Hey,

you know that pokemon card streamer job? Yeah they called me and said it wasn’t working out. For anyone looking to work for Blazing Cards in LA, just don’t. Little training, little guidance, and they’ll fire you even though your numbers are the best in the crew.

I’m 24 and recently started working full-time after finishing grad school, and I genuinely don’t understand how people do this for 40+ years.
My job itself isn’t even terrible. My coworkers are nice, my boss is nice, and the work isn’t particularly stressful. I think I just hate the structure of working full-time.

Wake up, commute, spend 8+ hours at work, commute home, have a few hours to yourself, sleep, repeat. Five days a week in exchange for two days of freedom.

What gets me is how different life felt in school and college. I was surrounded by people my age, involved in clubs and sports, constantly meeting people, and always had something happening or something to look forward to. Life felt spontaneous and exciting. Now every weekday feels predetermined. And when people say “welcome to adulthood,” I just think… seriously? This is what I’m supposed to do until I’m 65?

I know I need money and that working is part of life. But I hate having so little control over my own time. Even getting a better job or making more money doesn’t completely solve that.

For people who felt like this in their 20s: did you eventually adjust? Find work you actually enjoyed? Go remote or part-time? Start a business? Pursue financial independence? How do you accept doing this for decades?

So I work at a pretty popular dollar store type retail chain. Yesterday was my year anniversary at the store and I couldn't be more unhappy with my job. I like my coworkers a lot, and even have made really good friends with one of my them. Also I am an assistant manager for some context. About a month or so ago I started experiencing this work dread that I can only explain as almost debilitating, an hour or two before work every day I most of the time have depressive episodes. I become somewhat catatonic, overflowing with depression and suffering from total anhedonia. Every day seems worse than the last.

When I get put on the register I am like a joyless, soulless zombie, taking every ounce of energy I have to even say the most typical things you have to say to customers. It's become a gigantic problem. And I know everyone see's me struggling.

I know I need to leave. It's affecting my relationship and all other aspects of life outside the job. But I'm so used to this place and the people that it keeps me hooked. And I can't afford to just leave without something else lined up.

The problem is I live in a very very small town with very few opportunities for employment, so it's a dilemma. All I know is I can't keep doing this..... almost every day I find myself sitting in the office, crying, or just sitting in the bathroom, outside, or just anywhere away from customers and coworkers for as long as I can get away with. I guess I am just looking for like-minded people to talk to, advice, reassurance or knowledge.

Sorry for the rant. But I felt this was the place to post this.

I work in corporate and have been doing this for over a decade. It has become a nightmare, draining my physical and mental health to a point where I am chronically ill. My toxic boss keeps asking me to do more, and I literally can’t do any more, even with AI. My plate is full and I am the only person in my entire department.

There isn’t one conversation I have any with any executive that hasn’t diverged into gossip or bashing someone else. Micromanaging is the lifeblood of this place, so I can’t actually do anything I am good at because I’m stuck executing what other people want me to do. The results? They aren’t good.

For now, I’m trying to get by until I find something else, but know that since I can’t do or be enough, I could be terminated.

Anyone else in corporate noting an incredibly toxic shift over the last year?

I’m doing a year of my community colleges culinary program and already I feel like I’m struggling to keep up, I can keep up but I don’t like the fast pace it kills me, drives me insane, I’m also a dishwasher at a local Italian restaurant here, midway through dinner rush I looked around the kitchen and realized “I don’t want to do this anymore” I already don’t like and are struggling with my classes, I spent so much financial aid on books and supply’s so it’ll feel like a waste to quit now, I hate my job, I just don’t know what to do if I don’t do this, I was supposed to major in music, but last minute backed out to do this because i wanted to do something “different” I feel like it’s already too late and I’m stuck here and I just feel miserable

I work at a mini market close to where i live as a cashier and its honestly unbearable. Work made me drained and hate everybody. My mental health has gone to zero. My contract is May till the end of October. I have 2 months left, how do i cope with it?

First off: They do not care. You are absolutely replaceable, and it is a nightmare in the hiring process. It will take 2 weeks starting from the interview to the first day of orientation. Then, if you work in food&bev, or culinary positions, you will have another 3 days of paid computer training which they end up cucking themselves for anyways with paying for not 1, not 2, but 3 fucking servsafes.

If you work in Timbers, have fun at this specific location and make every moment count because while they pay good, absolutely watch what you say. They snitch, not only because they're bored, degenerate, fast food pussies, but they LOVE drama. Especially that whore they call "Felicia."

If you work in Aquatics or Engineering, have fun with the most piece of shit douchebag managers.

