So true, I worked hard, received recognition and praise. Got the exact same pay raise as those who did the minimum. The management all received substantial raises and huge bonuses for the work that they didn’t do. Not anymore unless there is clear promotions, raises, or bonuses for work done I am just the minimum guy now on.
I’m in the same boat. Years of 1-2% pay raises have been given in blanket form to my entire team, regardless of performance.
Every time we get these, inflation is higher, so we’re actually losing money every year.
I worked at one place working may ARSE off deploying a solution. Pulled all nighters regularly to get it done. I got a 20$ Xmas voucher to KMART. FUCKING KMART.
That was when I decided I’d work just enough to not get fired.
ugh
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.
The greatest trick capitalists ever pulled was convincing the world that hard work pays off.
And how many of us are working paycheck to paycheck still?
Wonder if that might correlate a tidbit.
This is so 'Murican
In civilised countries, we see the way you grind yourselves into dust for the benefit of people who despise you and we see it as an illness
It’s a societal illness. Most of us are just paid slaves at this point. We can’t survive without the paychecks from these awful employers.
A single medical bill can break most working class families here. If you try to tell your employer you’re not happy, you end up being seen as ungrateful - you’ll be the first to be laid off in the next wave.
We’re not allowing this, it’s being done to us. And if we love our families, we will continue on.
I literally saved my company twice. We were a small company providing contract programmers to a huge cable company (rhymes with Bombast), producing their mobile apps for them for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. When I started, we had just lost the Android gig because of the sheer ineptness of our offshore team (ironically enough, the gig was given to InfoSys who managed to do an even worse job). We were about to be shitcanned completely because we unable to produce a working TV guide-type application for Blackberry, thanks to the fact that no built-in control for Blackberry was able to handle a moving grid like a TV guide app requires. I produced probably the best mobile app I’ve ever written because I had experience with using Graphics classes for Java and was able to write an entirely owner-drawn control for this.
Unfortunately this was in 2011 as Blackberry was going through its death throes, so this really achieved nothing other than making Bombast want to keep paying us to stay around. A year later we faced getting shitcanned again because we were way behind schedule on the iOS app, thanks to an estimate that I had nothing to do with (our company very intelligently never involved actual programmers in these schedule estimates). I spent an entire week literally living in the Bombast building, coding all day and most of the night, sleeping a couple of hours a night in my George Costanza setup underneath my cubicle desk. We barely made the release schedule and Bombast kept us on again. The vulture capitalist who originally funded us had been ready to stop operations and fire everybody for some time, but this was put on hold.
Shortly after this, we were acquired by a west coast tech giant and us programmers were all laid off. The C-suite got millions in stock options, and I got … a very nice letter of reference when I applied for my school bus driver job. I’m thankful at least that I never had to deal with AI.
Such a mark.
Exactly you didn’t do them a single favor, they would have gladly let the company shut down and move on to the next scam. If anything by working incredibly hard and creatively, you just made it a little awkward for them. “Wdym comcast isn’t firing us? That kid saved the contract?? But I already started on the next scam!”
Im in a similar position we’ve been borderline bankrupt for two years now and everyone above me is less concerned that I am because i work with the hourly people and don’t want them to lose their jobs. The ceo is really like ambivalent if it’s better to keep the company going. This is one of several businesses he’s involved in and the $300K salary is just walking around money for him.
The stories here are crazy.
I’ve seen it (not personally, but observing) at the higher end of paid professionals too, like doctors/dentists. Outstanding work, treated like cogs, squeezed harder and harder. In one instance, the local monopoly who bought their group out literally committed fraud.
Come to think of it, everyone I’ve known working corporate got screwed.
…Feels like things can’t go on like this.
I worked hard until I got my dream job at a Fortune 500 company. I would have been perfectly happy doing that job for literally the rest of my life.
Then the accounting department took over the company, and started making decisions, and the next thing we know, our company had slipped from being in 1st place for 25 years, to fourth out of five major corporations in that industry.
