I've been unemployed but never been fired
or even left a job because the boss/colleagues were a bunch of cunts.

However, on Monday morning (or probably Sunday to be honest) I will be doing exactly that.

I am self-employed, and have been for the past seven years. And no, I am not resigning from self-employment because I am a cunt. That would just be silly.

Anyway, a couple of years ago the cash flow started to dry up - anyone who is self-employed knows the joy of freedom is tinged with the misery of not having a regular income.So, I took on a Saturday job. I actually love that job, but it pays only a little more than minimum wage, and by the time I've paid out my diesel costs, it works out at about £200 extra a month.

But the straw that broke this camel's back is the third job - the Monday to Friday job I took up three weeks ago to add to the money coming in.

When I started, they threw me into the place with only a vague job description of 'perform miracles' and every idea I tried to implement was met with 'no, we don't want that' or 'costs too much'. The upsode of the job was that the other staff were all really nice and friendly and very helpful.

So today, the deputy manager takes me to one side and says I'm not providing what they wanted, and on top of that, all the other staff had complained about me.

Well, being a tough, resilient coper, I promptly burst into tears, struggled through the rest of the afternoon with all the other staff pretending to be nice to me, and sobbed my way home to mr b3th.

Currently, I am (still) sobbing my fucking heart out - I don't take criticism well, and I hate the thought of 'failing' at what is honestly not a complicated job - drinking myself to sleep, and eating stupid amounts of chocolate.

Tomorrow I will pull myself together, head off to my Saturday job, and take lots of prescription strength painkillers.

On Sunday I will go back to that hell-hole (probably taking mr b3th for moral support), collect my stuff, and inform them that they are very welcome to stuff their job up their arse.

They won't be happy, but I don't need a reference from them, what with having two other jobs to survive on.

On the other hand, I have deep confidence issues, depression, and am finding it really hard to accept yet another 'failure' to my long list.

There really isn't a punchline, or even a point, but I really need to vent tonight, and this QOTW just came along at the right time.
( b3th Not shit. Not mod., Fri 3 Apr 2009, 20:50, 10 replies)

Don't let the bastards get you down.
I was once fired from a job for not performing well when I hadn't had any proper training and had to bullshit my way through each day. They told me I had received a warning when I hadn't.

Try not to dwell on it and remember it will get better. Trust me I know.
( girlinthehole, Fri 3 Apr 2009, 21:14, closed)

thank you my love
for some reason, once you take out all the trolls, and teenage emos, I feel a real affinity for your average b3tan.

You're all lovely, and you have smashing blouses.
( b3th Not shit. Not mod., Fri 3 Apr 2009, 21:20, closed)

you don't need to add a failure to any metaphorical list-
-because you haven't failed. You made suggestions, and they declined them.

In other words, you did the work properly but they chose not to use it. Their decision, so their problem.

Call me a cycnic, but is it possible that the other staff did not, in fact, complain about you? That it's only something you're being told to ease their own guilt / encourage you to go quietly / discourage you from talking to said staff and gaining sympathy or finding out sinister truths?

I wouldn't be surprised if in fact your ideas have been noted, to be stolen, claimed as someone elses, and implemented after your departure. But then I worked for pure bastards.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Fri 3 Apr 2009, 21:31, closed)

No
the complaints were quoted to me (anonymously) but they were so specific I knew exactly who must have been saying what.

Ah well, live and learn.
( b3th Not shit. Not mod., Fri 3 Apr 2009, 21:36, closed)

too many workplaces are like a schoolroom popularity contest
this is pathetic when one is 14 in school, it's just mental inadequacy when it's 40 year olds

when you've moved on, and doing better, those lifers will still be wallowing in their miserable mire.

just think happy thoughts :D
( discomeats This canoe, Sat 4 Apr 2009, 23:33, closed)

Ah, don't give up!

Maybe the job just wasn't you. When you find the job that really suits your personality, everything will fit into place. Best of luck with your search. It took me until I was 32 to find the job I was best suited to. Chocolate is female opium, enjoy it, don't beat yourself up about that too.
(Woofie, Fri 3 Apr 2009, 21:53, closed)

Too good...
B3th, you were obviously too good at your job. From experience I've learned to never be too keen, never work harder than your 'colleagues', never show any initiative, never look at progressing your role,certainly never look for promotion and don't be cleverer than your manager.

I would like to say that I learnt the lessons above and have prospered, but I haven't, because I didn't follow them.

It's all about the damn politics.

Come to think of it, I'm going to post this as an answer!
(Big Smurf Brush me daddy-O, Fri 3 Apr 2009, 22:08, closed)

chin up
no job is worth getting yourself into a state over, tell them to stick it with your head held high. if you tried your best and did what was asked then you have nothing to be ashamed of.
good luck!
(discodaz *generic witty comment*, Fri 3 Apr 2009, 22:35, closed)

Good for you
for getting out of it.

I worked in a place that I was questioning 3 days after starting. Like you, it took 3 weeks before the complaints came in (unbeknownst to me at the time, it had happened to every single person in my role before me!).3 months later I was crying all over the boss and trying to resign, but carried on. fifteen months later I finally resigned, without a job to go to. Totally demoralised, questioning my reasoning for training in that career, questioning the whole system, feeling I'd failed, that I'd never amount to nothing, that my life was over. Health was a mess, crying all the time, appetite fucked, mood swings. Couldn't see the point in anything, didn't see the good in life, or people.
Figured out afterwards that I'd burnt out, and all because of some cunts in management - the rot that had risen to the top and that no-one in the whole system dared challenge, but which polluted the whole work environment from themselves down and created a continuous cycle of poor staff retention. Because they were control freaks who couldn't deal with change or see past their own stress.

So good on you, for not getting that far down the line. You have not failed. Far from it. You've taken whatever control you can, and there's no need to put up with that shit, or try and make it right, as some people are cunts and you won't change someone that doesn't want to stop being a cunt.

Jesus that was cathartic! Thanks!

Its been 18 months since I got out and I can honestly say it was the best thing I could have done. At the time I was going to challenge them, keep notes and take it to a tribunal . . . really not worth the stress and hassle (for me)

You sound pretty sorted otherwise, even with your depression/confidence issues. Hang in there, try not to beat yourself up on this one, be good to yourself.
(maggotriddendirtbox fast, feral and sharp as a tack since, Sat 4 Apr 2009, 6:45, closed)

working in a shitty environment is rarely worth the damage it does to your health
been there done that.

left.

Plus you got other stuff to go to anyway

so YAY for cunting them in the fuck, they clearly aren't competent enough to tell you what they want from you to start with, so they can hardly be critical because you can't read their fucking minds.

fuck'em

and good luck

*hugs*
( discomeats This canoe, Sat 4 Apr 2009, 23:30, closed)