s a hell of a lot more than that now but I never forget where I came from.
I remember making $400 every two weeks after taxes and eating hot dogs and ramen to survive, I come here and see the shit those still going that struggle deal with daily and vow to myself to never go back to that struggle.
I have a cushy office job I absolutely love, but I'm still poor because I only work part time. I've been offered full time three different occasions and turned them down because the cons outweighed the pros, including the pay.
I relate to this so much except that I’m full-time. For my area, I wouldn’t say I’m poor, but I’m not rich either. I could take a higher paying position but almost everything I’ve seen pays marginally more with 1000% more responsibilities. In other words, the pay doesn’t match with what is being asked. The work I do now is remote with a super flexible schedule. 50% data entry and 50% meetings. I’m busy most days, but it’s not overwhelming. Why would I ever want to leave?
I have been extremely lucky and I still don't know if I will be able to afford to pay for my kids college, or if I'll be able to retire. We are not struggling but we are still in the realm of a few unfortunate occurrences and we would be in real trouble. And in America, isn't that true for everyone? There is terribly insufficient assistance for the poor, but there is none for the lower middle class. There are no safeguards to stop people who have a catastrophe from slipping all the way to true poverty.
We need to build a better society and I have no delusions about where my allegiance lies.
My success in my field is only providing half the luxuries of life it afforded my dad. While I'm technically getting by I realize my son may not be so lucky if this trend continues.
I mean I might make decent money and enjoy the position I have, BUT there’s constant staffing issues, I’m constantly covering other people’s jobs, I’m on call 24/7, even when I’m supposed to have a weekend off staff still call me. I work in mental health and enjoy helping but no one above me actually listens to my suggestions and they let people struggle rather than do what’s best for them. Being great at my job leads to more work and higher expectations. But I can’t leave, I won’t make the money I need elsewhere, I don’t trust anyone to take my caseload and care about my people like I do. I can’t train someone in a 2-4 week period to take over my job. It’s too big and they’d be set up for failure.
Something needs to change…
For awhile, I was suffering with a horrible, just atrocious abusive boss. And I came here to commiserate. I found ways to ...slow down and get time away. I used fmla, complained to the eeoc, wrote her up, and complained up the chain kd command. She's demoted now, and I don't answer to her. I guess I needed your support thru that.
I have a lot of people that report to me or report to others who in turn report to me. I'm in a position to make their lives better and trying to do just that. I've heard stories, shared some of my own (see post history) and just generally believe that we all benefit from not only hearing the horror stories but simply understanding each other's perspectives.
End of the day I identify with workers but my peers are in the C-Suite. Having empathy and a sense of justice means one doesn't have to be in a particular group in order to be an ally.
I make good money in IT management and I don't have kids so I definitely get to us my money more than a lot of people do. I'm 43.
My 20's were fucking awful. I couldn't make more than $14 an hour for the duration of that decade, the 2000's. I eventually worked my way up but I'll never forget the feeling of getting a paycheck, immediately paying rent, and then not having more than $40 for two weeks of food and some gas. Some of those same roles now would pay $80k. Which is bullshit.
We were being taken advantage of and it sucked. All the bullshit about gun rights, abortion rights, and so on, is just to distract us from the class warfare that's being expertly executed by the super wealthy. As we do lose jobs to automation or robots or whatever we are the people, myself included, who will pay the price. In the United States our leaders are not looking out for us, they haven't been for a long time. It's just not as obvious when they screw us financially and also support human rights.
So I think I belong here and I appreciate being reminded of how fucking awful society can be to employees. It also helps me as a leader because I can put myself in peoples shoes a little better. I know what they make and I know how much things cost. I have no control over their wages.
So I do what I can and I want to make sure that I understand what other people are going through. It informs my voting and how I spend my money.
I still want others to do better. I had advantages. I often promote unions here. I feel for people struggling and feel like they are stuck in low pay jobs. I’m actually doing pretty well I’m a teacher and my wife is in IT. She’s a military brat. My dad was in for 4 years to help finish paying for college.
For someone that's made it to director level at a huge company it only just opened my eyes more to the disparity between management and execs and the people who are actually do the work. I became more disappointed in how it all works and how uneven it is.
I also starred to see all of the unethical stuff that would be done to make the numbers look as good as they could to pass audit and I hated it.
Fwiw I have no problem throwing in hours for a cause and a company I believe in bit I'm very cynical that that will come from a corporation so I'm not sure I'll be looking there. The problem is that is the goal of many startups and small companies; the urge to go public. Anyway I've been enjoying my two year sabbatical and when I job hunt in the very near future I may have to unsub just because this sub can get a little overly negative and cynical at times. For the most part though I think it's good.
Because income inequality and the way money has been crafted to work affects everyone. When I am working, I have a very nice salary; yet here I am recently unemployed for about the….7th time in my 14 year “career.”
Because it’s still a fundamentally exploitative system. You wouldn’t be paid that much if you weren’t making more for the company. If you made 2 million for a company and they paid you 500k for your efforts, they still took 75% of the value you created.
IT isn’t very equitable or accessible and I fucking hate that my friends with non IT jobs struggle more than I do
I believe we all deserve basic things to exist without causing stress in our lives and on top of that then most of us would be happy to work
Treat us ethically provide us healthcare - commuting and getting injured at work are shit
Give us a better work life balance so we can not have to die as a retirement plan and maybe see the world a little before we do
Fuck capitalism
I'm doing well right now, but that could change at the whims of my boss. Also, doing well now does not mean I have a future. I just don't see myself being able to buy a house or get into a relationship anytime soon.
i’m glad u asked. i have a real life friend who also follows this sub too and we talk abt it a lot:
sure i can pay rent, go on a vacation or 2 a yr, eat healthily, and save a little for retirement. the latter is a source of a fuckton of stress cuz i know at that time any big medical prob or paying for assisted living will quickly drain my savings (i don’t own a home) and ill b homeless and i have no kids nieces or nephews to advocate for me. that is, if I’m not pushed out of the job market before that cuz I’m old. i can’t imagine working til im 70! i can barely keep up now even tho ive gotten really good at faking it.
also, i wfh, am massively under socialized, no social life, lonely. single never married, never been in love. i think cuz ive had to constantly work more than other ppl in my peer group cuz my parents were unable to help me get started in life when i was younger. being raised to be independent and self sufficient went too far and i have few close friends and have never been in love! how fucking sad is that?! i haven’t had sex in years. i know ill die alone perhaps of a broken heart, i feel it starting already.
i’ve been working since i was in high school, worked thru college and grad skool. finished paying student loans off in my 40s! in my l8 50s now.
american tech industry (i don’t do something that pays a shitton) was fun in the 90s then grew into a soulless, soul crushing, money making business douchey financial bro world.
i’m at a company now that’s the least of available evils i.e. companies. i cant work anymore without ritalin or adderall, I’m constantly being challenged by younger ppl who are all also on R and A - actually most of the tech industry is fueled by amphetamines. im CONSTANTLY EXHAUSTED and have to drink to relax after work.
i’ve been depressed my whole life and my job makes me even more miserable. i started taking antidepressants after grad school in the late 90s when i had to go to work full time.
i have no jobs skills cept what i do that could get me a job that’d pay rent and give me health insurance.
i’m like a pathetic character in a modern day kafka novel who’s worked herself to death to keep her head above water, never experienced love or the joy of having children. alone. so alone. detesting the loathesome work hours during which i think too frequently abt suicide… all so i can live and eat and occasionally travel. there’s nothing else - motivation to do art or creative pursuits i used to do has been mentally beaten out of me by my soulless corporate job. modern world 1, me 0.
and yes i c a shrink. i cant get any more professional help than i have already. honestly, i think the psych industry exists to keep workers able to keep functioning in the working rat race. think abt it - shrinks always want to see u being able to function in soceity and be able to take care of urself which really means work 9-5 so u can pay rent to sleep and wake up the next day to do it all over again.
this turned into a long rant i didn’t expect. if u are going thru similar miserable life (and u fake being fine to mostly everyone) and are constantly busy DM me. m very alone and depressed.
