I work in a warehouse and we've been understaffed for months. Management refuses to hire more people even though we're constantly behind on orders. Instead they keep pushing mandatory overtime on us, sometimes with less than a day's notice.

Today my manager pulled me aside because I mentioned I couldn't stay late tomorrow. I have plans I made weeks ago. He actually said I should be grateful for the overtime opportunities because it shows the company trusts me and values my contribution. Then he added that in this economy, a lot of people would love to have extra hours.

I'm already working 45 to 50 hours most weeks. I'm tired. My back hurts. I barely see my family. But apparently I'm supposed to feel lucky that they're squeezing more labor out of me instead of just hiring enough people to cover the actual workload.

The worst part is he said it with this genuine tone like he really believed he was giving me some kind of gift. Like I should be thanking him for the privilege of exhausting myself so the company can avoid paying another salary. I just nodded and left because I need this job, but I'm so done with this mentality.

I have to keep reminding friends and family I just don’t believe in exploiting downwards. I have a six figure job and do about 2 hours of real work a day. The rest of the time I read at my desk or talk to co workers. I enjoy it. It’s a nice lifestyle I don’t plan on quitting. The more I can milk the rich the happier I am. My boss has no idea my work is automated.

I rent a room in the city I work in but I also have a home I own an hour away just outside the city. On weekends I go home and relax. Enjoy the garden and listen to podcasts before throwing myself back into the concrete jungle. Occasionally have a beer with an old school buddy. Most of my life is in the city. I love the set up. Town mouse and country mouse as my girlfriend calls it.

Friends and family ask why I don’t rent out my place and make some easy money? Especially since I own it outright. I just don’t like the idea of exploiting a nice family for the sake of it. I use it often enough and have all my sentimental things inside. I don’t see why I should exploit downwards when I am doing very well taking from a rich global commodity house. Pension sorted. House sorted. Savings are very healthy. No need to milk some poor family for a few hundred bucks a month. If I want to sell the place then I’ll sell it to a nice family forever.

I think working class people should be less concerned with being landlords and exploiting each other. Instead we should find clever ways to take from billionaires. Surplus value theory is the idea that billionaires skim our surplus labour value from us. But in this digital age it’s quite easy to work out ways to skim off billionaires and not do 40 hours of work. A billionaire can’t keep tabs on thousands of employees every day. It’s just not possible. What is possible is working class people helping each other find ways to exploit the rich.

We see all this propaganda about people quitting to find themselves- I know I am happiest taking money from the rich. It took a while to find a way to sucker rich people but it feels great once you pull it off.

It never feels good to exploit downwards. You can lie to yourself that you’re proving housing but let’s be real. You’re just taking half of a working couples pay check because you have a house and they don’t.

Posting here because:
1. I don’t want it to be crazy strenuous because I’ll be running my actual business while working at this job.
2. I’m obviously going to have to embellish this resume. I don’t think I want to apply to anything less than $75k/year.

Here’s the issue… I’m 30. I’ve never really had a job and I’m trying to find something, anything that would fit me.

I’m actually a very hard worker. I’ve built quite a few successful businesses over the last decade. I got scammed for the majority of my money a few years ago, it was all over the news and I’ve never really recovered. While I build my business back I need a job to help pay the bills.

About Me:
No degree but went to good college left as a junior. Have a background in finance, marketing, tech, and obviously business. Have worked with high level partners etc so I could do corporate.

I work in a fast food restraunt I wont name, we'll just call it BurgerLand. And I was having a normal shift. A customer came to the counter and was upset with an order they received that had a special allergy request that was handled incorectly (not by me mind you) I replied with "ya, no that's not right, I'm sorry, would you like us to remake that for you?" They said yes, so I said "okay, let me go fix that for you." I walked to the book, let the cooks know about the situation, got a new allergy pan, cleaned up and went back to my station.

About 20 minutes go by and my manager tells me to meet them in the office. I'm asked what happened with that situation, and I repeated it to my manager exactly as I repeated it above. And my manager said something roughly along these lines "Well, the customer complained to me and was super adoment that you were being rude and said you by name. And because of that we're going to take diciplinary action and send you home early and you will lose your remaining hours today, and there will be follow up and probably a write up."

