Wake up, Work, Repeat...

There is one constant thing I remember about my childhood, and that is the adults in my family always saying they 'had' to work but also that they 'hated' work. As a child, I didn't really understand this concept, especially since I was always being taught the idea that if I did great in school and went to college, I would be able to get the job I wanted to have. As I grew up, I realized this was a lie for most people. College was very competitive and did not guarantee anything. The job market was filled with things that I was not taught or warned about - such as quid pro quo, nepotism - and that being a woman instantly gave me a disadvantage.

These were things I quickly learned after joining the workforce as an adult. I did work as a teenager, and it was present then as well but I always just shrugged it off as being due to me working a "teenagers" job, or "not a REAL job". At least, that's what I was raised being told about fast food and cashier jobs, basically anything that paid JUST minimum wage and didn't require 'college' or 'trade skills'. My first job as an adult was working for a company taking inbound phone calls from customers. I had excellent reviews from my superiors and was on the top for extra product sales. I was making a great wage and really did enjoy the job and the company.

After working there for a year, I found out I was pregnant with my first child. I was nervous already since it was not planned, but as my fear settled, I became excited for this new adventure. My job had great benefits and maternity leave, so I felt that everything would be fine - I was wrong. I remember staying after work one night to inform my boss that I was pregnant, I was just about 3 months along at the time. I wasn't really sure what reaction to expect, but it was not the reaction I received from him.

"Oh... ummm... I mean, that's good I guess... but, I mean, are you sure that you're going to be able to maintain your performance here at work? I just... I'm not telling you this to scare you or anything but pregnancy and kids bring a LOT of difficulty and needing time off and distraction... and I just... I mean, I would hate for you to get fired and have something like that hanging over you for future jobs, you know?"

His words hit me in the gut hard, I felt like I had been punched. Suddenly I wasn't sure if having a child was the right thing for me, I mean, did I really have to choose between the job I loved and being a mom? That was exactly what he made me feel, and that if I had the baby, I should quit before I ended up being fired. I worked there for another month before I gave my 2 weeks notice, after constantly being taken off of sales programs that I previously had been excelling at working. It was clear I was being benched and kept from lucrative projects because of my pregnancy. I wish I had been more aware of women's rights back then because I likely would have had a lawsuit, but when I vented to friends and family, they basically confirmed that it was just something I would have to "get used to". It was part of being a woman in the workforce.

I went to college after the baby was born and was determined to further educate myself so that I could get an even better job than the one I had lost. I quickly found that it was substantially more difficult than I was always told it would be. Despite having a great resume, references, skills, grades, degrees, and being told at every interview that I should expect to hear back soon... time and time again I was passed over. Sometimes I was able to find out why and usually it either involved the person being picked over me being a man, related to or going to church with someone higher up in the company. After about 2 years of hunting for jobs in my degree field, I realized that having a degree meant shit in the real world. It was all about who you knew, amongst other things.

I found myself stuck working minimum wage jobs left and right until I decided a change of location was needed. I moved a couple thousand miles away to a whole new city. After living there for 2 weeks, I found a job at a company that I thought I would have until I retired. The job wasn't my dream job, but it wasn't horrible either. The company seemed decent at first, but as time went on I realized it's best days were indeed behind it. I learned that the company had recently undergone a huge change where they went from being a family-owned private company to being a corporation and publicly traded. This resulted in changes in upper management that was taking place still as I began my career there.

I started noticing things pretty quickly, mainly that a lot of people working there had been there since they were just out of high school. Many of the people there were close friends or family, and joining the Union was pushed very heavily by some of the other employees. I remember the first company meeting they had, which was about 6 months after I started working there. It was mandatory for all employees to attend and it was not held at the corporate office I worked at. Instead, to my surprise, it was held at a local church. This was a bit uncomfortable to me because I was not "Christian" and being told that I was required by my employer to attend a work meeting at a Christian church seemed... inappropriate in a sense. But I stayed quiet and went since I needed the job and it was overall a decent job.