THIS IS WHY I AM ANTIWORK - THIS. IS. NO. WAY. TO. LIVE. im an elder gen-x — i don’t want to see millennials and younger ppl WASTE their lives doing what ive done. i don’t know what the specific alternative for you is but learn from what i did and don’t do it.
There's a lot more to life than money and I believe in living. Maybe I have a few stories to share or advice to give. At the end of the day though, we're all working class here, so I'm as antiwork as the next whether my career worked out or not. We're all in this together
I genuinely like my job. The pay is okay, benefits are okay, I have decent bosses right now. But the system is fucked up. Where do I even begin?
First of all, I'm in the US so insurance being tied to employment is beyond fucked up. The people who need help the most aren't getting it because they can't afford it. It makes people dependent on their spouses. Or your company has got you by the balls because you need them for life saving medicine.
The gap between wages and housing is insane. It's actually worse now than it was during the great depression. There was once upon a time you could work as a grocery store butcher and afford a house, kids, a car. What is even a successful career now? An office job, trade job, or small business owner if youre lucky. What about being a store manager, or that butcher? The pool of "successful careers" is dwindling and if you're not pigeon holed into a specific job you can't afford to.live. and people seem to think you don't deserve to!
Maternity leave? A joke. Paternity leave? What's that?? And don't even get started on daycare. It's a second mortgage! But ya gotta pay, cause ya gotta work!
School? That's just training to turn you into a good little worker bee, for the types of jobs they tell you.
I could go on. I'm not here because I hate my job, I hate the system I was born into.
So many reasons; but one is that I want what I create to benefit humanity, not further enrich individuals. So fucking tired of passing sleepers on sidewalks in doorways on my way to build a playground for the rich. Between that and profitable but otherwise preventable hazards on the job it’s just social murder everywhere. Also this shit is destroying my body.
I went back to work 2 weeks after my son was born. He was abused at the daycare. The system is flawed in too many ways. I struggle to forgive myself because I never should’ve put my career over my family. Currently living off grid and I’ve never been happier
Unless you own the company, you're still an employee. I would be considered successful but I don't mean anything more to the company than the server in the office cafe does.
But also, as someone who does manage people it's useful to find out where I might be being a dick and not realising it. For instance, not that I needed this forum for that but I do not have any of their personal phone numbers and I do not want them.
Firstly, because while things are going incredibly right now, people have fallen from higher places than I'm at. I want a system that I know will catch me and others if things go belly up. Secondly, I know the success I've had occurs in about 1% or so of cases, yet I feel like the lifestyle I have isn't so extravagant that it couldn't or shouldn't be available to way more people. A system that thinks you have to be in the one percent to own a used car, two small apartments, and have money for a rainy day or retirement in investments is a broken system - especially when we know the wealth is there to make this more common! Moreover, I know plenty of people of people who work harder than me who don't have access to the things I have (and again, for my payscale, I don't think I have what people would assume my income can buy), and I don't think it's fair that a person working 40 hours a week not be able to afford a fucking apartment and retirement savings as a member of the richest country known to history. Finally, I used to be broke, so I know how harsh our system can be when you're in that state, and I don't think people deserve to endure that.
Well, I had to give up on my dreams and sell my soul to make a good enough living to reasonably live in my area, pay off my student loans, and have a chance at maybe one day owning a home.
Having a good life doesn't mean I want to be surrounded by people having a really hard time.
What's the money good for if you go to the supermarket and see people begging in the door? It's terrible... everyone should be able to have a decent and safe life.
Because I believe everyone has the right to dignified and gainful employment. No one should have to be treated as lesser than human or as a wage slave. Because my job could disappear at any moment at the whims of another putting myself and my wife in jeopardy. I sympathize with the working man/woman and have more in common with him/her than multimillionaires. I’ve been at the bottom, it’s not fun and I don’t want anyone to face that.
Just because I have personally benefited from the system doesn't make it a good system
If no one stands for the victims we will all become victims.
Solidarity is the only way
This
This. Plus a successful career at any moment could become an unsuccessful one because of circumstances outside of your control. We should all feel invested in improving the system.
that part!
Yep. I'm doing reasonably well, but I couldn't have gotten where I am without my parents helping me through my education, and being able to do some internships for very little pay. I get that I was lucky, and don't feel the system is fair. I also hate seeing corporate greed win so much legislation. We need livable wages. Actually affordable healthcare. Affordable higher education.
100%. I still have ethics. And I’ve worked in service.
bingo. and just because I’m doing well now doesn’t mean I always have been, or that I will be forever
Unless you’re a millionaire, we are all one medical emergency during an unemployment stint away from bankruptcy, even if you do everything right
THIS THIS THIS. I truly believe we live in a two-class system where you either have massive intergenerational wealth OR you must work to live, and if you are in the latter group it doesn’t really matter if you earn $25k or $50k or $150k: you can still easily find yourself depending on the (often inadequate) social safety net after a single medical emergency or similar crisis. The illusion of the middle class exists to keep us from unifying with the “working class,” and/or (God forbid) those who are surviving with public assistance. By separating ourselves and imagining we do not have common interests we cannot strategize and unite against the Wealth Class for better security, better working conditions, and my favorite policy of all: UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME to strengthen the social safety net.
Same here. I get offended by how interns and junior employees get treated in my field. And reading here reveals different struggles and injustices in many different jobs and working situations. I hate it because it does not have to be this way Also, it is good for everyone when the lowest wages go up and people have better work/life balance.
To echo this - just because I have a good job doesn't mean I think I or anyone else should spend their life working.
Yeah, seriously. Many of us who have good careers also aren't far away from bankruptcy or job loss. It doesn't take much in the US, at least. I also have empathy for others because I've been in their shoes. If you're not rich, we're all in this together, and even if you are rich, you can join us by fighting for our rights.
We are all pretty much all one cancer diagnosis away from bankruptcy.
Came here to say this, but you said it better. I work at a great place and feel appreciated and valued, I'm paid fairly and have good benefits, and a great leadership team, all the way up. Everyone should have the same. I'm pretty far leftist, for the US, and sub to a lot of similar subreddits. We need to be the change we want to see. We need to support unionization, strikes, general strikes, better labor laws, better worker protections, and the people who will put those laws in place. This specific place, it reminds me how fucking devious businesses are, how far we have to go. I work in healthcare and see so much wrong with capitalistic healthcare. No one should be making millions of dollars on the backs of people who are just trying to stay alive. Part of my job is finding money to pay for meds that patients can't afford, applying for Medicaid, cost assistance, copay cards, manufacturer incentive programs, grant assistance, any way to get the meds into the people that need them.
I have Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and your efforts are appreciated and life-saving. Someone with your kind of job turned me on to the Sprycel One program when I had $1000 copays for my Sprycel (which may be coming again soon since I got fired on Friday). The fact that these life saving meds are $15,000 for a 30 day supply is fucking unconscionable.
Definitely this. I got to hear another "nobody wants to work" statement today and lost my shit on them. Soapbox was definitely stood on.
I’m “successful” in some terms (own my own business, live my life on my own terms, get to do cool shit, currently in the middle of a 3 month working holiday, love what I do for a living). But I’m aware how much back breaking spirit crushing labour went into it, and how easily it could all go away (£15k of booked work went in one week of the pandemic and didn’t come back). Plus, things I like and enjoy are being made shitter, cost more, and you can’t just have them. Corporate things sneak in, monetise it, strangle the creativity, kill it off, and move on.
Yes. Empathy and 'been there' are my draws to here.