The result was thousands list their jobs, including me. Not because I did a bad job, or because I had an attitude problem, etc. It was all because other people totally fucked up, and I paid the price.
So I thought “If I would work that hard to make someone else wealthy, and still get tossed out, why couldn’t I do that for myself?” So I started my own business, and I’ve never looked back. That was 30 years ago, and it hasn’t been easy. I never got rich, but I also never have to take orders from an incompetent middle manager, never have my work or credit stolen, my income is in my hands not some corporation’s, I can make my own schedule, wake up when I want, and nobody can fire me.
If you can’t get someone to hire you, hire yourself.
This reads like capitalist propaganda
Too bad there isn’t anything else to do but keep going like this until it ends the world.
When I first graduated, I worked for a series of small start-up companies. Most of them ended up failing, which is normal for a small company. But, at least when I was working hard there I was given stock options so if the company had done well, I could have shared in the success.
I’ve always wondered why that isn’t more common. I guess the answer is that some people are willing to work really hard even if they’re not given a slice of the ownership of the company. I never understood that. If I own part of this startup, I’ll work hard to make sure it succeeds because then I’ll get rich too. If you’re just paying me a salary, I’m fulfilling the terms of my contract and that’s it.
I’ve always wondered why that isn’t more common.
Because if the owner has capital he’ll keep all the profits and pay you as little cash as possible. Startups are usually run by younger people with not as much cash so they have to offer options to get people to work for them.
I can understand why an owner wouldn’t want to give away small parts of their company. What I don’t understand is why some people are willing to work as if they were part-owners when they’re just on salary. In a lot of start ups, the amount of extra effort people put in when they get options means the options easily pay for themselves.
I did a massive project back five or so years ago. Put in a lot of work, and since the work is something I’ve done for 20 years, the work was flawless.
I got a one time bonus.
The same year I didn’t get a cost of living increase. And every year I did get one since then, it’s been half or less of inflation.
Everyone is treated this way at my company. They recently installed AI-based Spyware on all computers that takes regular pictures of the screens and monitors all clicks and mouse movements. I guess everyone is demotivated, so this is how they are handling that. Few people know about this, it was done secretly.
I will never work hard for these people again. I don’t think I could even if I did try at this point. There’s zero trust, and a pattern of exploitation.
Same. Had a supplier unexpectedly close down. The company makes medical devices, and the design on some components was quite old. We’re talking hand drawn designs, no CAD files. I got new sourcing for roughly 500 components. Long hours, saved the company from having any production stoppages. I busted my ass and kept the multi-million dollar per day revenue generation production line going. As a thank you for my efforts, I got some points equivalent to like $500 on a company incentive site where you can get gift cards and shitty TVs and household goods. Annual review came up. 2.5% raise. Fuck right off.
As a thank you for my efforts, I got some points equivalent to like $500 on a company incentive site where you can get gift cards and shitty TVs and household goods.
This sounds like a parody you’d see in fiction, but here we are.
I bet the poor souls who made that site were underpaid, too.
Cuck. Except the cuck gets a chair.
Maybe the company incentive site has them?
They cost $501.
The moral of this story is clear: if you’re given an opportunity to save the company, first ask yourself whether it would save you.
Good job not being a mark again!
The work environment, for the vast majority, in the USA simply sucks shit. It’s basically, work until you croak.
Well, yeah if you’re gonna grind hard do it for yourself. Do the bare minimum at work to get your paycheck then grind hard on a side gig where you get the profits.
Guess what. Not working hard had even worse outcomes. I’m kind of scared for the future with so many Gen Z being huge slackers and emotional weaklings.
I’ll tell you what what! Theys gene Z should break their backs in the mines just like I did and my pappy did! Then master let’s you lynch ******* and that’s what life is all about, I’ll tell you!
There’s a big difference between working hard to get ahead and what you’re babbling about. I get the feeling from here that young people feel that harder workers shouldn’t be rewarded and slackers should earn the same.