After being there for a couple of years, I applied for an internal promotion, and to my surprise, I was interviewed for it. I later learned it was only because the Union contract required internal candidates be interviewed if they apply for internal job postings. I did not get the promotion, instead it went to someone outside of the company who was a friend of the manager of that department. During my time at this company, I saw a lot of things that did not appear right to me taking place, and as the company continued to grow larger, it only got worse. I began to notice the bully tactics the company managers used to mistreat employees whom they wanted to get rid of. The clear favoritism towards some employees who had been there for longer periods, the ignored sexual harassment that occurred daily, and the lack of females holding any of the main executive positions. There was also a huge lack of diversity in the company.

I watched as my manager bullied several of my co-workers, one to the point that she was in tears every single day while at work, terrified over making a mistake. She had a heart attack shortly after that and almost died. Luckily she recovered and returned to work, and the manager decided to turn her focus onto another employee. This one became the butt of many jokes due to her Wiccan practices that she did not keep quiet, which was why she became a target. After she took an early retirement, the manager continued to poke fun of her beliefs and practices. This made me very determined to keep my own beliefs to myself as I had already been doing out of fear of being a target next.

When Covid hit, our jobs were set to work from home positions, and at first, it was amazing. Our productivity was up higher than it had been in the office, we were all more relaxed without all the constant bitch out sessions and confrontations that had become a daily part of our workdays. It was perfect... almost. After about a year of working from home, the managers started to get paranoid that we weren't just "working" during work hours. This seemed funny to me because even in the office, we weren't just 'working' during work hours. There was a lot of standing around, chatting, managers pulling us together to chat, food days, other random activities interrupting the work day, etc. We were being more productive, our work was getting done faster and more efficiently than it was in the office, yet suddenly they were saying we weren't working enough.

They began to find more and more methods of tracking our time, and what we were doing. Demanding explanations for anything that took over a certain time period to complete, and the bullying and toxicity became extremely overwhelming and unhealthy. One particularly disturbing incident was when I had an issue with my internet and was unable to get online for work. I called my manager as soon as it happened, and told her that I was told it was being worked on and I would get back as soon as I could. I was offline for about an hour, and when I got back online, I went right to work. One of my coworkers told me that they were told I didn't pay my internet bill and that was why I was offline. I asked where they had heard that from, because it was not true. They had been told by their manager who also shared with them the times I was late paying for my services with our company. In other words, one of the managers was showing MY private account information to other coworkers without my permission.

This was extremely upsetting to me so I filed a complaint with HR and the Union against the manager for invasion of privacy. When I received a call from HR, they were more concerned with the fact that I was offline and 'unable to work' for an hour of my work day, and questioned whether or not I had made up the time. I told them I did, I worked through my lunch that same day it happened to make up for the hour. They then proceeded to tell me that I needed to make sure I was being responsible and keeping up on my obligations because if this were to happen again, it would be a huge issue. This just was so mindboggling to me because it was not like other employees had not been offline for much longer due to internet or other technical issues, yet I was being singled out.

The Union was no better, their solution was basically for me to just ignore and avoid the manager who violated my privacy. They told me just to 'stay out of her way and off her radar'. I was the one who had MY private information shared with my coworkers, yet somehow I was also the villain for going to HR and the Union with a complaint about the violation. I was a target from that point on. When I could no longer perform one aspect of my job (a part that was not required of everyone to do), I was told that if I could not do the job, I could not be at work. I was forced to take short term, then long term disability leave, and then forced to quit when I still could not perform that particular task due to a physical disability.

It did not affect any other tasks I was doing, and it was not a main part of the job itself. It was actually not even a task I was doing prior to 5 months before. I quickly learned how corporations really work, the way they pretend to care about their employees when in reality you are just a number. I was with this company for 10 years. I worked my ass off every day of the week and worked a lot of overtime hours without pay because things "needed" to get done even when overtime wasn't being offered. I cared for the company because I foolishly believed that they cared for their employees. In reality, they only cared as long as you could work without any issues, delays, and without questioning anything they said. Once you could not perform in the same capacity due to health or age, they quickly would try to push you out and replace you.