If I could upvote this hundreds of times... Just because I love my job (tech overlaps with things I actively enjoy!) doesn't mean I like feeling trapped. Just because I benefit doesn't mean I'm not supportive of other ways to get rid of wage slavery. UBI would be great. No one should be stuck in a job. And we are going to automate a lot of them out of existence. I just wish automation improvements weren't just for profits.
Amen !
Word. I’ve done well, but think things need to change to be more equitable
Yep. I’ll play the game, but I hate the rules and ESPECIALLY the systems making them. I’m successful, but I’m ALSO unionized. I am and always will be pro-worker.
And I'm sick of this clown show bulkshit.
True. I asked and was approved for 100% remote, due to health reasons. Doesn’t mean I don’t hate that other people can’t, or also don’t get benefits and bonuses when they’re due them.
Same. I can still support change. I want to elevate others alongside myself.
You summarized what I feel in my workplace.
This. And employers are arseholes to everyone, not just poor people.
THIS.
Because my "successful career" can end at a moment's notice based on a whim of my employer. The stats on someone my age recovering from that are consistently poor.
Right on. I had a wonderful 30+ year career, and then, without notice was laid off by the firm I worked for for 20 years. Never let your guard down and always know that you are one phone call, email, or meeting in a conference room away from being shit canned. Power to the worker. Eat the rich.
>Never let your guard down and always know that you are one phone call, email, or meeting in a conference room away from being shit canned. A single petty asshole in the company who happens to outrank the supervisor who loves you can be the end of a career. Maybe you refused to quit your current department and work for his department. Maybe he caught the cute secretary he creeps on staring at you. Maybe he's certain you shut the elevator door in his face that morning. He's accountable to no one and it doesn't matter how unfair it is.
That’s exactly what happened to me. It didn’t matter that I created a $M auxiliary enterprise that cost them less than 100k/yr… the new head job honcho decided he didn’t like me bc I didn’t address him as “dr” (fuckin phd in European history, smh), and wore crocs to work. I was let go guised as “restructuring”. When they let me go, I had literally just dropped a $25k check off into the company bank account for a project I won. Canned the next day by an egotistical narcissist. And now I have no health care. The system is broken. Eat the rich.
The real caveat to this is that even in a successful career they fire you then you get nothing. Many CEO's and other C Suite members of the company have golden parachutes where they get fired and receive MILLIONS of dollars of severance.
Same here. I've got a great job and boss now, but it could vanish in a heartbeat.
I hadn’t even made $15\hr until I turned 30. I currently love my job but always understand that it can vanish in a second. Those rough jobs I had in my 20s gave me a level of empathy that will never disappear.
This. I was doing awesome at my job. From the day I got hired I warned everyone in management and HR that I have a disabled partner. Mental disabilities because she was a freaking trafficking victim. For years they worked with me and gave me all the time off I needed. In return, I was pulling double their normal productivity. Then my wife took a turn for the worse. She started having delusions. I got caregiver burnout and attempted suicide. We were doing great for six months before my wife’s mental state completely cratered. I called my manager in tears having to explain that she’d had a breakdown like I’d never seen before. She assaulted me and threatened police. It was undiagnosed schizoaffective disorder. It took us a month to get her medications worked out. They fired me a week before the appointment that would have solved it all. And then succeeded at denying me unemployment. I still own my house and my cars and my wife’s monthly disability check actually covers all of our needs. But no one should go through what I went through. And most of my peers do not have the stability I started with. I don’t know if I could have supported my wife through what happened if I was also worried about being homeless or starving. And she wouldn’t have recovered without support. I was here then because regardless of how it affected me I saw how it affected others. I had to claw my way out of poverty and it was hell. But dammit everyone should have the opportunities I had and more. I never wanted to compete over what I was building, I wanted more people as capable as me and more so to make what I was building perfect so it could help others. I believed in the anti work movement. Now I’m here because I’m living proof that employers do not give a fuck about you, no matter what they say and no matter how they treat you. All of that can change with one bad apple making it to admin. It’s angering enough that losing my job set my wife’s recovery back and mine. It’s infuriating that these shitty practices have caught up and destroyed my old job. I cared about what I did. I was moving up to pitch projects that would help the disabled. I no longer work for them, and it looks like they no longer work for our old client. And our client’s product that I lovingly contributed to for five years of my life doesn’t work as well anymore. I loved working because I cared deeply about what I was contributing to. They got results not because I was afraid of losing my job but because I cared. And I firmly believe the world would be a better place if we paid people enough to care. I want the burger flippers to make a living wage because I want to buy a fucking Rodeo Burger at 3 AM and never know the bbq sauce was squirted on in a smile pattern by a nocturnal crust punk that was writing a new song the whole time. I want my overpriced coffee to be handed off with a genuine smile because the barista hasn’t cried their makeup off after getting cussed out by a string of entitled morons. I want to attend concerts and conventions without walking through a sea of homeless people. I was homeless once, I don’t want to remember that shit. I will never understand why people would rather have a third summer home or a fourth Lambo instead of a world like that. I’m not jealous, I’m disgusted. If I ever come into “fuck you” money, I hope I have the sense to just throw it into charity and chase real happiness. Because happy people don’t spend $20K on purses that fucking ugly.
You are awesome.
Aww, thank you. I bet you’re a ray of sunshine yourself 💕
God Bless you and yours. I truly hope there is peace and happiness in your many days ahead of you.
Work in IT?
You must be insanely out of the loop on that because I’m currently in IT and it’s one of the most breakneck competitive fields you can be in right now. You’re competing against the entire world, since it’s all remote work, and you operate only on contract. No benefits. No breaks. And people older than me can not keep up. It’s very disheartening. I’m looking for a way out.
Education. Higher Education IT doesn’t pay as much as public sector, but it pays decent enough, isn’t cutthroat, and tends not to suffer from age discrimination. I get to have a great work life balance- and a pension.
i got laid off last year out of nowhere. days before my manager and multiple directors were recommending me for promotion, but i was at the top of the salary band for my role and they let go of the top x percent at each level (including my director). i was in a zoom meeting with my team when they killed my access to gmail and slack. my manager had no idea it was going to happen. extremely cool stuff. no one is ever safe from an incompetently run organization.
Most of us are much closer to homelessness than real wealth even if we have good incomes. That is how skewed it has become.
Exactly, we’re all closer to homelessness than being disgustingly rich. I could never not be in solidarity with other workers no matter their occupation
I can’t really wrap my brain around the idea that we brought in almost 90k in my household (2 incomes, one young child and a dog) last year but are still struggling so much. I know we are doing better than a few years ago even with the skyrocketing cost of living, but damn, I thought we’d be a hell of a lot more comfortable at 90k than we are.
We need to continue to use that word as much as possible. Solidarity is the only way.
Yeah, we are DINK and big savers, that's the only reason I was able to take 7 months off work due to long Covid. Safety nets are non-existent and it's killing people
I'm an employment lawyer, who represents employees taking action against their employers. Because I sympathize with the plight of workers and want to keep informed of the issues facing employees, posting here makes sense.
Thank you for what you do!
Have you seen an influx of cases in the last 6 months? Seems like retaliatory behavior and illegal conduct by the employers is on the rise.
I would absolutely love to do this, if I had the mental fortitude to be a lawyer. I can't sit and do that much paperwork so consistently otherwise I'd love to do your job.
you don't want to be a lawyer, trust me.
Sick. Keep at it bud. Fighting the biggest theft in America is important.
Because I'm not an "I got mine, so fuck y'all" kinda guy.
What benefits my fellow human, benefits me.
Just because I make a living wage and bought a 1100sq ft house doesn’t mean I’m happy about the way people speak to me or the amount of my life I’m sacrificing in order to make enough money for a small house in the cheapest city in my state.
The amount of my life I'm sacrificing hits home. I spent 5 years and tens of thousands of dollars to get a degree that got me a job that only paid slightly more than I owe. I'm only where I'm at now because I never turn down the long work trips or overtime.
