No need to keep it bottled up inside – your job sucks, and we want to hear about it! Share your story below and tell the world why you hate your job. Or, share something awful, awkward, or annoying that’s happened to you at work.
We want this to be a site everyone can enjoy, so please keep your comments on the up-and-up.
Cross-posted from Blog at Work:
Stressed. Exhausted. Exploited. Abandoned. In a new book, Tom Juravich exposes and examines the degradation of work in the United States today. At the Altar of the Bottom Line, based on in-depth interviews with workers, lifts up the experiences of working people from diverse sectors of our economy.
Juravich, a writer, researcher, and professor at the University of Massachusetts Labor Center, spent six years interviewing workers in four different occupations:
Cross-posted from Blog at Work:
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Please register and join us at the session “Partnerships That Work: Good, Green Employers” on Tuesday, May 4, 2:30-4:00 p.m. at the Hilton Washington Hotel.
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I hate working at costco, Especially as a cart pusher
1) When pushing a massive line of carts, NO i don’t want your cart. there’s a freaking corral not even 10 feet away, try turning around. People ALWAYS leave their carts in the most inconvenient places that make it nearly impossible for me to work and for other people to drive. They will leave their carts in the middle of the driving lanes in parking lots and lower their heads in shame when i catch them. Once again I’ll have to remind them that there are cart corrals EVERYWHERE we have about 7 in our parking lot and no one seems to understand how to use them. If someone leaves a cart in front of someone’s car and they back into it and I’m no where around to get it. The driver doesn’t get in trouble, the idiot that left it there doesn’t get in trouble, I get I’m the one that gets in trouble
2) I get paid less than everyone i work with. Yet if I spend a half hour lifting a massive jungle gym into someone’s truck i’m not allowed to take tips. It could get me fired because its unfair to everyone else. Especially on busy days if I’m the only person pushing carts in our massive parking lot and 15 people need help lifting things into there cars I still get yelled at for not keeping the inside filled with carts. Yet at the same time they’ll refuse to send anyone to help me with anything. So Either they really don’t care or they just want some kind of excuse to fire me.
3) People leaving their garbage in carts gets extremly ridiculous. I’ve found (And this is not limited to)Car batteries (The most i found in one cart was 5) Television sets. VCR’s. Bags of used diapers, Rotten fruits, Old containers of milk, Half eaten food and unfinished drinks, Empty bottles of alcoholic drinks and so much more it pains me to remember it all
4)during my interview they told me that i would be working everywhere in the store to get aquainted with what i would be doing. I’ve been doing carts ever since, and that was over a year ago. They refuse to train me in anything and when I ask for a new position in the store I get “You aren’t prepared or trained for that position” In other words they just want some poor sap to stay on carts until the next poor sucker comes along. It really is an unfair position to be in because I need the money for school but at the same time they refuse to give me any chances anywhere. The management won’t help, the customers make it worse and I can’t do a thing about it
never complane 2 your boss they dont do shit they cover shit at work
I hate my job I work for a wearhouse where they treat new people like shit never go work forreasale remarketing in Grandparrie Tx
I need to vent! At three temp ‘services’, I was confronted with very unhumane treatment. The worse of these, would have to have been when I received a call from a temp service, and the recruiter asked me to drive 50 miles for a interview for a position located in my area. I sat down with this recruiter, and he asked only a few questions, and then proceeded to tell me that the ‘job’ is located 45 miles from my home, and that with the price of gas and the time it’ll take – it would be best if I didn’t interview for this company. WTF? So, he wasted my TIME (it took all day) and my MONEY. Unreal, and what a JERK.
Recently, I spent a good deal of time, making a target cover letter and resume for a supposedly open position located in my area. The following morning, in a email dated at exactly 8:08 am, a response of the job was filled already! WTF? When I checked the following evening before writing these documents, yes, indeed, open. So, it was very disheartening to read that email. By the way – she MISPELLED some words and didn’t bother to say sorry, or thanks. What a JERK.
Here’s a rant about my terrible job:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmgHAT7IdDQ
I don’t really love my job, and I don’t like living in this state (Florida). Moving isn’t an option because of my husband’s job. I’m in college trying to work towards something better, but some days it feels hopeless. I’ve been working in retail for years while making my way through school, and here’s why it sucks:
TOO MUCH CHANGE. If I come into work and am utterly confused as to where they may have relocated something to, how in the heck are customers supposed to know? That makes ME look bad — and I don’t like feeling inadequate.
