Another Work Monday On Your Current Job...Two Down...50 More To Go...

I’ve survived in an incredibly difficult and low paying job that’s affecting my health, has left me filled with rage and depression for the past two years, and shows every sign of getting worse.

The people I work for have proven to be distrust-worthy on more than one occasion. They constantly employ bad business ethics and bully anyone who stands up to them. For instance: it is routine to deny minimum wage workers legal overtime pay for many overtime hours worked on a WEEKLY BASIS. I am in a management position, and have tried to curtail these practices with every plea–short of filing a federal wage claim (which I was also bullied about)–to no avail.

My family has pleaded for me to leave this job because it has left me completely isolated, emotionally and physically unwell, beyond stressed, and very angry to be unable to stop corrupt business practices.

Also, did I mention I’m working in the food services industry?

Oh, and I’m also barely making above minimum wage myself.  I’m uncompensated for overtime hours worked, and I’m not allowed my basic benefits or raises at all because apparently “the franchise doesn’t have money”.

I’m also no longer able to work a set schedule, and I’m never allowed to request a day off for illness, family matters, or otherwise, in two years of work–which makes scheduling an interview difficult. 

~Worker Living in Arizona

You can make decisions that are right for you and right for others. 

You can make decisions that you feel good about. 

You cannot control everything that is happening on this job that is wrong, but you can document it.  If you want to you could take it up as a cause and start a non-profit.  

You can do anything that you put my mind to…can’t you?

P.S.

This year work your “Just Quit” Plan so that the next 50 Monday’s aren’t like last years 52 Monday’s…enough already….forget feeling stuck and hopeless…PLAN, PLAN, PLAN

There IS Hope And A Way Will Come

I don’t have faith in the leadership at my company.

We are understaffed, people are literally working 70 hours a week. It is taking up to three months to replace open positions. I am not working that much because I don’t want anyone to expect me to do that on a regular basis. I am getting behind because I am not working that much.

I am in a new position and have not had adequate training and everyone is so busy, no one is really available to provide good help and guidance. I am exhausted and stressed out when I am not at work, always thinking about what more I should be doing.

I am having a hard time in the evenings focusing on updating my resume and looking for another job.

I do not have faith in getting any help to make things better. We are all drowning in work and  I have no hope that it will get better soon.

I do not want to work in this industry anymore.

~Worker Living in ARIZONA

Sometimes we don’t even have hope. 

We just can’t see anything to be hopeful about. 

We don’t see a way out.  All we can see is a messy situation. 

THESE ARE LIES. 

These are lies that our mind keeps repeating over and over again. It is really difficult to break that cycle, but you can break it.

Today, say: “There is hope.  A way will come.  I will quiet my mind long enough to allow peace in.  There is peace available and I need peace of mind to think clearly.”    

You are reading from the book “Just Quit” & Live

A College Degree Is Very Important, If You Don't Have One...But It's No Guarantee for Workplace Fit or Happiness.

I’m not in my field that I have seven years of education and two degrees for.

I haven’t progressed professionally in four years for the lack of understanding what I actually do.

I have been to three therapists for depression dealing with my current lifestyle and this job.

~Worker Living in Arizona

YES get your degree, but do the hard work of figuring out what you’re good at and passionate about so you get a degree that works for you.

Back to the myth that “schooling” is the key that opens all doors. It’s not and we know that. 

We have too many examples of folks who made it big without even finishing high school.  Then on the other hand we have folks that have several degrees and have jobs where they aren’t using any of that information, and even if they are, they are still miserable. 

Finding our purpose doesn’t begin or end with a degree. Getting an education and a degree is a part of finding our purpose. Even if you don’t have a job title or description that relates to your degree that should not stop you from doing SOMETHING that relates to your purpose. 

We will continue to be depressed as long as we are suppressing our passions.  We have to find a way to express our uniqueness.

Just do SOMETHING today that gives you joy.

When Is The Last Time You Felt "Beautiful" About A Career Decision?

The scheduling manager at the organization I work for has decided to give me shifts that are the death knell for any associate–shifts that she has stated she cannot work because she has a family. I have always made it clear that I am only available for part time work because I have family obligations and health concerns that make part time hours a must. However, there has been one reason after another that this manager has needed me to not only work double the hours I signed on for, but also mainly night hours, heavy weekend loads, and shifts that start at store open and end at store closing.

I became physically ill and my family life was suffering tremendously. My son failed his first class ever in seven years of schooling. My last blood pressure reading was 160/120. I had to head straight to the hospital.

My garage was broken into while my kids were home alone during a shift I was called into without sufficient time to line up child care (they are 11 and 14). It was one of those, if you don’t cover this shift, don’t ever come back type of call-ins. I figured out that my manager was using the full-time gal to babysit her son in exchange for reduced hours and weekends off–which she conveniently gave to me.