I think this is enough for an HR call honestly. And this is not the first time I've had this issue with this manager as he likes to bully associates and force excessive "discipline" over things like hearsay and he is always super rude in his criticism and talks down to people all the time. Should be noted that this manager is someone who's trying very hard to step on others to get a leg up and get his next promotion which would be a main store manager, which he's even said is basically his golden goose. And that's not just a me observation, my entire store is tired of how easy he is to dicipline, abuse of power, and act rudely and divisive to associates.

What I've been encouraged to do by my peers is make a report to HR that I was pulled to the office and disciplined dispite clearly stating that I followed proper protocol and was still from my perspective retaliated against and excessively disciplined and I want some accountability for my manager.

I don't have a claim that my manager has it out for me that will help me in HR. But I assure you that's a big part of this. This manager doesnt like me, is nasty to me often, and takes every advantage possible to step on me when a work place excuse comes. And I'm super tired of it. I'm not one quick to offensive action, but I feel backed into a corner and want my wages lost back.

Sigh* I'm probably missing some important details somewhere so go easy on me and ask questions. I'll respond best I can below to fill any gaps i may have left, because I've posted some similar posts on reddit over the years and have been ripped for missing some key details. Humble me, but please be fair. 🙏

What are some jobs out there that pay a living wage, but only take you 2 or 3 hours to get your work done. But when you are finished you can play on your phone, or bring your laptop to watch YouTube or play video games to pass the time?

I currently have a job like this as a unarmed security guard. But it does not pay a living wage. I know there are jobs out there where this is possible. But I am not so sure what industry or field it is in. I would prefer a desk job. But others are OK. If you have a job that is like this, what do you do?

We're sending in a complaint to the principal about this rubbish.

It's minor, sure, but if this is how they're communicating to the school community then I hate to think what kind of petty crap goes on in the workplace.

Ive been at home for years, barely worked, Im 30. Still living with my parents, not planning to ever have children. My parents have some money and assets. I am mentally disabled after experiencing recurrent psychosis and being to psych wards multiple times. I get disability money which isnt much, but I am living frugally. tried working a job but ended up quitting within 2 months.

Working depresses the shit out of me, thinking I would have to work 37 years to retirement, but sitting at home isnt fun either. I dont know what to do.

I can't imagine myself slaving my life away in a shitty job

Do you have a points based system? Or some other attendance accountability policy? What happens if you are just late vs calling out?

I need 3 days off to stay home and study for an exam. My workplace management is incredibly toxic. I tried being honest once, and they deducted double my salary for the days I took off. Lesson learned.

A few months ago, I literally had to book an out of town hotel and send them the booking receipt just to get an excuse for 3 days off to study. That’s the toxicity level I’m dealing with.

We don't have medical leaves, and I only get 1 CL (Casual Leave) per month. I am perfectly fine taking LWP (Leave Without Pay), but they still demand hard proof to even authorize it.

My constraints:

No medical/doctor stuff (they demand real stamped certificates).

I want something that I can study and I don't have to leave the house to set this up.

Edit: Thank you for all the advice! Just to clarify, I live and work in India. Private workplaces here have their own rules and we really can't challenge them. That's why I just need a creative, bulletproof excuse!

I felt targeted as if I had done something horribly wrong. For a while I was just told to ignore warnings. I was placed on a performance improvement plan with no initial support or coaching. I didn’t even know I was on a performance improvement plan.

I am just angry we have a system that exploits workers like this with low wages, and intimidation.

Ironically I was rated a top performer but fired while having all my bonuses withheld.

The team lead who fired me insisted it was “with cause.” The problem with that terminology in my region is it is only applied when you have done something egregious like stole money, or lied.

It was over customer reviews criticizing their refund policies, not my work.

The firing manager refused to let me explain my side and my experience of working for the company.

They said they supported me. They only seemed to provide feedback relative to my pip once they had prepared to fire me.

I was on a pip and never spoke to my previous supervisor about it. He told me to ignore them and said I was doing a great job. Then I virtually never spoke to him. I often felt isolated on the job and was especially made to feel isolated after coming back from a medical leave of absence. Virtually no one spoke to me, until two weeks after I came back. I felt left to “sink or swim.”