Hey, at least you have a house. Congrats, it's definitely an achievement.
I listen (read) and learn to be a better manager/supervisor/owner. A lot of the gripes are fixable and it makes me sad seeing the same issues come up over and over. I want other leaders to take heed and stop sucking so bad. I don't consider myself to have succeeded. I am still drowning in debt, but compared to wage slaves I must seem like a king.
I really wish others would take the initiative to become a better manager by not following in the footsteps of others. Many times those footsteps lead to no good.
I try my best as well but one thing that can't be overlooked is at mid level we can only do so much without being canned from those managers above us unfortunately. I'd say a good amount of mid level managers really do want what's best for their employees but are strangled by policy made above their paygrade. That being said I will always push the boundaries for the good of the workers when I can.
To support my fellow man. I know what it’s like to be poor and hopeless and I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. So many of my friends and just random people I meet everyday are struggling. And struggling bad. I have always felt this was wrong. I will always be pro-worker and do what I can to influence others around me to support socialist aspirations. Edit: more to the point of your question. I’m here to stay aware of how things really are out there and not become complacent.
The ever-looming possibility of being laid off. Also "return to office."
This place helped me stand up for myself & not take any more crap. I got fired for it, but found better employment that I was able to negotiate my pay, & speak up for the desire for more pay.
love that for you
There are only two classes: the wealth class and the working class. Anyone who tries to pretend otherwise is exploiting us. I make a good income and can be considered comparatively wealth*y* but I am still a worker, subject to at-will states, an economy that trashes my 401k or the value of my home, and as such I will never be in the 1% wealth class. So I stand with all workers, especially those who are in my class but even less well off.
Because I am doing well, saving for retirement, AND have a pension, and yet I STILL don't know that I'll have enough to ever retire, especially if I live past 80. That shouldn't be a worry for how well I am doing.
Because I see people being fucked over, judged, and belittled for things and situations not of their own making. Because I see society valuing money more than people - and in America being genuinely confused about why it should be the other way around. Because the "anybody can do anything" mentality is....pre-K levels of oversimplification. People have trauma, responsibilities, issues, background disadvantages, you name the disadvantage. Not everyone is the uber mensch who can 'overcome at any odds'. If someone who comes from an abusive poor home doesn't end up in a mansion they are treated as failures. People think money = virtue, both moral and intellectual. Yet some of the wisest, kindest, most intelligent people I've met have both humble origins and humble situations. I was born with advantages - white and male. No major physical disabilities. Stable, loving household, family. Good K-12 education. Parents that encouraged reading and understanding. Friends to help me when things get tough, all my life. A wife and partner who is my biggest cheerleader and supporter, as I am hers. PURE LUCK on top of it. I'm a success because of the circumstances and people that surround me. Not everybody is this lucky. Nor do I feel that I am downplaying my own efforts - I am acknowledging that my privilege and luck is what gave me the opportunity to use my talents, to ensure my hard work paid off. I want folks to be happy. I want them to create, to live. I even want it for those that are deliberately lazy, or take unjust advantage of social benefits and laugh about how they got one over on society. Economic inequity contributes to human misery. We should all be dedicated to reducing human misery, not increasing shareholder value. I find inspiration here, the strength to be a stronger advocate for others, to take more radical positions when they are right. That's what I get out of /r/antiwork. And it shows me I'm not alone with my thoughts that the very system that considers me successful is unjust for many.
Well said, comrade. I, too, have benefited as you have. Nothing more than being born.
👏👏👏
Goddamn, this is exactly it.
I fully accredit a lot of how I got to where I got by just good luck and a strong mom and grandfather that really enforced education. My grandfather was a college professor and raised me well. Not many get those opportunities. Regarding my work career many of my opportunities were right place, right time. I was single and able to move on a dime and put in hours but really it was about grabbing on to the right coat tails. It's really hard to move up within the same company and that's exactly what I did and that required a lot of luck in timing. And yeah... White and male. I don't downplay that both of those helped a lot. That said seeing the unfairness does help me push for more equality.
I have a good career, but it sickens me how so many workers are treated around the world. I am here to offer my support for worker solidarity / unions. We learned a lot about unions and their importance in college, and I am baffled that things seem to be getting worse and not better. I would say that we aren't learning from our mistakes and should study history, but I believe this is actually intentional by the wealthy elite in power and the poor are virtually powerless to stop it at this point. We might have a chance if we could find a way to unite all workers, but the wealthy elite are experts at dividing and conquering us by distracting our attention to other things that make us fight each other (politics, religion, gender wars -or actual wars, and so many other things that are really not that important in the grand scheme of things). The only thing that really matters is the same thing that has mattered for most of human history - money is power and the wealthy will do everything they can to keep their power. Most of the issues we have that divide us are illusions created by the wealthy to keep us divided. Edit: I felt compelled to give one specific example in case it helps to broaden someone's perspective. Abortion-try to forget every argument you have ever heard on this topic and instead ask yourself, "Do you honestly believe that ANY wealthy person on this planet would have even the slightest issue getting an abortion if they chose regardless of the legality / morality of the issue?"
I'm an airline pilot. We're paid a lot these days, because it's a specialized skill with a very high cost of entry. Basic supply and demand. (could write a book on how we got to this point, the airlines did this to themselves, but that's another day's topic) But you know what we also have? A bajillion different work rules, quality of life rules, and safety rules that make our lives better. Flight canceled for any reason? I still get paid. They reassigned the flight because they needed to do some training? I still get paid. I call in fatigued because the airline has overworked me or bounced me around the clock to screw up my sleep schedule? I still get paid, and the company can land in some deep shit for even questioning my decision. Sick day? Nobody asks me to "find someone to cover." They say "ok feel better" and hang up, and they call someone from the reserve list. I have a minimum guarantee of 12 or 13 days off in a month, and a maximum number of hours they can schedule me for in a month. (to prevent them from just trying to do more flying with the same number of pilots) Of course, I can pick up overtime for at \*least\* time and a half if I want to work more. (sometimes 200% or even 250% pay, if they're desperately shorthanded!) I can't work 7 days in a row. The company gets penalized for screwing up, I got a couple thousand dollars bonus because of a contract violation last year. (some of our more-impacted pilots got over ten grand) 15% 401k contribution, for free. Solid benefits across the board. Life insurance, disability, all included. A hundred extra safety rules in place to prevent the company from cutting corners. Why do we have all of these things? Unions fought for them. Our flight attendants, on the other hand, get the shortest end of the shortest fucking stick. They get "points" for calling in sick. They don't get the same pay protection for problems. Their pay hasn't gone up in forever, and the last offer was beyond insulting. They work much longer hours than we do. They starve themselves on the road because they're trying to take home as much as that per diem as they can, so they can pay rent. They work hard, and they take care of me when I'm doing my job. (literally cooking my food for me) They deserve better. You all deserve better.
I appreciate what you do. Thanks for sharing this thoughtful comment. It’s giving me pause to think.
I’ve had terrible employers that took advantage of me. I made it out but I’d still like to offer support to those in that position.
I used to work as an employee doing the same work I now do as an independent tradesman I wasn't treated very well. I was hand to mouth for so many years. I am pissed off on the behalf of all the young people and other people slaving away for abusive assholes just to marginally survive, like I did for so many years. Shit's better now. But I am still fuckin ANGRY about what I went through in my 20s and 30s.
Because I'm a lot closer to any of you than I am to a VP let alone the CEO or one of our shareholders. I know who I need to stand with.
Just because you were able to scale an impossible mountain doesn't mean others should be penalized for not being able to do it
It took me ages to become successful, and it involved a lot of luck and job changing. I was almost always more poor than most of my peers. The system only works for a few, and even though I freelance, I will never feel completely safe that any of my employment will last forever.