1) Corporate culture. THEY ARE CLUELESS. Corporate is obviously people who sit in an office all day and do not engage with people. They do not know what people want or need. All it is is trying to maximize profits without regard for people’s dignity or integrity.
2) (kind of relates to #1) Suggestive selling. If I don’t believe in a product, I cannot come up with a reason for people to buy it. If I won’t buy it, how do they expect someone else will? In this economy especially, people come into a store to get what they are coming for and leave. Nothing more. And yet, there are like five different things we have to push. Do y’all expect us to give a speech? People don’t have that kind of patience, and will get annoyed! I’m sorry, but I do not wish to be at the receiving end of an angry tirade from a customer, thanks.
3) Scheduling and hiring. Right now, my place of employment is refusing to hire anyone new despite people leaving — which transfers the burdens to those of us who are left. I’m getting scheduled on days that I have explicitly stated that I cannot work due to class and homework. A couple of people are quitting due to this, because they cannot handle these extra burdens. I’m pretty close to doing so myself. My education comes first.
4) Upper management. Even the lower levels of management are getting sick of them and their ineptitude. Between an impossible number of tasks, crappy scheduling, and their disregard for their staff’s feelings and priorities, we’re all pretty close to mutiny mode.
5) Lack of motivation. I don’t really want to do this with my life; that’s why I’m in school. However, I feel that the company’s rigidity could be softened with more input from those who are lower on the ladder. Some of us have great suggestions, as we work with everyday people more than the bigwigs do. However, our pleas and suggestions fall on deaf ears. We don’t need meaningless, temporary perks — we need a reason to come to work everyday other than the fact that we have bills to pay and our mouths to feed. It makes for a very miserable existence.
6) Lack of communication. I often will go into work, and procedures will change and stuff completely moved around on a daily basis. It would help me tremendously if I knew what I was completely getting into once I start my shift. I don’t like to be left in the dark. Some days I come in and I feel just as clueless as to how the store’s operation works — and I’ve been working there for six years!
7) Profits over people. And they go about it in a very backwards way. Instead of catering to a local populace and putting the needs of local customers and employees alike forward, they choose to be uniform, cold, and rehearsed. They may say in company propaganda that they put people forward, but we all know that’s a boldfaced lie.
9) The new hiring process. Those who wish to apply must take a skills test. I had to take one of these when I was first hired and it wasn’t too bad. But since 2005, they have revised it to the point where it is nearly impossible for anyone who isn’t a seasoned employee of the company to even pass it. It’s pretty incredible in a bad way.
Just keep your “eyes on the prize” in terms of your schooling. I think that, in a long run, will be your savior. I wish I had or could get the funds to go to school, but things here are so abyssmally tight – all my pay goes to rent, food & bills. STICK TO SCHOOL! You’ll be MUCH happier when you have the skills required to get a better job, one that appreciates the worth of the human spirit… Good luck to you!
My boss’s home life is a mirror reflection of what it’s like at work; Cluttered to the rafters with both legitimate work and his personal “antiques” (read: junk), He spends hours on the phone talking to his buddies who own & run tractors or some other garbage, he never addresses the SEVERE overcrowding issues here at the warehouse (OSHA, are you listening?)… I mean, I’m trying to run my department but can’t because there’s just no space to put all the work (boxes) being done… and he’s constantly bringing in more!!! We are at critical mass for space. The workers’ morale is at an all-time low, people bicker with each other over stupid chit because they’re so frustrated… The boss is a Procrastinator with a capitol P, a non-compliant diabetic, and if he gets your ear, will tell you all about his latest woes… which we could not care less about!!! He pays his few employees chit wages, and never praises ANYONE for a job well done. I wish to God I could bring Tabatha Coffey in here to straighten out his disfunctional arz. His twenty something son is working in the warehouse as manager, something his son does NOT want to be doing. The boss treats his son like chit – in front of everyone – I’m so depressed and demoralized I go home from work and just sit down and cry, cause I NEED THIS JOB AND WANT IT FIXED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have lately chosen to not show up for work. My supervisor is “in love” with the new temp. worker. When I was rehired for seasonal work I was told he is my boss by other co-workers.
At this point I asked my “boss” whether this was true or not. She said no, but continually refers to him for assistance. The problem is that when she asks he has no clue what he is talking about! I mean nothing! If he had a little tiny bit of knoweldge i would be okay. However, his knowledge is based on when he “supposedly” ran/owned a business in Jamaica.