Before my time ended with this company, I witnessed them push out several employees who had each been loyal, hard workers for over 25 years as soon as health issues and age slowed them down slightly. I saw the Union that was supposed to speak for and protect the employees cave time and time again to unfair contracts rather than fight for the employees. I saw them do little to help employees who were treated unfairly, instead telling them to "avoid" the person targeting them, just as they told me to do. I watched them replace employees the moment they left or passed away without any hesitation or waiting period because overall, we were just worker bees and numbers to them.

This is a company that previously, when they were 'family-owned' and private, they knew the name of every employee who worked for them. They would show concern and loyalty towards their employees. They would pay them fairly and give them bonuses often and care about their safety. Once they became a public company and part of "corporate" America... it all changed and became all about numbers, padding the pockets of the executives, and doing whatever they had to do for money, even if it was illegal. Their employees became a means to keep money in their pockets and nothing more. This is what corporate greed has done to society. The executives wearing the suits, making all the choices while filling their banks have no regard for the employees making all of it possible. We are just there to shut up and work without question.

They do not care if the products or services are good or how customers feel about them so long as they continue to pay for the products and/or services. Which in many cases happens because customers have no other choice, take Walmart for example. Many smaller towns will have a Walmart and no other viable grocery shopping option within a reasonable travel distance. Insurance companies do everything they can to avoid paying for care their customers need, which is what allegedly caused Luigi to take the actions he is accused of. These companies do everything they can to line their own pockets, not care for their employees or customers even though they would be nothing without either.

This is the reality that the United States has allowed to happen here. We have allowed ourselves to be bought and sold by these few corporations that hold all the cards. If you really look into our so-called "free market", you will notice that almost every corporation or bigger business operation is owned by the same several people/companies. They do business under various names to try to keep people from knowing it, but in reality, it is all a big scam on the people. We are still feeding our hard earned money into the same machine that sees us as nothing but disposable assets to be bought and sold. Other countries are given free healthcare, vacation time and PTO to ensure their health and well-being is staying cared for. We are being told that work weeks should be increased and that we are not working hard enough.

We have billionaires dictating what we should and shouldn't have coverage for on policies that WE pay for EVERY MONTH! Thousands upon thousands of dollars paid for care, only to be told that procedures which could catch serious illnesses early on are not "necessary". And we wonder why cancer is being found later and later these days, rather than earlier when it can more successfully be treated. You would think that if these companies truly cared about their customers and what they claim, they would cover all exploratory procedures and tests to catch potential deadly diseases early. You would think employers would do what they can to help their employees stay happy and healthy, so they would not lose a loyal, hard worker. But in reality, that isn't what matters to them. It is all about greed and money.

This is the burn out hitting the people right now. Gen X was taught this was how it is... you work hard your whole life, then you retire. But... where is the time to truly enjoy life? The once a year vacation that you may get to take IF you are lucky enough to not be stuck struggling and living paycheck to paycheck, week after week for a company that argues about how much they should pay you? Retiring and being stuck with a social security check so small it's not enough to survive off of, so you still have to work another menial job just to keep food on the table? Bills still piling up because prices keep getting raised on everything but your pay remains the same since your employer can't "justify" why you should be paid more? And lets not forget our lovely government, who was formed to protect the people from this sort of tyranny, but is full of people who claim if you complain about not receiving your social security check, then you are a fraud. Or that you don't work enough hours when you are putting in your 40 per week.

Change can happen... but only when 'we, the people' decide enough is enough and demand equal treatment. Life should not be about the 1% having more money than they can ever possibly need, while the rest of the country struggles to survive. Why is this such a difficult concept that many people fight against? Do they enjoy the struggle? The denials of care? The lack of freedom and stress? Are we truly so conditioned to spend our lives working ourselves to death and not asking for or feeling that we deserve better? The thing is... the younger generations are understanding this and demanding change, but this is something that will take more voices, stronger voices, louder voices, and actions to force. The corporations in control are determined to keep the worker bees down. When will enough be enough? That is the question we need to ask ourselves because life should be enjoyed and lived to the fullest... not spent working hard and dying with little to show for it and having not truly enjoyed it.

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