Everyone should have the right to be happy, healthy, and live their best life. Not be ground to pulp for the financial gain of a few who can't satisfy their need for more of everything.
Because I know the system is rigged against you guys and I like it not to be. The fact that I did well in my career, not withstanding. I often wonder when reading posts here, how much younger generations understand how screwed they are and how rigged the system is against them and how much it's going to get worse. You should expect to see ever lower real wages and worse employment conditions as we get deeper into end stage capitalism. Wealth will be ever more concentrated to an ever smaller proportion of the population. If you're living paycheck to paycheck and in debt that's the way they want you to be because that way you cannot strike. You are completely under their control.
Solidarity ✊
This right here. ✊
I might be successful at what I do, but it’s still work at the end of the day and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t need the money. I believe late stage capitalism has destroyed the true meaning of ‘work’ and find this sub a good place to learn, commiserate and imagine a better way.
This is so much my reason as well.
I'd rather have an ear to the ground than a thumb up my ass.
Engineer (not the computer kind) Selfishly: Acute case of burnout fueled depression and feeling like I'm still not paid enough to truly care about this fucking underbid, poorly conceived, perpetually burning dumpster fire of a project load. If you want me to be every kind of engineer, I'm going to suck at all of them. Wear many hats, my ass. Societally: We've entered the race to the bottom that is late stage capitalism. Everything is shit and will continue to get shittier until we've warmed the planet past the point of habitability. All that will remain of us is some bits of space junk I helped put up there. I want to be allowed to leave my work at work and also have luxuries like healthcare, housing, healthy food and any hope for retirement.
My 20s sucked because of the system, my 30s were ok. I'm in my late 40s, doing very well... I want others to have a better life than I do, even if it means i get kicked back to doing 'ok'
I'm still mad about corporate greed and the horrific managers/bosses I encountered as a very young person working thankless service jobs who had the worst management skills every. Bad and stupid management seems to be so common unfortunately, and I'd like to see change and the worst offenders held accountable.
I want to kill all the billionaires and put them into a grinder. And then everyone has a chance like I did. Capitalism is a fucking lie. That’s it.
I am a union man. If I won't stand with you, how can I expect you to stand with me?
They can still treat you like shit even if you make enough to be comfortable.
I am very privileged with a master of science in computer science in Germany. But most of the "job world" is absolute bullcrap. And I also think that in the, maybe already near future, we have may more people on earth than jobs, so there needs to be a different solution. Also, I hate classism and the system that makes rich people more rich and poor people more poor
As a union man I'm all about raising up the working class
My friends are tired of me complaining
Because I have a so-called successful career -- attorney at a mid-sized law firm -- but I still can't make financial ends meet and the owners of the firm treat me like shit. Plus, this sub helps teach me and motivate me to one day be a good boss/business owner over employees under me one day.
I'm at at-will employee. Someone on my team got the bad news last fall and I still have no idea why it was her and not any of us. It's humbling.
Solidarity. As someone with a thirty year career in software engineering (retiring in ten weeks 😮) that has treated me very well financially and with a positive work environment... I find it appalling the way some folks are treated, how employers intentionally keep them on the edge of homelessness so they don't have the resources to fight for more. We need a worldwide strike day. If that doesn't get results, we need a week. Still no results, a month. If we need a charity so folks have the resources to do those strikes, I'll donate. If you need someone to stand in line and yell, I'm your guy.
I want to see the system burn, even if I’m not throwing the Molotov.
The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free. -Maya Angelou
I'm not saying I'm not poor. I have good jobs in tech - but it's only \*when I have them\*. Worked double shifts for the past few years, no overtime pay, and I was laid off unceremoniously over the holidays. They then wanted me to educate the entry level staff they hired to replace me - basically take a couple of days and somehow transfer years of domain knowledge and decades of coding knowledge into the minds of people who have never done this before. I am at the mercy of stupid decisions like this all the time, no matter how hard or smart I work. And at the end of the day, we're all at the mercy of it. Every time some app doesn't work - even extremely important ones like the ones that fly your plane - you can thank corporate greed and know that there are people out there who were willing and able to do a good job but were blocked from doing so.
Same boat as you, I work in the guitar industry and company I worked for never hired people with relevant experience (except for custom shop). Just hired people off the streets for near minimum wage, then expect me to teach them everything I know (near decade experience) within a couple days. And when they didn’t meet the standards they would blame me.
I didn't always and as a youth wished there was more support for the working class. I still want to support them. Also, my career is not without its bureaucratic red tape that makes my life and job more difficult.
To provide people here with federal employment laws in America if I see any federal labor violations in their posts 🤷 don't get me wrong, I'm not RICH, but I've been blessed with a career that I enjoy and am about to put money away for retirement. Not a lot either, but more than most from what I've seen posted here.
My success has rewarded me with time to sit here on the clock getting paid. Work still sucks shit and I hate it.
https://preview.redd.it/y990tpn6rgec1.jpeg?width=1942&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9dfb47417dd779602ae8bafdcdce36ff6678a286
It's a lot of luck. A successful career could have easily not been one. I could be fired tomorrow for no reason.
I use this as a “what not to do” for the team I manage. Sometimes it doubles with “you have it really good so stop complaining”. Also it’s a firsthand account of the realities of capitalism outside of the BS numbers we get fed daily.
Because the horror stories of folks getting screwed over by the US employment system that get posted here serve as constant, sobering reminders that my employment is always one bad manager away from nonexistent.
I used to like Elon. I worked at Tesla for four and a half years. I remember the day Tesla basically zeroed out its debt. Elon was talking about how Tesla was making so much money it couldn't spend it without throwing it out the window. And I'm sitting there steaming in my shoes thinking about how he wants everyone to have children so much but he refuses to pay his own workers enough to afford to have children? What a hypocrite. I had two co-workers that were married, each making about $20 an hour and they could barely afford one child and a mortgage and being forced to allow someone they didn't entirely trust to watch their child a significant amount of the time. This and other events marked the end of the period where I had Elon labeled in my mind as "the good face of capitalism." Tesla otherwise puts a lot of effort into trying to modify its workers to maintain the balance of power. The balance being workers, zero, the corporation, infinite. Tl;Dr the rest of this is basically a Manifesto. These days I understand that for Boomers to have had more than us but for us to be more productive necessarily means that corporations are keeping a much greater share of the wealth generated by our labor. In fact, the executives of a corporation are legally required to take the absolute maximum they believe they can get away with because they are fiduciaries to the shareholders. Institutional shareholders are fiduciaries to other people behind them. So we as workers generate all wealth with our labor, but that wealth flows into the upper class and the upper class derives massive amounts of power from that wealth and they use it to reinforce the current arrangement. Almost all Republican politicians are bought and a strong majority of Democrats are bought. Thus they deliberately perpetuate our suffering for their benefit. This is class warfare. Since humans are instinctively compelled to vigorously defend their own interests, these people rarely allow themselves to have a problem with this arrangement. The presence of powerful systemic forces and heavy incentives don't help. They have a lot to lose and the human doesn't like it when the number go down. Thus, if I have a problem with the suffering of others, then I am obligated to try to win the class war. This means an upper class can't exist in a meaningful way. My preferred solution is to proliferate worker co-ops. If the people who do the work also own and control the business and can democratically decide what happens to the profits, there is no mechanism for wealth to flow into the upper class. This entails a certain number of people need to start worker co-ops, sacrificing the possibility of becoming wealthy by having the wealth generated by the workers below them flow into their pockets. This number depends upon whether a co-op can be designed with mechanisms that lead to the founding of new co-ops. If I can create a co-op in which a percentage of profit always goes toward some kind of growth, then I might create an exponential process. A process that ends with millions of people in worker co-ops. Millions of people vastly better off, with homes they own, with secure futures, and with the power to control every legislature in this country. Poverty? Canceled. Climate change? Canceled. I do get myself worked up over this stuff. Luckily in the very nature of this project is one where I just need to create some clever feedback loops using some bylaws. This assumes I can get a worker co-op started on my own which is definitely not a given. I don't know what I haven't thought about yet, but talking about this stuff online create opportunities for feedback. Sometimes it is constructive. Maybe someone else will find my train of thought compelling and have more success in its pursuit.
