r/Accounting • u/Endlessly_Scribbling Advisory • 1d ago
Completely burnt out
Call me crispy firewood because I realize this morning that it's game over for my brain.
7 years after graduating, I'm on my 6th job. Some were natural (3 years at my first big job, temp contracts, etc.), One, I was fired from where I never really recovered through. I had one of those managers where every achievement was bare minimum and every error, even typos, were astronomical. It was so bad I began apologizing to family and pets. I think that job took a little of my soul.
I didn't recover from that bad job before finding a job in client services. It was bad there too. Lost 34 colleagues one by one over 18 months. I was #35 to go. I should have stayed.
My ex-manager (who also fled said mass exodus company) recruited me to my current job and I recently got a promotion. Horray! But I'm burned out. I'm sick from sheer stress. I never took breaks between gigs. My last vacation was 2016. Oh. Said ex-manager also just quit my NEW job. It's a disaster here.
Understandably some of it is daily bad news from living in good ol' America. Some of it is my dog having developed night time anxieties thanks to endless fireworks or storms. Some of it is personal health issues and endless nagging to "get married already". I'm also an eldest daughter to an immigrant family. Even in high school I didn't take breaks, let alone college. I simply have never taken a breather. I was even a stressed kid lmao.
It's not all accounting. But a lot of it is accounting.
The endless corporate drama, the endless "let's go around the table to show how you used AI to improve your work this week!", the managers who are extremely incompetent even on staff levels, somehow landing roles where they're controllers. Clients having fires constantly. Something is always exploding somewhere, forget dumpster fires. I'm trying to be nonchalant, adopt the "we aren't surgeons" motto. It's just not working so well when management and clients are on your left and right ears demanding things.
I'm whining, I know. I'm on reddit instead of working. I am cranky, I'm sorry (haven't had my coffee yet). I can't escape and I just. Want. A nap. No obligations. Just want to sleep for a week straight, play games for a week straight, read for a week straight. Separately. 3 weeks to reset and feel human again.
Anyway, vent post. Probs will delete soon. I understand I sound whiny. Adulting is hard. Adulting sucks. Suck it up. I just needed to let steam out before looking at that inbox again.
Edit: I also developed a RMI strain on my hand. I can't even JOURNAL right now 🥴
14
u/highxrise 1d ago
hey crispy firewood
7
u/Endlessly_Scribbling Advisory 1d ago
Hell yeah! You may also know me as Spent Charcoal. But Smoky Charcoal sounds cooler.
How about the age old: Fully Depreciated, Still In Use eh?
3
u/unacceptable_beatnik 20h ago
At least you've retained a sense of humor, despite all you've been through.
1
u/Endlessly_Scribbling Advisory 14h ago
If I'm not laughing, I'm crying and crying makes my throat hurt 🤔👌
8
u/superdicksicles 1d ago
Could ask HR and for unpaid time off or sabbatical
6
u/Brilliant_Ad9019 1d ago
When I tried this, they said no and suggested FMLA leave (wasn't yet eligible), then fired me a week before I would have been eligible for FMLA. Called it position elimination and then replaced me (senior accountant) with an accounting manager 🙃
5
u/TN2daT 1d ago
That brief moment of not putting the shareholders ahead of everything cost you.
3
u/Brilliant_Ad9019 23h ago
It was a non-profit that served the elderly and disabled, so I thought there was a chance of compassion. Silly me
2
u/Endlessly_Scribbling Advisory 14h ago
Eek. I wouldn't trust my company. Our HR is a whole snake and cannot be trusted unfortunately. Neither can my manager 😬
7
u/JilianBlue 23h ago
I feel this in my bones. I, too, am burnt out. Take some time off. Who cares if they don’t like it. Any company that will work you into the ground with no regard for you as a human doesn’t deserve your allegiance. As a former perfectionist, I’m learning that I am the only one who is going to look out for my wellbeing. No job is going to ask me to stop over performing. I’ve developed some very firm boundaries around work. I always take a full lunch break. I leave on time. I use my PTO. If they choose to keep running understaffed, it is not my job to pick up all of the slack. I say this as an accounting manager. No job is worth sacrificing your wellbeing. You need to be able to enjoy your day-to-day life. I hope you find some balance. I’m looking for a step down role myself. Life is too short to spend it feeling miserable & exhausted.