When he says, he made a millon dollars, he means jamaican. Which at the time means One hundred thousand! I refuse to explain exchange rate to my “boss”.
My boss is crazy idk why he is how he is he just is i guess. Anyways. I think my boss over works me i dont exactly hate my job I just hate being over worked and not payed enough. I have to go to this saterday. Hope i dont get over worked again!!!!:(
i keep getting fired for no reason and it is pissing me off. buisnesses keep firing ppl for no reason saying it was lack of work just to keep up with their stats and shit fuck that shit its not fair im tired of this country its falling apart we are almost halfway to destruction.
OMG!! I am here at work. Now. Right this minute… and I swear, I have the stupidest assistant ever!! I can’t fire her, or I would. That move has to come from my boss… I work for a multi-million $ Engineering firm. All I ask her to do is type up the headings on 8 proposals and she screws it up. For instance: Name, address, phone number, fax #. That’s it. In fact I gave her all the information needed to type this in the appropiate places! So on 7 of them, she does fine. But instead of calling them and asking “what’s your fax number?” (because 5 of them were missing fax #s) she leaves it blank, now I have to call and ask… She’s my friggin’ ASSISTANT!! This is what assistants DO! They ASSIST!! So on 7 of 8 she puts the persons’ name on the heading- On the 8th one she puts Attn: “Mr Estimating” their company name. Yeah… Dumber than a box of rocks. I think she’s on drugs- seriously. She’ll look at me blankly and I know what I’m telling her is not registering. Seriously? A 7th grader could do a better job! She’s so damn scatterbrained. I’ll give her a task which should take all of 20 min, check on her 1 hour later, and she’s doing something else and forgot what I wanted her to do. If there was EVER a case to fire her… wow…. My boss asks me why I am doing this all myself? Honestly? Because she’s so damn STUPID that I do it more efficiently and faster than her. Also, he wants her to start typing in Excel spreadsheets??!! NO WAY!! She’ll screw it all up. she doesn’t know anything about Excel. UGH.. .Crying… here …. help me God.
Wow, do I wish I could work for you! How do these dumb assistants get these jobs while those of us who have many years of experience and could run circles around these gals don’t even get called for an interview? Is it age? Do managers want some young, sexy assistant who doesn’t know what she’s doing? If I were your assistant, you wouldn’t have to tell me what to do twice. Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, I know it all with expertise.
The job I have now is terrible. We are called admins., but the work we really do is business analyst with some assistant duties thrown in. It’s not your traditional admin. assistant job like I am used to. Doing all of these reports day in and day out gets utterly boring. I would like some variety and get to do PowerPoint presentations, travel arrangements, take meeting minutes, etc. It’s the strangest place I’ve ever worked.
I work for a grocery store that’s extremely close to my home. I don’t exactly hate my job, but I definitely don’t love it. I’ve been working there for a year and a half and on many occasions have been praised for my good work and told that I’d been considered for better positions and raises. I’ve have received two measly 10 cent raises since then. Both of which I had to speak up about and say “Hey I’d like to move to a checker position.” or “Hey I’ll help out in the Bakery if they need it.” Well, needless to say I am still stuck at $7.45 an hour. The other day I found out a girl we hired a month or two ago is being paid $7.70 an hour and all she does is check, while I am able to fill three different positions at work. I’m simply frustrated so see many new comers be promoted before me and start earning more many than me when I work very hard and care deeply about doing my job to the best of my abilities. Some things don’t run quite as they should and when I speak up I feel unheard and unappreciated. I really am not taking home nearly enough money to save for a car which I desperately need if I’m going to go to college. Most of our stores employees, I’d say a good 80%, have second jobs because they can’t cut it on the wages their making from our store. A lot of people who have been toughing it our for years are leaving, looking for promotions elsewhere… I’m thinking maybe it’s time I do the same.
you know what that is? your job taking advantage of you. they have pushed you down cuz they know you will take whatever they dish out. my advise, dont offer more than what they give you to do. find a job that will not take advantage of you and let them know you found something that pays better and unless they want you to quit, you need a raise.