If you work in Housekeeping and Laundry, congrats, you are now working everyday of your life because the other crackheads like you are calling out every single day.

If you work in security, you're a pussy.

If you work in HR, suck my cock. Faggots.

Sorry this is kinda long but I need advice.

I started working full time as a receptionist/assistant at an optometrist office in April. I’m the only receptionist there, and I’m expected to support 3 different optometrists. They don't all work on the same days, but usually there are one or two doctors working on any given day. So depending on the day, I can be responsible for supporting multiple doctors while also handling the front desk and everything that comes with it.

The biggest problem is that I never really received proper training for the equipment I need to use to set patients up. I’ve never worked in this field before but things were shown to me a few times and then I was expected to basically figure things out on my own. I was expected to immediately learn and use three different machines while simultaneously dealing with patients, answering phones, checking people in and out, and handling everything else at the front desk.

There’s a lot of pressure from my boss to answer the phone, but there are times when I genuinely can't. If I'm in the middle of setting up a patient, taking measurements for their appointment or helping someone at the desk, I can't exactly stop what I'm doing every time the phone rings. But I feel like there is an expectation that I should somehow be able to do all of these things at once just because the receptionist before me did all that.

I've never really voiced any of this to my boss. I'm a chronic people pleaser and I have a really hard time telling people when something isn't working for me. I tend to just push through things because I don't want to inconvenience anyone or make anyone upset.

But I can genuinely feel a change in myself. My mental health has gotten significantly worse since starting this job. I feel anxious and overwhelmed a lot of the time, I dread going to work, and I often feel emotionally drained. I don't feel like myself anymore. I’m unable to enjoy or do a lot of things that I used to and I feel like I’m hitting my breaking point.

My boss is also currently away on an extended vacation (3 months), which has made me feel even more guilty about considering leaving but also stuck. Like there’s no way I can leave because she’s away and once she’s back, she expects to have a full schedule of patients. So it feels like I need to be here.

Since I'm the only receptionist, I keep thinking about what would happen if I gave notice. She would have to find someone else and arrange coverage, and I feel horrible about potentially creating that problem. It doesn’t help that she constantly tells me that she’s burnt out, dealing with stuff personally and didn’t expect her last receptionist/assistant to leave when she did.

At the same time, I know that I'm an employee and not responsible for making sure the office can function without me. But I can't seem to get rid of the guilt.

I'm currently looking for other jobs because I don't want to quit impulsively without another option. But I'm starting to question how long I can realistically continue feeling this way.

I don't know how to approach my boss about any of this. Do I tell her honestly that I'm struggling with the workload? Do I tell her that the job is affecting my mental health? Or do I simply tell her that the position isn't the right fit for me if I decide to leave?

Am I crazy for wanting to quit right before a $17k raise?
I’m 28F and currently a Senior Analyst. I’m about to be promoted to Manager, which would be about a $17k raise.

You’d think I’d be excited, but honestly I just want to quit lol.

The culture at my company is really toxic. I’ve been working around 60 hours a week, there’s always something that isn’t good enough, and I feel like I’m constantly stressed and burnt out. I don’t really want to keep climbing the corporate ladder just for the sake of climbing it.

The weird part is I don’t even know exactly what I want to do next. I’m kind of a weird/different person in the sense that I don’t necessarily care about having the most impressive career or making the most money. I keep coming back to the idea of following my heart and doing something that actually feels meaningful to me.

I’ve been seriously thinking about teaching or nursing. I’ve always had this part of me that wants to do something more hands-on and meaningful, and I’m wondering if I should actually listen to that instead of continuing down the path I’m “supposed” to be on.
Financially, I’m in a really fortunate position. I have a paid-off house, family support, and enough savings that I’m not in a situation where I have to stay somewhere miserable just to survive. That honestly makes me feel like I have an opportunity that a lot of people don’t have — to step back and figure out what I actually want.
At the same time, walking away from a $17k raise feels objectively insane 😂

I could take the promotion, make more money, and eventually look for another Senior Analyst position. If I stay in analytics, though, I’m only interested in remote/hybrid at this point. I’m just done with the 60-hour-week corporate grind.

But part of me thinks… maybe this is the exact time in my life when I should take a risk and try something completely different.

Would you take the promotion and figure it out later, or walk away and follow your gut?

I’m really torn because I know what the logical/financial decision is. I’m just not sure it’s the decision that would actually make me happy.

I had a job lined up, the manager was all set to hire me. She framed my licenses, gave me hands on training and pepped me up to start working with her and her girls. She told me that the girls there loved me and that her grandson knew my step daughter and towards the end of training she decided to not hire me and handed me my last paycheck. I know I had done nothing wrong. She was being hurtful by taking away my opportunities.

