you be the judge: the extra, unpaid hours most people willingly do setting the expectation you do that too, some people coming in 30 minutes before the shift starts and proud of it (what for? Are you going to be paid more?), obsession with presenting a good image to both coworkers and clients, the fake interest in getting to know you, conversations that feel scripted, forcing you to share about you, controlling the way you speak, yelling at the foreign coworkers when they don’t speak English among themselves, taking your breaks together with the whole group, ostracizing you if you want to take your break alone, getting snippy if you state boundaries (“I don’t talk about that with coworkers”), some people ranting openly and loudly in a room full of people about a coworker they don’t like for whatever perceived sling, your manager expecting you to enjoy her stories (no, I don’t really care about you, Andrea), then expecting you to be the one doing the most demanding tasks nobody wants to do.
I even have coworkers complaining I waste too much paper and that’s bad for the company. Who gives a flying fuck about that Karen? I really don’t understand why some people are like this.
Holy shit, I was so naive. I don’t know if every workplace is like this, but I just didn’t question it and went along with it because 2 years ago the workplace seemed good enough and pays better than everyone around afaik. I don’t know if I should look elsewhere.
If I start applying elsewhere, do I even mention this? Because I don’t want this to happen to me again.
There is a chance this also happens elsewhere. Do I stick with the devil I know?
Some people are just worker-bees that also are asleep. They never stop a second to ponder and reflect. If there’s a free minute, something else has to be done. And if there’s still a minute, get a kid. So they grow up in those idiotic workplaces, adapt and that’s it.
You’ll probably find those everywhere. Chances are you’re ending up samey. But still worth trying before you slowly die inside and give up.
I tried jobs like 25yrs ago and it sucked big sweaty hairy monkey balls and quit some months later each. Then I never tried a job again and am the happiest. Wifey too.