I work for a major corporation that is nation wide…. We have many small local business branches and thats where some 54 employees including myself work here in Pa. Our branch does many types of construction services jobs. The management staff at our location has used the tough economic situation in construction to their advantage in managing our branch. Our hourly wages have been reduced and frozen for 4 years now. If your related to or liked by the manager you will get more pay per hour than the guy doing the same job. They threaten your job, your safety, your wages at almost every employee meeting. They use abusive language, threaten physical harm on employees, and let you know theres nothing you can do about it. Any attempt to argue or ask questions results in their giving you the worst jobs available and or very little work at all. They represent the reason why unions were formed…. To protect employees from abusive employers….. You cannot believe the constant barrage of profanity and threats this employer dishes out to its employees on a weekly basis. For many of us who are in our 50,s they know theres no other place for us to work and so they continue to lower our pay, hours, benefits all for the chance that they will increase profits and their bonuses.
I work at the WalMart in Ellijay, Georgia. I have been there two years and make less than $9.00 per hour but work very hard on the sales floor. I need to go to opur county food bank to suplement food in the house that my $62 per month food stamps won’t cover. Here are just two examples of how WalMart is “unfamily like” attitude at our store: First example; The people greeter that stands outside in our garden center has no shelter, no heat, and is lucky to have a chair to sit in. He is over 60 years old and the temperature has been as low at 18 degrees. Second example; If you can’t get out of your house due to inclement weather ie: snow and ice, you are told to try and get a ride from another employee, go stay at another employees house or to park your car so you can get out if you walk home. I live 3 miles up a mountain. With ice and snow on the ground and the emperature at 16 to 18 degrees, how is a 54 year old supposed to do this? Many employees are expected to risk life and limb let alone crashing their car just to get to work.
Hate i for ya,,… your 54 and work a walmart,… life is fucked for you,. if you haven’t gotten you shit straight by now,.. your only solace is the possibility of get a fry cook job at mickey D’s. Good luck. now i’ll go back to surfing the innerwebz for 60k a year. Get Educated, Get Motivated.
Seriously? How do you live with yourself asshole? You sound like a dick. You’re lucky you don’t work for me! $60k a year? Whoopty f’n doo! First off.. .In case you don’t know this (oh, I forgot, you are ‘educated’) So many people in this country have LOST their jobs and are just trying to put food on the table for their families. Second, some areas of the country are so rural that there are no jobs available- Perhaps this person lives in one of those areas! Get some compassion shit-4-brains, and realize 20-something year old going on 4, that some are at a disadvantage. Let’s see how you sing your song when your wife divorces you when she finally finds a real man and takes your house, kids, bank account- and you are 34 and broke, and then get fired- why? Because you are an ASSHOLE… That’s why! God I hope you get what is coming to you! I’ll pray for that tonight. fuckwad
Escuse me, but you are being rather insensitive here… This person is on EBT, which gives you virtually nothing. If a person’s on EBT, how are they expected to pay for an education?, let alone compete with the younger folks who don’t give a rat’s butt about the plight of the middle aged lower class? Ease us & have some compassion, or you just might wind up at the bottom of that 60k ladder looking up & begging for change.
I feel for you. I thought it was a joke when I saw my letter today saying I would receive food stamps it gets better for April $32 and next month $62!!!! I will be lucky to buy a weeks worth of food on that especially with how expensive food is and I don’t eat processed foods. I recently lost my job and have been looking unemployment is $622 which isn’t much when My rent is more than that……It’s sad how hard we’ve worked and this is all that we receive in return when we do ask for assistance.
I work for a local municipality and have been in the workforce for the past 35 years. I can’t believe the stupidity and sheer uselessness which goes on here. Unfortunately, I’m ashamed to say that I have been here for about 8 years. I kept thinking I could get somewhere. I went back to school and got my Masters only to find out that they hire people with high school degrees and pay them more than me! These idiots posted everyone’s salary online so now everyone knows how much everyone else makes. I have a good track record and couldn’t understand what was going on. I went to HR. They told me they couldn’t adjust salaries and that the others (who have only been here 3-4 years) were “hired at a higher rate”! I was further told that if I wanted to get more money, to take a “part time job”! This is my first (and hopefully LAST) government job. I want to go back to the private sector ASAP, but of course, there is nothing out there. We are not given anything to do, but surf the internet all day – show up and get a paycheck. This is not what I went to school for. Staff is wasted and underutilized. No one cares. Management cares only about themselves and how much they can make.