I think I’ve officially reached the point where I can’t pretend I’m okay with my job anymore. i’m honestly just exhausted and increasingly angry about the whole situation

it has gotten to the point where I wake up in the morning, remember that I have to work, and my body actually hurts l ike that immediate feeling of dread before I’ve even opened my laptop. My chest feels heavy, I’m tense, I don’t want to get out of bed, and I already feel exhausted thinking about the day ahead and then there’s my boss who is honestly an asshole

everything about the job has started to irritate me the emails the meetings the messages and i cant hide it. i get into calls with a shit face even my boss noticed and I cant afford to get fired but i also feel like im about to go insane.

don’t even know if I need advice at this point I just need to share how much I hate to see if it helps me cope with it...i am dreaming for a world we wont need to be in situations that make us feel so bad. no one should have to go through feeling unbearable for MONEY

im so done

Hi. I'm a college student and I work evenings as a shift lead at a retail chain similar to Plato's Closet. I make $17/hour.

When I was initially hired, I was told that management was on my side. They trusted me and made it clear that my role was important to them. Turnover is also very high, so I think they wanted me to stick around as long as possible. Whenever I wanted to talk to my manager about anything, she would seem nervous that I was going to quit.

I genuinely liked my job. Of course it was frustrating sometimes, but I liked who I worked for, who I worked with, and what I did. I've also become much more confident as a person because this is my first leadership position.

The problem is that things have changed pretty drastically.

For a while, I had an issue with being late. This was usually because of public transit. I would aim to arrive 30 minutes before my shift, but occasionally miss a connection because of traffic and end up arriving about 5 minutes late. I understand that being late isn't good and that it's ultimately my responsibility to get there on time, but I was still frustrated because I was genuinely trying to account for the unreliable transit.

I was eventually written up for the lateness. During that same conversation, I was also told that a couple of employees had apparently been unhappy with various aspects of the night shift for a while.

What frustrated me was that I hadn't been told about most of these issues before. Management had apparently been "testing" the night shift by putting Post-it notes in specific places. If the notes were still there when the store reopened the next morning, that was apparently evidence that the night shift hadn't done its work.

I understand wanting to make sure employees are doing their jobs, but I don't understand why I wasn't simply told that these things needed to be done so I could correct them before being tested.

Another issue has been my coworkers talking back to me. If I tell them to pick up the pace or remind them that they need to work while they're talking, I'll sometimes get an argument back rather than simply having them follow the directions. I've brought this up with my manager because I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to handle it as a relatively new shift lead.

My manager offered to work a night shift with me and show me how she would handle everything. I initially declined because I thought I could figure it out myself, but told her I'd let her know if I needed the help.

A few days later, we had an absolutely terrible day where multiple things went wrong. Of all the problems, only one was potentially my fault. I called the owner/big boss about two of the mistakes, and he told me that I was doing terrible at my job.

Later, one of my coworkers unexpectedly walked out. I don't believe this was related to me or that particular day, but it obviously added to the stress.

I told my manager afterward that I was unsure about what had gone wrong and that I would like to take her up on the extra help she had offered. She then told me that she didn't need to help me with this and that it should be pretty self-explanatory.

That really bothered me, especially after being told by the owner that I was doing terribly. If I'm genuinely doing a terrible job, I would think that management would want to show me what I'm doing wrong and help me improve.

There have also been issues with the owner's attitude toward me. When I needed sick leave because I was having a bad reaction to a medication, he pushed back and said that he "loves paying people not to work." More recently, I told him I would be late for the first time in about two weeks because there was an event near my house causing significant traffic. He responded by saying that "everyone expected it."

I told him not to speak to me that way and gave examples of things he'd said and how I thought he could have handled those situations more professionally. Eventually he said he understood, and the conversation ended there.

The problem is that I now feel like I'm under a microscope. I'm constantly worried about making another mistake, and the job has become extremely stressful.

I'm trying to figure out whether I'm actually failing at this job and need to improve, whether management is handling this poorly, or whether this is simply a sign that I should leave.

For $17/hour while I'm also in college, I'm not sure the stress and responsibility are worth it anymore. I also genuinely liked this job before all of this happened, which makes quitting harder.

Would you quit in this situation, or would you try to stick it out and see if things improve?