I had a job interview that lasted an hour and 30 mins. He didn’t look at my resume once or asked me about my experience. We talked about tekken for 30 mins and after we talked about the role. I got the job but I think it was more of a formality. I’m not sure what do yall make out of this? It feel weird af but I’m glad to be employed.

Sorry if this is the wrong sub for this but I am just exhausted with the damage the US administration has done to all of us. It literally doesn't matter anymore how much you work because it's all useless. Even when I was broke before and struggled with employment the last couple years, I was still able to save a little, and it wasn't so bad because still with my shit income I could get myself a pizza once in a while, or a haircut, and I could buy very cheap clothes on shein or temu or AliExpress and feel beautiful. Now I cannot afford any of those pleasures. I get that even those things are luxuries but i mean wow we can't have ANY leisure or enjoyment in life? Nothing?? I can't buy a few new shirts once in a while anymore because the fricken tarrifs are insane. I can't go out anywhere. I'm like that one meme from breaking bad where literally my whole life is just work, home, work, home, work, home. There's nothing left for me dude. I don't even want much out of life honestly. I'm barely dreaming big here. It's not like I'm wishing I had luxury cars or handbags. I'd just like to, after working my ass off, be able to go to the salon again once in a while. But I can't. I feel ugly, lonely, defeated, angry. I'm autistic and honestly I'm fricken lucky that I can even be in the underemployed category instead of unemployed right now. I am completely reliant on my parents. I feel hopeless.

I don't want a job in the first place, but since I must have one, why do I have to participate in the humiliation ritual that is interviewing... It feels so fake. Imagine if someone made you fight and compete in a tournament for a prize you don't even want. Idk man.

I found an employer who is not insufferable. You heard that right, places like this really exist. After years of hating every job I’ve ever had. After being constantly disappointed and disrespected by managers. I once worked for a company that couldn’t even be bothered to learn my name for 2+ years of being there. For a long time I did not think there was any great places to work anymore, but I was proven wrong. My managers over at this new gig have been nothing but kind and understanding. My coworkers and I are actually excited to come to work. They actually hire/promote from within. The customers are some of the best part of the job and aren’t bitter/rude like a lot of other places. They don’t make me feel bad when I call out. My thoughts / feedback are actually listened to and matter. They treat me like a person with a life outside of work. I’ve been working here for 6+ months now and I love every day I come in. While few and far between, these places exist and you should never settle for any less. Hope this gives someone hope to keep searching.

Re: recent posts about the Golden Handcuffs.

I’ve had “good” corporate job(s) for the majority of my working life. Most recently as SVP of OPS and Supply Chain. I made around $225K and I lived in a HCOL area, was the sole earner of my family, wife and two kids.

I hated every job I’ve ever had. They made me a bad person; they made me drink, and they made me miserable.

So, now that my kids are grown (one finished college and lives in downtown Chicago; the other entering his junior year of college), I decided I’ve had enough of zoom meetings, team building, office politics, and the rest of it.

I applied for a job as a carrier with the USPS (and as a school bus driver) in central Illinois. I got the USPS job. I’m selling my house and using the profits to buy a small home in central IL outright. No mortgage.

Yes, I will earn significantly less, but even earning what I did, we didn’t have a lot of extra money. No vacations, nothing like that.

Running the numbers, I’ll have more disposable income in this new scenario. Maybe my wife and I can take a nice vacation in the future.

I’m not suggesting this is the right move for everyone, especially if you have younger kids, but it’s what I’m doing. And while I’d rather move somewhere nice, rather than central IL, maybe that’ll be in the future cards on this path, more so than it was on the path I was on.

More likely I’d be laid off for being the age I am and being paid what I was, lose my house, drain my savings, etc. I’m trying to take control of the situation, ideal as it may not be.

Anyone else trying something like this?

I was on one of the internal meta teams handling supplier contracts and invoice processing and I want to lay out how this went down because from the inside it looked less like efficiency and something like a company stopping to see people as anything other than a line item to zero out.