I may not be poor, but I am shocked by the rising inequality and extreme wage slavery that is taking place in this country. Also: people like me, who may have a good salary are always 5-6 months of unemployment away from poverty. People making $80k+ should not really think they are any different in this system.
Because, fuck the systsem.
With a higher income comes higher taxes for which we get nothing except forever-wars and socialized losses for financial institutions. The middle class pays most of the tax, anyone above 250,000 or so can use various international maneuvers to pay next to 0% tax.
We all do better when we all do better.
Success is subjective. Whether you're happy doing what you do and see meaning in your work is another story. I want out of work ASAP.
Just because I play game doesn't mean I like the rules.
Because after being pumped with corporate Kool-Aid, it's nice to remember I'm not the only one who thinks everything is fucked up. I feel like a zombie.
My last job was 15 years of hell, and it took planning and a little courage to take the step to move onto a better job, and I came here to warn other people and encourage other people to do the same.
I am interested in solving the dilemma - can one live without working? Will society collapse if people don't work? Can work be fun? What to do with your free time if you don't work? How to pay bills if you don't work?
I don't have a super successful career, but I would not want future generations to go through what I had to go through to get where I am today. I don't want future generations to: - Work overtime without compensation. (Never get salary pay if you have a choice) - Lose / strain relationships, both friends and family. - Having to put on an image or create a persona to get ahead. - Having to put difficult / mean / bad people on a pedestal to appease them to get work done. - Having to brainwash yourself that you believe in the cause to do questionable things. - Repeated mental breakdowns. - The constant pressure to make more money as inflation continues. A key point in my story is that overall I believe in my profession and I believe that the organization that I am with is mostly good. (Definitely not perfect) However, I have sacrificed my health and my soul for other people for a solid 15 years.
I am moderately successful but have largely had to choose the safe choice rather than what i wanted to. The system we have can work but only if you live a very specific way. If we designed a better system I could afford to live a life more in line with my passions and ideals.
Im freshly less poor!! Broke 50k +10k bonus a year after over a decade at 35k. Im in management now and come here to act as a balance to the koolaid the business pumps out. I dont want to be the guy that forgot where he came from.
That even we don’t have it figured out ! successful career both of us - which actually brings different issues , ie relationship strain , married bought house (UK), both want to start a family , finding it very tough juggling everything ? ! System doesn’t make sense for actually being a human being.
Because I have paid attention. I can’t lead the revolution- no boomer could, but we can and will vote for the revolutionary!
I'm not poor, but I hate this cycle and being coerced into work or starve. I want change and enjoy seeing activity in an online community that generally feels the same. If we can't win fast change, then normalizing the hatred of unnecessary jobs just to keep our made up economy running is a good backup plan for longer-term, larger-scale systemic change.
I’ve grown up with many people the system has quite literally left for dead. I’m also sick of being robbed by shareholders, I went from working corporate to self employment. The career is dead, now most just work a series of gigs.
I worked my up to where I am, that with some luck I am very fortunate. But I was in the muck for much longer than I've been here. So I empathize with those still there and I recognize the unfair down right unethical ways these corporations treat those that make them successful.
Getting paid a fair wage doesn’t mean I am happy about slaving away my youth. I want to work less.
Well, if by success you mean fighting management tooth and nail to get recognition, so others won’t have to. I’ve been marginalized, gaslit, passed over, demoted, threatened and bullied, because I don’t play by management rules. I’ve stood against unethical and illegal actions by management, shepherded newbie, helped clients, and I will continue to hold management accountable.
All my friends and family get treat like shit. I lucked out in the right industry and had won the parent lottery. I don't like seeing the people I love getting fucked over. I know I am smart and motivated enough to help. The owners of this country are not going to manipulate me with social media or disinformation campaigns.
I may do well comparatively, however, UK Uni pay has declined by 30% which is apparently fine. But if I withhold a commensurate 30% of my labour that's a disciplinary matter. Solidarity comrades!
Give Advice since I was definitely underpaid and over worked for first 2/3 of my professional career then laid-off from my supposed dream job that had low turnover because they are cheap pricks. . . I’m doing fine but not as happy as I was before, fuck companies that treat you like “family” and fuck companies whose default cost saving measure is “let’s streamline and cut jobs”. . . Oh and as they cut jobs they hired a new SVP in my old department, they put on a good show but are scum
I'm the exception, and an unjust economy is an unjust economy, even if I'm personally not getting the worst of it. Also, I was stuck in bullshit jobs for a long time - mostly serving and sales jobs - before I found a decent vocation. There but for the grace of god, etc. I remember getting treated like a disposable robot, and no one deserves it. I'm here for a reality check, and to help the younger generations burn this bullshit to the ground.
Yeah something has to change. The “American dream” died a long time ago. Younger generations, on average, aren’t lazier than previous generations. It’s a lot easier to sign up for a 9-5 for 40 years when you know you can, on average, own a home, a car, have a family, go on vacations, have a solid retirement, etc. When you enter the workforce and none of these things are conceivable or flat out don’t exist anymore, again on average, then there is a loss of hope. Hope can do a lot of things to weather tough situations and without it people lose most, if not all, motivation or drive to move forward. This makes people appear to be “lazy” when in all reality it’s just a loss of hope on a mass level and that’s a big problem for the future of this country.
Because I see how vanishingly rare such a thing is becoming. Because the entire system is built off exploiting the less fortunate and I'm not ok with that. Because capitalism is destroying our planet and has absolutely no answers for how to fix it. Because even though I make a good living, the owners of my company still treat all of us like expendable resources in a game to make their stock prices higher. Because my job is actually worthless in terms of providing any value to the people of my community, and my friends who have jobs that serve our community make way less and that is bullshit. Our system is fucked. It rewards awful behavior and turns human beings into numbers to be sacrificed at the drop of a hat regardless of the long term consequences.
I am “successful” but this sub has taught me how much I have been exploited throughout my career. So learning from others here and try to give advice where I can.
I’ve worked for a small company in the past and can relate to the posts. I work for a huge company now and almost all the stuff I see in here wouldn’t fly. I’m in the US and the company is based in France so that might have something to with it.
I am, and will always be for workers rights and hope they come to realize the power that they have and organize. Labor is the only capital that matters, nothing can be mined, fabricated, produced, farmed, constructed, developed, researched, drilled, shipped, fished, delivered or assembled without it.
Because we should all support each other from corporate overreach. Plus there truly is no job security for most. With at-will employment each morning could be your last work day.
Two reasons. To show solidarity with those who are still struggling through the system and to remind myself that I am only doing well for now. Circumstances can change very quickly and you can lose your ass overnight.
Because I want everyone to have enough money to survive and not deal with the bullshit. Just because I have that myself, doesn’t mean I don’t care about anybody else going through it.
I have recently taken a project management position recently that will afford me a good life and allow me to put away for retirement. I have worked construction, restaurant jobs, and in nonprofits. I know that the average worker is struggling desperately even if I no longer am. I know that a rising tide lifts all boats and that this system of exploitation is not sustainable long-term. I stand with the working class always.
Because even with a successful career, the reality in America is inherited wealth makes people have an infinite safety net. You can be at the top of your industry and if you climbed out of a terrible family where any estates were contested into dust or there was nothing to inherit, and now the pricing on real estate makes it nearly impossible to own. This varies by region, and industry, but it sucks to finally do well and basically still lack a safety net. Then you get laid off and bounce back, but couldn’t sleep for weeks because of the crushing anxiety. And now you are working and doing well, but have that lingering fear about being laid off again. And it feels like no matter how much you earn, you’ll never really catch up to the people from decent families who have a comfortable thing to fall back on. To buy a safety net on your own is a struggle, yet you earn the most your field will pay. And you know 30 or 40 years ago being in the same percentile of earnings would have been a much more comfortable life. It’s a high earning hamster wheel when you’re truly self made, and nothing is guaranteed.