I work for a non-profit. There is never money for professional development or training. They constantly hire people who have no skills-probably to save money-and they just let another lackee train them. Despite having a staff of over 150 people all with email access, a client database, and a website, management refuses to hire a full-time IT support person. We are expected to work with one 15 hour a week computer support person. I entered the non-profit world thinking there would be fewer politics than in corporate America–Wrong! It’s all about who you know, and whether you can bring donations in or who you knew in the org when they hired you (relatives and friends get first shot at all jobs regardless of qualifications.) They won’t tell you that you have to put in over time for free, but they say, “Don’t tell me if you have overtime,” and then after you submit it, the payroll department will dispute your timesheet because they don’t want to pay overtime. Many employees work extra hours and don’t document them for fear they will have to fight for their pay. Most recently someone introduced a nasty virus to our client database, and it wiped out many files–which all had to be restored. I wasn’t hired to be a computer/IT person, and I have no training in the field, but they have given this job to me on top of my regular (unrelated) position because they don’t understand that being a DBA is a legitimate profession that people spend a lot of time in school and in the to learn. Again, I’ve had no training, I just pick things up easier than most people. The management staff is obviously a group of people who couldn’t make it in the corporate world, so they stick around in the NP world hoping their incompetence won’t make them stand out in a bad way.
I can TOTALLY relate! I have been volunteering for non-profit causes since I was a teenager and it is SO unrewarding. People are rude, uncivilized, disorganized, and incompetent, and in the end, unfortunately, it is hard to make a difference in anyone’s life and that is just so heartbreaking and disheartening. Why I kept going the non-profit route for years on end is beyond me–it is like a mental disorder. Don’t do it–go corporate.
I live in Pennsylvania and we have the at will employment law and it violates most workers rights to a fair settlement when u are wrongfully terminated your can’t sue the bastards i used to work at fed ex and was wrongfully fired for something i did not do there needs to be change and it needs to happen now!
I work at walmart in the bakery. When i first started i was a cart pusher. That was without a doubt the worst job i have ever had. We did not have electric pushers like most others and 9 times out of 10 I was by myself all day in the lot and expected to somehow keep up even when i went to lunch. I got bronchitis working in the rain, my shoes started melting at one point in the sun, and eventually my heart started skipping. I had never had problems with my heart before so it was absurd. To top it all off cart pushers are at the bottom pay scale. Eventually i got moved to greeter. Aside from being mind numbingly boring it was not too bad for about 8 months. Then they started changing things that made no sense and put a lot of the older greeters at health risks. First they took away the rugs we put out for the rain so no one slips. This seemed crazy to me since it also affected our costumers. Then they took away the podium where we did returns and the mat we could stand on to help knees backs and etc. They said the podium did not look professional but then had us working out of a grocery cart in the maintenance closet. We had one lady who had just had hip surgery and had passed out once already. Without anything to jean on when she felt faint or a mat for her back she ended up in a lot of pain and had to be taken to the hospital at one point. I talked with our owner about at least getting the mats back since every 16 year old cashier had one and he said we dont need them because we dont stand in one place. Well we arent even allowed to leave the door to go to the bathroom without finding a replacement so that is obviously not the case. They also would not allow me to help our older or disabled customers out to their car in the snow. This was especially hard for me because we truely have wonderful customers and i could not stand there while the struggled in the snow. For the most part my co workers are wonderful people so it hurt to see them suffer because of bad leaders. What sam walton started was wonderful. His customers and employees well being was top priority to him. It seems that now hip dream has been bought out. Everyone says sam would be rollin in his grave but I think he is already dug to china by now. Walmart still has the potentia to be good with affordable prices for the poor and the amount of jobs they provide but the owners need to remember what is important and its not all about money.
My job in and of itself doesn’t suck. I get decent pay (for the area at least) and fair benefits.
The problem is, they have literally hundreds of rules and procedures you have to follow and at any given moment you could be disciplined for not following one you didn’t know about or forgot about. Management does the most idiotic things then blames the workers. They set you up for failure and throw up roadblocks when you try to work hard and do a good job. Favoritism is rampant and it isn’t even remotely based on merit or work performance.
They treat us like we’re prisoners and/or little kids. The feel they are better than we are and yet hold us to a higher standard of behavior. They shove unreasonable rules down our throats that they don’t have to follow. They expect us to “do more with less” while they “do less for more.” Other than that, its great!
You sound like you work for Hillsborough County Aviation Authority.
I work in a call center taking unemployment claims. By the end of the day, I’ve heard gruesome stories of other workers being pushed out of jobs, numbed my mind on other’s pain of unemployment not working for them, and reset a bugillion stupid passwords and pin numbers. This is NOT what I went to school to do! I’m a programmer and I cuss everyday at management’s not putting money into keeping the input screens up-to-date.