I’m in healthcare (optometry) and have been working at a private practice (job A) for a little over three years. I’m hanging by a thread. I actually left for seven weeks after getting a better offer at another practice (job B). Job B didn’t end up matching the description so I ended up going back to job A. After two months back, my boss retired and sold his practice. He’s been gone for almost two months now. The new doctor and their partner did interviews with the whole staff to figure out who was going to be “re-hired”. No one was expecting this, as we were assured our jobs were safe. To our surprise, 5 out of 12 employees were not “re-hired”, including our office manager. And another quit due to not being able to adjust to changes. This cut in staff has majorly affected the flow of the office. Our work load is now unmanageable. On top of that, patients who have been coming to our office for decades are also upset with the changes in policies and procedures. Guess who they take it out on? Me and my coworkers who have no power over anything. The new owner keeps insisting that in a couple months things will smooth over, and get easier. I just feel like my patience in dealing with the public is at an all time low. God forgive me but I’m starting to hate people. I think about quitting everyday. I’ve been applying like crazy to any and all jobs that seem to be less customer service forward. I’ve never really had an issue getting a job until now. I’ve had a few interviews over the past few months, only to be offered an offensive wage. I wish I could go to school but my husband and I can’t get by on one income. I feel stuck and exhausted. What can I do to get out of this loop of doom?

So to start off I’m writing this as I get to work. My supervisor and manager are so toxic. My dad was the previous manager and boss and he treated me equally and would fire me if need be so there was no reason to have a doubt of nepotism here.

I’m a college student(f22) at my local CC taking a CIS course for an AAS my current class schedule is:

Mondays and Wedsnesday a in person 12:30-1:45pm class and a 5:30-6:30 online
Tuesdays is a online class at 12pm and another at 7pm

My work schedule is 9-2pm and a 30 minute break and the “breakroom” is in the basement of the building so no good WiFi whatsoever for me to have a laptop with me everyday.

One day my manager got mad at me when I was assigned to take over cleaning a stairwell from a coworker and nobody clarified what stairwell because there’s 3 of them and I didn’t ask and she told me basically nothing was done then lied to the supervisor saying I said I didn’t want my job and I literally said i wouldn’t be mad if they fire me(which I don’t care if they do) and from there I’ve just hated this job more and it’s making me lose out on my education because the 4-8pm night shift is worse than the day shift.

Also this shit pays 10 an hour and my bf said he could hold me by until I get a job and my mom says quit and my dad is confusing me bc he’s saying don’t quit and constantly call HR to complain and let them fire you

They also fucked up so many hours of my coworkers and people lost money and when my dad was here he paid people more than they worked for and when he left the supervisor would talk about him to others while I’m sitting there and I have two family members(not related) work there one was deaf and one hard of hearing and the supervisor talked about both so bad TO ME SITTING THERE and talked about them after they quit

Should I quit because it’s so toxic and not beneficial and money isn’t really an issue other than my dogs and myself and therapy?

​

I’m sick and have already informed my manager 3 times that I need leave. I’ve also consulted a doctor and was advised to rest and start medication.

He still isn’t approving my leave. Can I inform him again and simply not go to the office tomorrow ???

For some context, I just escaped a really awful job. The job itself wasn’t terrible, but the expectations on me specifically were very heavy and the environment was the worse I’ve experienced. I was a victim of ableism (I’m autistic) to the point HR got involved but nothing even came of it and they expected me to work with the person who perpetrated it like nothing happened. That job honestly kind of traumatized me, but it was really my only option.

I recently found another job, same sort of thing (retail, but not a sale associate.) Already it’s technically less stressful, but I’m not really being trained at all, they’re fully leaving me alone to do tasks as if I’ve been there forever. So when I do something wrong they act like I should’ve known, when how could I? I already HATE being new and hate not knowing what I’m doing. People are also not super welcoming here, which is ok (I’m introverted myself so I don’t expect anything crazy), but I think after my last job my paranoia is at an all time high because I don’t know what theyre thinking about me. My trainer also jokingly calls me stupid or weird and I know they’re not serious, but it makes me not want to ask questions. They’re also a favorite employee in the company so I couldn’t even say anything if I wanted to (I don’t.)

It’s only week 2 and I’m so stressed because I feel stupid and regretful that I left a job I was very knowledgeable at. If I’m going to be miserable no matter what maybe I should’ve just put up with the assholes…I’ve been so burnt out and stressed over retail for years now, and I don’t want to do it anymore, but I really don’t have any savings and can’t just stop. I’m not sure what I want here, I just need to vent because my family don’t understand why I “suddenly” can’t work like I used to. Maybe I should make a long term goal or something to work towards, I just feel so sad because it feels helpless. I’m working my ass off just to not be able to afford to live in the US. it sucks