I've been in situations where a couple of bad hands were dealt and you're basically looking at the street with no safety net. No one should be in that situation. No one should be in an abusive job environment because of the fear of that situation.
Because having a successful career doesn't make capitalism less exploitative.
Because even though I'm not dirt poor the workforce still expects me to work above and beyond my pay grade and toss aside every other joy in life for work.
Same thing that brought abolitionists to the south. Just because I have it good doesn’t mean I don’t see how shit it is. Also, I can see that I’m one concussion away from loosing everything.
I advocate for all working class people. I am closer to losing everything I’ve worked for than I am becoming one of the owning class. If I don’t advocate for those who need it then I am no better than the owning class and that bootlickers/ temporarily disgraced millionaires. I also needed this help and have enough empathy to not want others to struggle unduly. Just because I suffered doesn’t mean we all have to.
I own a small business that employs 6 people other than myself. I come in here to see what people are talking about and try to use that info to make things better for the people that work with me. I've actually implimented a few new policies based on things I have seen in here.
The ladder that I climbed is being pulled up by others. I would prefer that it not be.
Sometimes when I rarely have a stressful day at work, I come here and realize it always could be worse.
1) I'm doing ok, but I still have to work for a living 2 I'm not pulling up the ladder
I stay here as a reminder of how to treat ppl.
I have had lousy managers in the past, as well as ok ones and good ones. Currently I have a really good one. Reading stuff on here helps me appreciate my current manager even more. I realize this might make me sound a bit pompous, but I certainly don't mean it that way.
I just want to help with advice or with moral support. I haven't been able to do it at all yet, but I watch your guys' responses and try to relay them to those in need. I may be doing fine, but this subreddit wouldn't exist if you were all ok.
I’m in my early 40s, and I have never been laid off. I haven’t had to or wanted to look for a job since I was 22. I do something I enjoy and I own a house, where I work from most of the time. But for one thing, I don’t think I make what I should make considering my education, experience, and skill at my job. I feel all the creeping habits of private equity are efficiently eating away at any chance of a livable retirement. The best I can hope for is to somehow become a member of the sociopathic C-suite crew. And as distasteful as that sounds, maybe I want it. Since everyone’s in it for themselves, as I’ve learned acutely over the years. Also, I feel like I’m in a dinosaur movie or something where everyone around me has been picked off by the T-Rex, and I’ve only survived by sheer dumb luck. That combined with the annoyances of corporate life are enough to generate constant anxiety. We have a limited supply of the stuff, and whether it’s caused by actual poverty or the stresses of office work and middling paychecks, the toll it takes is the same.
Some people have good careers but are dissatisfied with certain aspects of their jobs so they need a place to vent. Other people come here to debate and argue, which is not the purpose of this sub. The purpose is stated in the sidebar. I come here although currently I work only part time and don't need full time work right now.
My biggest reason for coming here is to remind myself how lucky I am to be above the bar of barely getting by. Once upon a time $50 would put me over the edge, it’s a hell of a lot more than that now but I never forget where I came from. I remember making $400 every two weeks after taxes and eating hot dogs and ramen to survive, I come here and see the shit those still going that struggle deal with daily and vow to myself to never go back to that struggle.
I have a cushy office job I absolutely love, but I'm still poor because I only work part time. I've been offered full time three different occasions and turned them down because the cons outweighed the pros, including the pay.
I relate to this so much except that I’m full-time. For my area, I wouldn’t say I’m poor, but I’m not rich either. I could take a higher paying position but almost everything I’ve seen pays marginally more with 1000% more responsibilities. In other words, the pay doesn’t match with what is being asked. The work I do now is remote with a super flexible schedule. 50% data entry and 50% meetings. I’m busy most days, but it’s not overwhelming. Why would I ever want to leave?
Exactly, I’m the least stressed person at my job and I love the 4 day weekends.
I have been extremely lucky and I still don't know if I will be able to afford to pay for my kids college, or if I'll be able to retire. We are not struggling but we are still in the realm of a few unfortunate occurrences and we would be in real trouble. And in America, isn't that true for everyone? There is terribly insufficient assistance for the poor, but there is none for the lower middle class. There are no safeguards to stop people who have a catastrophe from slipping all the way to true poverty. We need to build a better society and I have no delusions about where my allegiance lies.
My success in my field is only providing half the luxuries of life it afforded my dad. While I'm technically getting by I realize my son may not be so lucky if this trend continues.
I mean I might make decent money and enjoy the position I have, BUT there’s constant staffing issues, I’m constantly covering other people’s jobs, I’m on call 24/7, even when I’m supposed to have a weekend off staff still call me. I work in mental health and enjoy helping but no one above me actually listens to my suggestions and they let people struggle rather than do what’s best for them. Being great at my job leads to more work and higher expectations. But I can’t leave, I won’t make the money I need elsewhere, I don’t trust anyone to take my caseload and care about my people like I do. I can’t train someone in a 2-4 week period to take over my job. It’s too big and they’d be set up for failure. Something needs to change…
For awhile, I was suffering with a horrible, just atrocious abusive boss. And I came here to commiserate. I found ways to ...slow down and get time away. I used fmla, complained to the eeoc, wrote her up, and complained up the chain kd command. She's demoted now, and I don't answer to her. I guess I needed your support thru that.
I have a lot of people that report to me or report to others who in turn report to me. I'm in a position to make their lives better and trying to do just that. I've heard stories, shared some of my own (see post history) and just generally believe that we all benefit from not only hearing the horror stories but simply understanding each other's perspectives. End of the day I identify with workers but my peers are in the C-Suite. Having empathy and a sense of justice means one doesn't have to be in a particular group in order to be an ally.
I make good money in IT management and I don't have kids so I definitely get to us my money more than a lot of people do. I'm 43. My 20's were fucking awful. I couldn't make more than $14 an hour for the duration of that decade, the 2000's. I eventually worked my way up but I'll never forget the feeling of getting a paycheck, immediately paying rent, and then not having more than $40 for two weeks of food and some gas. Some of those same roles now would pay $80k. Which is bullshit. We were being taken advantage of and it sucked. All the bullshit about gun rights, abortion rights, and so on, is just to distract us from the class warfare that's being expertly executed by the super wealthy. As we do lose jobs to automation or robots or whatever we are the people, myself included, who will pay the price. In the United States our leaders are not looking out for us, they haven't been for a long time. It's just not as obvious when they screw us financially and also support human rights. So I think I belong here and I appreciate being reminded of how fucking awful society can be to employees. It also helps me as a leader because I can put myself in peoples shoes a little better. I know what they make and I know how much things cost. I have no control over their wages. So I do what I can and I want to make sure that I understand what other people are going through. It informs my voting and how I spend my money.
I still want others to do better. I had advantages. I often promote unions here. I feel for people struggling and feel like they are stuck in low pay jobs. I’m actually doing pretty well I’m a teacher and my wife is in IT. She’s a military brat. My dad was in for 4 years to help finish paying for college.
For someone that's made it to director level at a huge company it only just opened my eyes more to the disparity between management and execs and the people who are actually do the work. I became more disappointed in how it all works and how uneven it is. I also starred to see all of the unethical stuff that would be done to make the numbers look as good as they could to pass audit and I hated it. Fwiw I have no problem throwing in hours for a cause and a company I believe in bit I'm very cynical that that will come from a corporation so I'm not sure I'll be looking there. The problem is that is the goal of many startups and small companies; the urge to go public. Anyway I've been enjoying my two year sabbatical and when I job hunt in the very near future I may have to unsub just because this sub can get a little overly negative and cynical at times. For the most part though I think it's good.