No. They’re pointing out that hard work doesn’t make you exceptional, doesn’t get you rewarded and doesn’t get you ahead.
Since you apparently haven’t actually been working for the past fifteen years, the social contract has been almost entirely broken. Busting your arse gets you the same pay as the dude who takes four hour smoke breaks and a shittier quality of life due to stress.
Workers are just refusing to be exploited
Yeah there may be some smaller companies that recognise and recompense great work, but they are the exception, not the rule. And they are increasingly unicorns.
Retired a few back but keep in touch with the higher ups as well. You’re completely wrong with that statement. Many people get rewarded for hard work. But in order to get rewarded, do you have to be the one that is seriously helping the company. If you’re talking about the bottom of the worker pile then you have to do something to stand out. In my case I started off building on the factory line. Saw what they ran for computer systems. Trained myself at my own expense to learn them and ingrain to myself Socially with the people that ran them. Hard work isn’t just the physical part. It’s also the mental part and most importantly the social part. So much of business is social and if they don’t know who you are they’ll never know the hard work you’re doing or how beneficial you are to the company. If you are, that is.
Woah retirement? What’s that? Oh right, this ancient system none of us will ever get to enjoy.
Perfect example of the defeatist attitude. Btw it’s not an ancient system. Didn’t even exist in my grandparents time. Neither did the concept of a weekend.
You guys are the majority now. Make the changes you want.
Congrats on being one of 2 generations who got to benefit off of that before it got fucked for us.
If you did this today it would not work. Thats the expirence that we are living. Glad it worked for you 40yrs ago, we want the same treatment.
Stop spreading propaganda. No one is wasting their precious calories, helping someone else get richer.
The benefits and pay would have to be very VERY good.
You’re completely wrong with that statement
Nope.
I’m actually still in the workforce, so I’m gonna go ahead and consider myself to be a bit more of an authority as to what’s going on than you are, seeing as you’ve just admitted you’re divorced from the working reality.
This thread is literally full of people telling you how they have brought value - in some cases, immense, company-saving value - and not been recompensed. I very freely admitted there were some companies that did still value workers. I also said they are no longer the norm. This is a continuation of a trend that started in the 90’s when outsourcing started chewing on the arses of the white collar workers, workforces became seen as dispensable and replaceable and it has sharply increased with the sociopathy of MBAs who can’t see any further than their own personal golden parachutes.
You gained your leg up in within a business framework that no longer exists. Demanding that workers continue to play by rules their employers ignore is lunacy.
That is so very far away from the actual expressed sentiment that I’m genuinely concerned that your underlying expectations of people and the world, completely hinders your ability to see reality at all.
Oh I see reality. I also see this next gen of workers coming in who are nothing like Gen X or even millennials. My underlying expectations are if you’re hired by someone be a good worker, work hard. Try to make the company better and if you’re good at it, the company will see this and promote you. Nothing crazy and nothing out of the reality that I experienced during my working life. Now I do see some new workers with the required social skills and knowledge to zoom up the ladder pretty quick, but that’s definitely not the norm.
Lol this is not how the US workforce works at all- unless you are a boomer in a “retirement” job working 10hrs a week, getting paid for 40hrs, and relying on the younger generations to do all the work for you.
Lol. Now that’s out of touch.
Just remember those younger people who show promise actually hate you because they already do your job better than you and will never be compensated for it.
Millenial here: I don’t see what for, they don’t have our best interests in mind, we should slack whenever we can, and rob them blind.
And then cry when the country falls apart because too many people are like you.
We only need like 1/3 the work I do. I’d accept slower services for the ability to touch grass.
it’s more that we’re tired of working hard without being rewarded. in fact, life keeps getting worse for us no matter what we do.
It takes a long time to build the skills that get the rewards. Took me decades of grinding but will with the payoff.
Genx here:
Stop gobbling the boot.
Also Gen x
Dont feed the trolls folks. Or i guess don’t feed the boomers either.
Work hard for what?