I actually quit today and the best part was knowing that the scheduling manager would be the one who would have to cover my closing Friday and closing Saturday shifts…and I get to go to my son’s football game tomorrow…something I have not yet gotten to do since starting this job in late June.

I woke up this morning depressed and dreading the idea of even going to use the bathroom to start my day…I literally laid in bed, legs crossed, unable to move. That is when I knew something was dreadfully wrong with this situation. I felt like once I got out of bed, I’d talk myself into just dealing with it, sucking it up, and going in.

I’m not ashamed to say that two weeks’ notice in my case was not an option…I’m a people pleaser and my boss knows how to wind me around her finger. What I know she did not see coming was the phone call today and subsequent resignation email. As well as my follow up with the district manager about my manager’s abuse of her scheduling authority.

My sales numbers/quotas/CPI’s are so amazing, the DM is going to be at least slightly interested in knowing why they lost an employee as good as I was. I was the only employee with a degree, and I was a customer favorite. My kindness however, was taken for weakness. My husband is the breadwinner and I took this job because it was in the field of sales and beauty and I have a background in business and cosmetology. I was hired on the spot and I gave my all…then I started to be taken for granted and used. I offered to work extra hours to cover for an employee who abruptly quit; that was two months ago.

I continuously told my manager that I could only work part time with no more than two closing nights per week. She smiled, said she would see what she could do and for the past month she has scheduled me full time hours, closing 4-5 nights, with at least 2 of my shifts being open to close hours.

My doctor suggested I either cut back my hours or find another occupation. I quit this morning. I feel beautiful (weird adjective for this situation, I know) inside and out. My mom is coming for a visit next weekend and I am absolutely tickled that I have extra time to spend with her. By the way, I was only making 600 bucks a month. What a joke. I can make more selling my homemade pralines, and I think I will be trying my hand at that.

~Worker Living in ARIZONA

Sometimes we can’t give the standard two weeks’ notice.  The situation just doesn’t allow it. Feeling “beautiful” is when you KNOW that you have done the right thing regardless of what anybody else thinks.

Feeling “beautiful” is what “Just Quit” is about.

When is the last time you felt “beautiful”?

Life is Too Short to Do Work That’s Not Real and Doesn’t Matter

OCTOBER

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

 ~ Albert Einstein

The job is a joke. It pays good money but the work is meaningless.

I visit schools that don’t want me there and some actively encourage me NOT to come so much so that at times I don’t go and say I did — which makes me feel terrible about myself. Other places let me come and give me work, but the work is minimal – and for the most part has no or only short term outcomes.

I post school visit notes on a website that is named for a division that no longer exists, that the customer has never heard of and that was elaborately designed for a product I don’t deliver and the customer knows nothing about. The customer prefers an email. So…. it’s like I write these notes two to three times and sometimes for visits that didn’t take place. This is common practice among people in my position, but that is cold comfort.

I am required to run a national network and have monthly Google hangouts. So many people have quit or been fired that there are only 2 members left in my group.

I am writing a mystery novel — I have published several short stories on line and have a small fan base — and I steal as much time as I can for this endeavor. I have applied for and interviewed for jobs, but to no avail.

I am miserable. 

~Worker Living in ARIZONA

Some of our jobs aren’t real jobs.

They are “fake” jobs.

You can either go-along or get-out.

Thank your lucky stars if your integrity will no longer allow you to continue to fake it.

Life is too short to do work that’s not real and doesn’t matter.

You are reading from the book “Just Quit” & Live

 

 

 

 

We Rise By Lifting Others ~Robert Ingersoll

Each day I am miserable and feel I am not being challenged. I work from home and I am isolated.

I want to work in the music business.

Any career I have had I have been told I look unhappy and that is because I am.

~Worker Living in ARIZONA

Today, if you know the business that you want to work in then start moving towards that business. Do one thing today towards working in that business or industry. 

If you don’t know the business or industry that you want to work in and you know of somebody else who is trying to break into a business or industry, then do something for them. Even if it is just call or text them today and ask how it is going. Encourage them. 

Helping others achieve their dreams will help you to achieve your dreams and goals. It works.  It just works. Watch how it works for both you and them. 

Feeling Good About What We Do

You are reading from the book  “Just Quit” & Live 

Q: Why do you want to quit your job EVEN if you don’t have another job lined-up?

It makes me feel really depressed because I feel like I’m helping screw people out of money. I also do not like any one I work with and feel that I can do a lot better in life than working here. It’s not where I want to be and not a field I would want to advance in.

~Worker Living in ARIZONA

 

Today’s Meditation:

Sometimes we look up and realize that we are part of what’s wrong with the world.

We are the them.

We are doing things that we aren’t proud of.

We wonder and ask ourselves: “Why am I living like this? Why am I doing this? Aren’t I better than this?” Yes…you are.

We can feel good about what we do and our contributions to the family of the world.

We don’t have to do work that we feel harms others.