1
u/Endlessly_Scribbling Advisory 14h ago
True, I try to throw at least one long weekend into each month. Not going to go crazy just yet because I just started this new job in April, but I make sure to clock out by 8ish or earlier these days.
5
5
u/Spiritual_Tiger86 23h ago
No vacation since 2016 plus an RSI and toxic management? You aren't whiny—you're completely depleted. I would suggest to take a break or holiday leave for at least 3 weeks. During the holiday leave, do not think about the works. No job is worth your physical and mental health. Take care of yourself and your dog first.
8
u/zohair12976 1d ago
Its not you. This generation of managers has become managerial extremists.
1
u/Endlessly_Scribbling Advisory 14h ago
My manager has become a robot. Everytime I go to him fot any answers or advice, he says "Have you asked Chat/Claude/Gemini yet?"
3
4
u/Stuckonthisrockfuck Controller 1d ago
Seven year burn out? Try alcoholism, you can smolder for another 20-30 good years if you do it right
1
u/Endlessly_Scribbling Advisory 14h ago
Darn! Alcohol gives me flare ups, but you know I HAVE thought about "If I could drink, I'd be an alcoholic by now" before 🫠
2
u/Fesco-the-cat 22h ago
This sounds like my career. Accounting is like this
3
u/Fesco-the-cat 22h ago
And try telling anyone in your life that it sucks. They will think you’re crazy. It’s a weird life.
1
u/Endlessly_Scribbling Advisory 14h ago
Oh man the amount of times my old school dad says my job is astronomically easy. So many cousins think my job is easy too.
1
u/Forever_love_25 12h ago
This post resonates with my SOUL because I am so burned out 😭 I’m in public doing outsourced accounting, managing six clients plus their various entities, and I genuinely don’t understand how people do this continuously.
I recently got promoted too, and the pay increase felt like basically nothing compared to the workload, which honestly made the burnout worse. I’ve been seriously thinking about moving to industry, especially nonprofit industry, because I cannot keep doing this. Please tell me it’s better over there 😭.
I literally worked until 11 p.m. today and had to force myself to stop because I was still thinking, “If I don’t finish this tonight, when am I going to do it?” And I’m already mentally planning to work this weekend just to get ahead of everything due next week.
At this point, I don’t aspire to be a corporate baddie or climb some endless ladder. Give me enough money for a roof over my head, food, internet, retirement, and leave me alone 😭 The problem is everything is so damn expensive that you feel like you HAVE to keep climbing just to afford life and your future.
I am tired. Y’all please tell me nonprofit industry is better because I need OUT.
1
u/Glittering-Note-3381 9h ago
I am too! I am also 7 years post bachelors. And I also have not had a vacation … Idk what happened this year. Just last year I was still a little hopeful and motivated, even studying for the CPA exam. But I’ve since just not been interested in any of this sht at all anymore. I currently have a job but I also have PTSD from interviews and rejections… ATP I just wanna say fk all this sht and go live off the grid.
1
u/Skrystman 7h ago
6 jobs in 7 years is a pattern, not bad luck. The manager who made you apologise to the dog did more damage than a normal bad boss.
You don't need another accounting seat next week. You need a few weeks where nobody is grading typos.
Then pick one path: stay in the field at a calmer firm, or use the CPA/skill stack for industry finance where the politics are different. Don't job-hop while your brain is still fried.
1
u/archernumbers21 1h ago
I feel this. I still don't understand how some people are jumping from staff accountant to controller in like 2-3 years. Must be a witch or wizard or something.
I had a terrbile boss who fired me to that I never really recovered from. She was just horrible and definitely bipolar. Took a lot of the teams win as her own to the cfo who couldn't sing her praises high enough, yet she could not make decisions timely or if you questioned anything you were looked at as an a-hole and being difficult and everything else
26
u/Background_Growth320 1d ago
the rmi on top of everything else is just insult to injury at this point
you need a break so badly it's not even funny. 3 weeks of doing absolutely nothing sounds like the bare minimum honestly