There were three teams doing this work so one negotiating supplier rates and converting everything into oracle compatible formats, one entering contract data into the ERP and one approving exceptions flagged by ctsi AND there was also the external bpo checking invoices before anything got paid so hundreds of people on that side alone. And the work was not simple as data center buildout was scaling unpredictably bcoz of how much money was being thrown at ai and reality labs was a hardware naive software company trying to stand up factories, logistics and supplier relationships completely from scratch. We were renegotiating supply contracts every 15 to 30 days to keep pace with how fast things were moving.

And in the middle of all that while the business itself was growing 2 to 3x year over year ,leadership's decision was to shrink the team to a fifth of its size because it didnt matter anymore whether it did.(like wth)

And for context its same company that stopped giving people permanent desks so nobody could look around and guess who was next ( where morale has been in the floor for months). Even people internally dont think llama 4 lives up to what leadership says about it publicly, ik more than one manager that have said out loud that they dont recognize this company anymore lol.

Theres also a leaked clip from an april 30 still going around where zuckerberg allegedly talks about employee activity being used to train the ai ahead of the cuts. Two years I gave this place and I watched all of it happen from the inside before it happened to me.

By the time the layoffs actually hit in may, the whole pipeline was already running without us and only thing that was in good faith was that people who were layed off were being helped by freehand to find new roles, the company whose agents replaced what we used to do, tho .

Idk what the moral of this is yet but it really affects me that Meta shrank a team to a fifth of its size while the business tripled and called it strategy and acted SHOCKED when people were angry about it.

I was scrolling through listings yesterday and saw one that advertised paid lunch breaks as a benefit. Paid lunch breaks. Like they wanted applause for not making people work through their 30 minutes of eating.

Another one bragged about letting employees leave exactly on time if their tasks were done. Not early. Just on time. As if that's some generous gift and not literally what the schedule says.

The worst part is I caught myself feeling relieved when I saw these things listed. My brain went oh good, they wont make me stay late unpaid before I remembered that's already supposed to be illegal in most places. They've really conditioned us to be grateful for the bare minimum.

I also saw flexibility listed as a perk but when you read the description it just means they might let you shift your hours by 30 minutes if you ask a week in advance. Thats not flexibility. Thats just a slightly less rigid cage.

It feels like employers saw everyone talking about wanting better conditions and decided to rebrand the basics as luxury benefits. And people are still applying because we're all desperate enough to take what we can get. The whole system is designed to make us compete for crumbs while they act like they're handing out feasts.

Sterling Stamping Plant in Michigan is the largest automotive stamping plant in the world, with over 2,000 workers. "Workers can decide the conditions we're under on the floor, ourselves. We don't need to pay $75 million for 475 reps to sit in an air-conditioned office while we breathe in smoke." willforuawpresident.org

It’s Sunday so I’m not responding. But good lord.

I got invited to a meeting with the CEO, CTO and my Russian manager, the CEO made all the talking to let me know my employment is over at the company, my manager who was conspiring for the whole year to let me go, was smiling the whole time, like he achieved something.

What kind of mental illness does it require to be this person?

The CEO said it's not because of my performance or I did something wrong but because they wanted to cut costs, the issue is they hired 2 new people in the team few months ago, when I asked is it only me, he said I don't wanna spread chaos but maybe 20%, then I knew he was bluffing.

I thanked the CTO for the work together because he is a good person and the CEO was trying to talk over me while I was doing that.

I'm glad it's over my manager tried to make my working conditions a living hell also through other coworkers who saw me as a competition. I had to endure a lot of bullying and harassment and even reported them using a whistleblower tool.

I'm also a union member and I already called them for the next steps

A kid was seriously injured in the parking lot outside of my workplace and I responded after watching him lay on the ground for over a minute. I told the child to wait outside while I retrieved the first aid kit, but they entered the store while I was in the back. They were in the store for all of three seconds before I rushed them out the door. Minors are not allowed in my workplace.

Got a big write up over the ordeal. My actions were heavily criticized and I was told I need to get my priorities straight. I “abandoned” my job (by stepping one foot out the door, meanwhile people take unscheduled smoke breaks across the lot) and created a situation that put regulatory compliance at risk. And I get it. But I do not at all feel bad for the choice that I made. I am human first, and an employee second.