I Quit My Job Today

I know that to some quitting is a sign of weakness, but today quitting wasn't about my strengths or weaknesses; it was about respect.

I've worked some super sh*tty jobs.

From working with randy truck drivers to smogging cars to organizing volunteers; I've worked a variety of jobs that were crap.

Last year, I FINALLY got a job in my degree field; Graphic Design. I am finally able to put 'Graphic Designer' on my taxes.

While it wasn't my dream job, I initially spent my days designing ads for about 20 clients to post across multiple social media platforms. Yes, it was mind numbingly simple but I put my own twist on things. I did market research depending on the business type, location since they varied across the states, and what their target audience was. I kept track of interactions across all the platforms I posted on and even analyzed them to see what kind of ad did better for which client.

I gave 110% of myself into it in the beginning and I thought it paid off.

I received another 10 clients.

Then another 10.

And another.

Soon I had 200 clients under my belt and I wasn't able to maintain the same customized ads that I could in the beginning.

Then my job title changed.

When I was first interviewed, it was just as basically content creation. Then they added posting on clients platforms. Then we had to start posting reviews for some clients, which I was not comfortable with.

I didn't know that we were also posting fake reviews and adding fake followers. I didn't agree with it, especially since some of these clients had questionable businesses to begin with. I contemplated leaving then, but I had bills to pay and everyone was so proud of me doing this job. I stayed.

Then, in one day, I received another 100 clients to not design for but to post reviews. At least 5 reviews per day for EACH client. Now 350 times 5 was 1,750 fake customer reviews PER DAY. On top of that, we still had to continue our daily social media posts.

On Tuesday I was a Graphic Designer with 200 clients that I was barely keeping up with and literally the following day, I was told to post over 2,000 times in one day.

We were in a department meeting and when they threw that at us we said no. It was an impossible task and not our fault that they decided to fire an entire Review Department and it wasn't fair to throw all of it on the Designers, especially since it wasn't part of our job descriptions.

Our bosses agreed to pull back their expectations and let us determine how to do what they asked of us.

I spent the next month trying my best to manage this new addition to my job. We weren't allowed any overtime and we weren't allowed to work from home. Our hours were 6 am to 3 pm with an hour break and we would literally be yanked from our desks at 3 pm exactly to leave the building.

I was not happy at this point but, I was doing my job and keeping my head down.

I walked into work on a Thursday morning and was immediately pulled into another Design Department meeting with our supervisors who told us that they had rehired the Review Department and we could go back to our original jobs.

NO warning. Absolutely no heads up. Just 'hey, all this prep work and migraines we gave you about this? stop doing it immediately'

I went out with a couple co-workers once we clocked out that afternoon and we were all pissed off. I had only been there about 6 months at that point, everyone else had been there over 5 years and they said that it a normal thing. It didn't matter how many times they'd complain, it still happened that way a few times a year. Most of them had actually been cycled through departments without warning. One day they were part of the sales team, the next week they were doing cold calls, and then part of the Design Crew.

Then, a few months later, without warning our office closed. My department and I were waiting outside in the rain for an hour and a half when one of the guys got a call from our supervisor asking why he hadn't clocked in yet and he said that were locked outside the office. She said that we should all be working from home. Apparently, we were all supposed to get an email from the Queen-of-Airheads who is our Receptionist letting us know that due to the rise of Omnicron cases, we were all told to work from home until further notice.

For 3 months, we've all worked from home. We were given no equipment from our office to work from, just told to make it work with what we had at home. A few of us complained because our WiFi sucks or our computers couldn't handle working 300 clients and posting every single day.

And every day for those 3 months, I had a new problem to fix on top of all the posts and ads to create for every single client. Clients would be removed or added without my knowledge, my posts would be deleted randomly without me knowing it, account managers would go in and double or triple publish ads and then blame me for it, and they'd send me the wrong client or wrong information and blame me when the client would get pissed off.

Every. Single. Day.

Every day, I'd get nasty emails from supervisors and account managers and sales people accusing me of being lazy and negligent and not doing my job.

I woke up this morning and opened another email telling me how useless I am at this job because I hadn't posted for a specific client, a client that was never on my roster to begin with and once I looked them up, their business had actually been closed for 5 years and apparently we were still billing them and posting for them.

I broke down and started sobbing at my desk.

Wasn't the first time it had happened, and it had become such a normal thing that I didn't even realize I was crying when my roommate walked in with a cup of coffee.

She hugged me and asked me what was wrong and I told her everything. She already knew some of it but just telling her every single thing that was frustrating me, she understood.

She encouraged me to really think about this job and what I was actually getting out of it.

I turned around and typed up a letter of resignation.

ANd I felt better than I had in a very long time.

I gave my two weeks notice and started planning my next step.

Yes, I'm terrified. I've been working since I was 14 and have never not had a job lined up before quitting one.

For the first time in my life, I have no clue where I'm going next.

I'm scared, but I'm ready for a mystery in my life. I'm applying everywhere that is hiring for anything in Design; from Publishing houses to magazines and car wash stations.

Wherever I end up, I will give my best work possible and hopefully I will receive respect in return.