Look at the stories here.
Not everyone gets ownership, stock in a startup or something miraculous. And I’m older than Gen Z; I dunno how they even grew up sane.
You don’t need any of that to be successful. You just need a skill that pays and a willingness to work.
A willingness to work is the least important factor to success. To be successful, a motivation to work is insufficient. In fact, too much of a motivation to work is as detrimental to your career as a complete lack of motivation.
Overly hard workers don’t get rewarded, they get exploited. Too much productivity will actually block your advancement. And, let’s be honest, it’s not actually possible to get a promotion at most companies. Companies hire externally; they don’t like promoting internally as MBA schools teach this causes drama.
The key to success is to calibrate your work to your circumstance. Do you work for yourself, keep all the fruits of your labor, and actually earn more money when you take on additional clients? If you’re a self-employed consultant or something, then sure, harder work is directly rewarded. Work as much as you like. Are you a salaried employee whose company offers no formal bonus structure in writing and is completely capable of stringing you along with endless vague promises of bonuses that will never materialize? If that’s your situation, then working too hard is financially irresponsible. Even if all you care for is career advancement, then you should be doing just the bare minimum required to not get fired. Instead of working overtime that will never be paid for or recognized, use that extra time to work on your own projects or take on a side hustle.
Companies don’t promote from within. No company ever wants to agree to a firm written raise and bonus structure for their salaried workers (thus they have no accountability.) Hard work is not rewarded; it’s simply exploited. In modern office jobs, grinding is the path to failure, not the path to success. The path to success is working the minimum not to get fired, working on side projects in lieu of overtime, and job-hopping every few years to get the raises you won’t get any other way.
Oh look another rube for the meat grinder. Skip your kids birthdays and sports games working late for the company, I’m sure they’ll understand
Or you can be a slacker, not make any money, and your kids can live in a shitty apartment in the ghetto. I’m sure they’ll understand.
Or you can bust your ass and live in an apartment in the ghetto because no one wants to pay a living wage anymore.
Get a skill that pays well. Only takes a few years.
Just jump off the ladder and start over! Surely this time things will work out for you!
Went through three distinct careers in my work time. Needed to stay up with the times.
So have I. Every move has been to something that I was assured would have great pay. My current job has taken me the furthest after several promotions. It’s still not paying enough to do what I want. I’m too old to start at the bottom again on another false promise.
That’s basically where we’re headed anyways.
I think you got to spend too much online if this is the mental attitude you have. There’s tons of opportunity and good jobs and unemployment is crazy low right now. Like I said, get yourself a skill or a trade and there’s a shit pile of money to be made and as much work as you’re willing to do. I mean it took me and most of my friends into our forties to really accumulate anything, but I feel like the people on here think they should be rich or that every boomer was rich in their thirties. That’s very bizarre and a big disconnect from the reality that it actually was for many
The trick is to stay in the middle like 2/3s of the pack performance wise and pick things that are highly visible to management but also not too much of a pain in the ass to “save the day” on often enough that you’re seen as reliable.
You’re hired
This seems to have become the pizza party story repository, so I’ll contribute mine:
Late-scheduled all-hands call at a large, publicly-traded company. The stock price had just taken a big dip. “Lots to be hopeful about,” says Senior Executive VP of VPing Dipshit McGee, specifically citing a thing I personally built and how happy the (G1000) client was with it. My entire team except one guy get caught in the layoffs the following week. Fucking idiots. It’s been over 10 years and I still check in on them every once in a while when I need a good schadenfreude hit. Stock price a tenth what it was when I left, lol. De-listed from the NYSE, lmfao. Parted out by vulture capital, 💀.
Kill the rich, save the poor. Taxation, is not enough for the current era. There must be justice for the crimes committed. Once they are dead, then we can figure out how to run the world without capitalism. Untill then, the elimination of the ultra-rich by any means should be the goal. Everything else is noise.
Me and Marcus probably have very different lives, but that’s basically the same exact thing that happened to me.