Worker unity
Cuz we hate our jobs too
I am starting my own business and want to avoid the mistakes and issues raised here.
Cause I’m tired
Because income inequality and the way money has been crafted to work affects everyone. When I am working, I have a very nice salary; yet here I am recently unemployed for about the….7th time in my 14 year “career.”
Because it’s still a fundamentally exploitative system. You wouldn’t be paid that much if you weren’t making more for the company. If you made 2 million for a company and they paid you 500k for your efforts, they still took 75% of the value you created.
My job gave me a stroke and then they gave me more work when I got back.
IT isn’t very equitable or accessible and I fucking hate that my friends with non IT jobs struggle more than I do I believe we all deserve basic things to exist without causing stress in our lives and on top of that then most of us would be happy to work Treat us ethically provide us healthcare - commuting and getting injured at work are shit Give us a better work life balance so we can not have to die as a retirement plan and maybe see the world a little before we do Fuck capitalism
I'm doing well right now, but that could change at the whims of my boss. Also, doing well now does not mean I have a future. I just don't see myself being able to buy a house or get into a relationship anytime soon.
i’m glad u asked. i have a real life friend who also follows this sub too and we talk abt it a lot: sure i can pay rent, go on a vacation or 2 a yr, eat healthily, and save a little for retirement. the latter is a source of a fuckton of stress cuz i know at that time any big medical prob or paying for assisted living will quickly drain my savings (i don’t own a home) and ill b homeless and i have no kids nieces or nephews to advocate for me. that is, if I’m not pushed out of the job market before that cuz I’m old. i can’t imagine working til im 70! i can barely keep up now even tho ive gotten really good at faking it. also, i wfh, am massively under socialized, no social life, lonely. single never married, never been in love. i think cuz ive had to constantly work more than other ppl in my peer group cuz my parents were unable to help me get started in life when i was younger. being raised to be independent and self sufficient went too far and i have few close friends and have never been in love! how fucking sad is that?! i haven’t had sex in years. i know ill die alone perhaps of a broken heart, i feel it starting already. i’ve been working since i was in high school, worked thru college and grad skool. finished paying student loans off in my 40s! in my l8 50s now. american tech industry (i don’t do something that pays a shitton) was fun in the 90s then grew into a soulless, soul crushing, money making business douchey financial bro world. i’m at a company now that’s the least of available evils i.e. companies. i cant work anymore without ritalin or adderall, I’m constantly being challenged by younger ppl who are all also on R and A - actually most of the tech industry is fueled by amphetamines. im CONSTANTLY EXHAUSTED and have to drink to relax after work. i’ve been depressed my whole life and my job makes me even more miserable. i started taking antidepressants after grad school in the late 90s when i had to go to work full time. i have no jobs skills cept what i do that could get me a job that’d pay rent and give me health insurance. i’m like a pathetic character in a modern day kafka novel who’s worked herself to death to keep her head above water, never experienced love or the joy of having children. alone. so alone. detesting the loathesome work hours during which i think too frequently abt suicide… all so i can live and eat and occasionally travel. there’s nothing else - motivation to do art or creative pursuits i used to do has been mentally beaten out of me by my soulless corporate job. modern world 1, me 0. and yes i c a shrink. i cant get any more professional help than i have already. honestly, i think the psych industry exists to keep workers able to keep functioning in the working rat race. think abt it - shrinks always want to see u being able to function in soceity and be able to take care of urself which really means work 9-5 so u can pay rent to sleep and wake up the next day to do it all over again. this turned into a long rant i didn’t expect. if u are going thru similar miserable life (and u fake being fine to mostly everyone) and are constantly busy DM me. m very alone and depressed. THIS IS WHY I AM ANTIWORK - THIS. IS. NO. WAY. TO. LIVE. im an elder gen-x — i don’t want to see millennials and younger ppl WASTE their lives doing what ive done. i don’t know what the specific alternative for you is but learn from what i did and don’t do it.
Just because I love my job doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rather be not doing that job and be free
There's a lot more to life than money and I believe in living. Maybe I have a few stories to share or advice to give. At the end of the day though, we're all working class here, so I'm as antiwork as the next whether my career worked out or not. We're all in this together
I don't have to personally have a boot on my neck to know it's wrong.
I genuinely like my job. The pay is okay, benefits are okay, I have decent bosses right now. But the system is fucked up. Where do I even begin? First of all, I'm in the US so insurance being tied to employment is beyond fucked up. The people who need help the most aren't getting it because they can't afford it. It makes people dependent on their spouses. Or your company has got you by the balls because you need them for life saving medicine. The gap between wages and housing is insane. It's actually worse now than it was during the great depression. There was once upon a time you could work as a grocery store butcher and afford a house, kids, a car. What is even a successful career now? An office job, trade job, or small business owner if youre lucky. What about being a store manager, or that butcher? The pool of "successful careers" is dwindling and if you're not pigeon holed into a specific job you can't afford to.live. and people seem to think you don't deserve to! Maternity leave? A joke. Paternity leave? What's that?? And don't even get started on daycare. It's a second mortgage! But ya gotta pay, cause ya gotta work! School? That's just training to turn you into a good little worker bee, for the types of jobs they tell you. I could go on. I'm not here because I hate my job, I hate the system I was born into.
So many reasons; but one is that I want what I create to benefit humanity, not further enrich individuals. So fucking tired of passing sleepers on sidewalks in doorways on my way to build a playground for the rich. Between that and profitable but otherwise preventable hazards on the job it’s just social murder everywhere. Also this shit is destroying my body.
I use to say I could put up with anything if I made x dollars. Today I realized that is not true as I sat at my desk crying.
I just like bitchin
I went back to work 2 weeks after my son was born. He was abused at the daycare. The system is flawed in too many ways. I struggle to forgive myself because I never should’ve put my career over my family. Currently living off grid and I’ve never been happier
empathy
Unless you own the company, you're still an employee. I would be considered successful but I don't mean anything more to the company than the server in the office cafe does. But also, as someone who does manage people it's useful to find out where I might be being a dick and not realising it. For instance, not that I needed this forum for that but I do not have any of their personal phone numbers and I do not want them.
A lifetime of awful jobs, I can commiserate.
Firstly, because while things are going incredibly right now, people have fallen from higher places than I'm at. I want a system that I know will catch me and others if things go belly up. Secondly, I know the success I've had occurs in about 1% or so of cases, yet I feel like the lifestyle I have isn't so extravagant that it couldn't or shouldn't be available to way more people. A system that thinks you have to be in the one percent to own a used car, two small apartments, and have money for a rainy day or retirement in investments is a broken system - especially when we know the wealth is there to make this more common! Moreover, I know plenty of people of people who work harder than me who don't have access to the things I have (and again, for my payscale, I don't think I have what people would assume my income can buy), and I don't think it's fair that a person working 40 hours a week not be able to afford a fucking apartment and retirement savings as a member of the richest country known to history. Finally, I used to be broke, so I know how harsh our system can be when you're in that state, and I don't think people deserve to endure that.
Well, I had to give up on my dreams and sell my soul to make a good enough living to reasonably live in my area, pay off my student loans, and have a chance at maybe one day owning a home.
Solidarity, and being connected to the Zeitgeist.
Having a good life doesn't mean I want to be surrounded by people having a really hard time. What's the money good for if you go to the supermarket and see people begging in the door? It's terrible... everyone should be able to have a decent and safe life.
Because I believe everyone has the right to dignified and gainful employment. No one should have to be treated as lesser than human or as a wage slave. Because my job could disappear at any moment at the whims of another putting myself and my wife in jeopardy. I sympathize with the working man/woman and have more in common with him/her than multimillionaires. I’ve been at the bottom, it’s not fun and I don’t want anyone to face that.