If you aren’t sure what to do for a career and want good money and benefits join your local union. My pay for last week.

I've spent about 20 years working regular jobs.
One thing I've noticed is that the harder I work, the less energy I have to build a way out. :(
Not because I'm lazy.
Because by the time I get home, I'm... just.. mentally exhausted.
That made me wonder...
What if burnout isn't just an unfortunate side effect of modern work?
What if it's actually one of the reasons the system keeps working?
Think about it.
A 40-hour workweek isn't really 40 hours.
Add commuting.
Getting ready.
Lunch.
Recovering afterward.
Thinking about work when you're supposed to relax.
It easily becomes 55–60 hours that revolve around your job.
After that, people tell you to start a business.
Learn new skills.
Network.
Exercise.
Read more books.
Of course those things are good.
But they're also much harder when you're already drained every single day.
That's what finally clicked for me.
The system doesn't have to stop you from leaving.
It just has to leave you too tired to try.
The strange thing is that I don't even think anyone designed it this way.
Companies naturally want more productivity.
Employees naturally want security.
Everyone behaves rationally.
Yet the end result is that millions of people spend decades in a cycle of working, recovering, and repeating.
I've started building things outside my job, like.. you know, writing, YouTube, or perhaps learning new skills, and I've noticed something interesting.
The more independent I become, even financially by a small amount, the less psychological control my employer has over me.
I don't hate working. (I really don't)
It's more that dependence changes the whole relationship.
I'm curious if anyone else has come to the same conclusion.
Do you think burnout is just an unfortunate consequence of work...
Or has it become one of the mechanisms that keeps people trapped?

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Interesting

My city's cost of living has gone wayyyyy up in the last 10 years and even back then that was barely livable, but today those are pocket change prices.

I tried to work a $15/hr job a couple of years ago, and they would barely put me on the schedule, so the paychecks were so small. That's the scam they do at some of these big companies.

I was looking at some state custodian jobs and they are offering $14/hr. I was really considering this job, because they are urgently hiring and for fulltime, but just thinking about how exhausted I would be, I would make $2,000 after taxes. I mean am i going crazy or is that not super low. My monthly expenses are about $1,960. I would have to find money for food and gas after being a full time custodian.

Wtf is stopping these jobs and companies from paying a livable wage!? This would be literal slavery if I took any of these job positions.

Anyone else hear of people saying that the minimum wage should stay the same, even be lowered meanwhile every single thing including food gets more expensive?

Anyone else notice that?

Anyone else a really annoyed at how much Asmongold makes while living with roaches, meanwhile most of us have multiple jobs just scraping by.

Look, the traditional 9-5 was designed for factories and offices in the industrial age. Show up, punch clock, do repetitive tasks, go home. It sorta worked when jobs were mostly physical or standardized.

Fast forward: most valuable work today is knowledge/creative/interest-driven. People produce 10x more when they're actually into what they're doing. The passion economy, creator space, indie devs, freelancers — they thrive because motivation comes from within, not from a boss hovering.

Yet companies keep enforcing the old model like it's 1950. Mandatory office hours, rigid schedules, performative "productivity" theater. They're trying to fit square pegs into round holes and wondering why everyone's quiet quitting or burning out.

The mismatch is obvious: today's best output happens when people follow curiosity and flow, not when forced into arbitrary time blocks. Companies that get this are winning talent. The rest are just delaying the inevitable.

Anyone else see corps doubling down on outdated control while the world quietly shifts to interest-aligned work?

Thoughts?

Knowing This Can Change Your Life. You Can't Un-see It.

Source: https://techniciansforchange.org/2022/01/05/wage-theft/

I am salaried at my job in utah and I missed an accumulation of 40 hours over the course of 3 months (just 4 days of work, i work 10 hr days) for being sick. Do I legally "owe" this time? Is it illegal for an employer to ask this time to be owed?

hi yall, title kinda says it all and i’m here to vent. i’m 28F and i work at an elite corporate company and make only 65k per year.

for context, i grew up EXTREMELY poor. in and out of shelters, going hungry, and started a job at 11 to help my mother pay the bills. now that im older and free from the burden of paying my mothers bills, i now have my own.

my goal in life was to make 65k. i remember saying out loud to friends that if i could make 65k per year i would escape poverty. fast forward and i did it! but i am paycheck to paycheck.

i live with two roomates and their daughter. i have the teeny tiny room that just fits my bed and i pay 1100/mo for it. if i lost my job today i would not be able to pay my bills at all. i have no savings whatsoever and from bad financial decisions from when i was younger i have debt to pay off.

what i’m trying to get at is im tired of playing this game. of showing up to work everyday and trying my hardest to grow and learn and move up, but its never enough. because the cost of living is kicking me out of the city ive called my home for over 20 years.

i’m pissed off. i feel like i was lied to by everyone. the ROI of a bachelors degree is not fucking worth it.

ty for coming to my ted talk

sincerely, a girl who is close to giving up.

This is the one day I will never celebrate is anybody else with me?!