I go to a job I hate and dread more every single day. Not only is it backbreaking, but the pay is horrible. I have multiple health problems, which has made the job even worse. I only stay for health insurance. My coworkers know I don't give a fudge about the job. I constantly call it a sh#$hole in some way keeps me from saying even worse things. I work I retail and customers who know me well I tell them the same thing I tell my coworkers. I force myself to go in and look forward to just not having to be there since I'm in constant pain from some of my health issues. Disability is dragging on my case like the money is coming out of their pockets. I am on stage 3 and have waited almost 2 years. I filed the first time over a decade ago before I got really bad. Now, I am lucky to be able to still walk. Every single day feels like I am being punished for having health problems. The job would still be horrible if I was healthy. But having so many chronic health problems makes it so much worse.

Study from Apr 2026: The age of CEOs at time of appointment in 2023 was 55 for the U.S., 53 for Europe. In 2000, it was 48 for the US and 45 for Europe.

Source: Kecht, V., Lizzeri, A., & Saidi, F. (2026). Aging at the very top. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w35089

This has been a question I've thought of over the last year while suffering from burnout. Genuinely curious to hear others’ honest answers.

EDIT: this is getting more responses than I expected so I wanted to give more context as to why I’m asking this. I’m a filmmaker and have had this horror film idea inspired by hitting bottom while suffering from burnout. Trying to figure out some details I’m struggling with regarding what I believe is a unique take on a demon pact.

title

I was laid off from my former employer in August 2025. I didn't log into my 401k for a few months, but in November 2025 we hired a new financial planner who asked to roll over our old accounts. Well, I found pretty quickly that the 401k institution still had my status listed as "employed." And, as you may know, you cannot roll over a 401k plan from a current employee.

For 3 months, I tried to get my status changed to Terminated. I contacted my former employer (a small business owner, whom I texted, called, and emailed) and he never responded. I provided the financial institution with my layoff paperwork, my proof of unemployment, and anything else they needed. None of these were sufficient. I got in touch with the plan administrator, who also tried to contact the business owner. Still no luck. The business's plan holder is the only person who can mark me terminated. After months, I'm not sure what happened, but he finally clicked the *one button* in the email he'd been getting every three days for months and I was marked as Terminated.

Now, following my financial planner's advice, I need to get these funds rolled over to another account. I did not know this, but, again, the *only\* person who can approve the rollover is your former job's plan holder (in this case, my former boss and business owner). Not the plan administrator, not the financial institution, not the account holder. The former employer.

So I have spent the last 9+ months trying to reach out to him (texts, emails, phone calls, letters, certified letters, texts to other employees, etc.) and have been completely ghosted. Every Monday morning I call my financial instution on my morning commute and wait as their employee sifts through the log of months of calls, audibly gasping and apologizing for what I'm going through. They cannot help me. They keep telling me they will escalate and wait for a manager to follow up. I have been told the "senior leadership is aware of my case" but that hasn't changed much of anything. The plan administrator is as lost as I am -- he's also being ghosted.

No one can help me. I literally need one man to answer an email he gets on a weekly basis to get my funds released from this institution. It's one f*cking click and he can't be bothered to do it.

So in May I initiated a complaint through the Department of Labor. Once they assigned me a representative, she was very helpful and walked me through the process. It is, as a government entity, understandably slow. She leaves a him a voice message and needs to wait 10 business days until the next stage. Which is an email. 10 more business days. Certified letter. Another 10 days. Finally, at my request, my case is being sent over to the Enforcement division of DOL. Perhaps he will respond to armed officers coming to his business. Another 21 days before they can move my case over. However, my case manager sets my expectations ahead of time. I was told "Enforcement typically doesn't take on cases with one individual. They usually only take up cases with a number of claimants against one employer. I don't expect them to take your case and you will have to pursue this claim privately."

And that's exactly what happened. Enforcement did not take up my case. My representative can send a few more scary letters but will ultimately drop the case due to non-contact.

What the fuck is this broken system? I have $20k tied up in this mess, and the only person who can release MY MONEY is the former employer who, for some unknown reason, is completely ghosting me. How is this how the system is built?

Years ago, I was working in a small auto repair shop, only two full time employees, plus the boss and a part time office worker. Boss always complained that I made too much money. So he decided I was going to get a raise, but he was going to put me on commision. I would only be paid based on the labor charged to customers for the jobs that I did.

So Monday, the first day of my commision time comes along, and I immediately get busy working on jobs left over from the week before. Paying jobs. In the mean time, the office is filling up with customers, and the phone is ringing constantly. Boss calls me up front, says he needs some help. I told him sorry, I don't get paid to answer the phone, or to write up customers, or to call in the stock order, put the stock order away, pick up or deliver parts, drive customers home, clean up the shop other than my own work area, and pretty much everything else that I could think of that I usually did previously, when I was paid hourly, but was no longer part of the "payable" package.

He said, "that's not how it works."

I said it sure is.

I had been there for almost 10 years and pretty much did everything except payroll. It wasn't a great job, but I enjoyed the work. But he was no longer very interested in the work part of owning a business. He would come in late every day, promise a bunch of work, then go to the bar down the street for lunch from around 11 until 2 or 3, some times even later, then come back and then complain that all the work wasn't done.

Sure, it was his place, he could do what he wanted. But if I was doing the work, I expected to get paid for it.

Being on commision only lasted a week or so, I went back to hourly, and got to keep the raise. Things got a little sour after that, and I eventually moved on to another shop.

I considered trolling the AI like in those videos that are going around lately, but honestly that's just time and energy I don't want to relinquish. If they can't respect potential employees enough to actually spend a few minutes with them, I don't imagine the workplace itself is very healthy. Not to mention, the job would require a lot of driving my own personal vehicle to and from clients with no compensation for the mileage. I was unfortunately willing to overlook that a bit as I need the money, but the fact that they can't even take the time to speak to me is off-putting and a dealbreaker.

So the corp scumbags recently cracked down on my.job place.

Apparently my manager was 'too nice'. Now we literally have no management. My coworkers have voluntarily taken on their manager duties...and we're still a fucking mess.

So i was planning on leaving once I had an offer.

Then I got my 'raise'. A whopping 30 cents when everyone else got a buck or more.

So I know when Im not wanted. And frankly Im not planning on giving 2 week notice. Im just going to walk.

The question is fairly simple: AM I the asshole if I just walk?

I mean, fuck the corp admins that did this. They dont deserve any help. But Im specifically concerned they will learn nothing when I leave without warning.

Id just be fucking my coworkers in the end. Which is kind of unfair.

Thoughts?

Huge news from Brazil!

Brazil's Senate has approved a constitutional amendment to end the traditional 6-days-on, 1-day-off work schedule (6x1), replacing it with a 5-day workweek and 2 days of paid rest per week.

Here's what makes this historic:

- Two days off per week instead of just one.

- No pay cuts for workers.

- Weekly working hours will gradually decrease from 44 to 40.

- Millions of Brazilian workers are expected to benefit.

The change still needs to be formally promulgated, and implementation will be gradual.

For millions of people who spend almost their entire lives working just to survive, this means more time with family, more rest, and more time to actually LIVE.

A job should provide a living, not consume your entire life.

Source: https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/politica/noticia/2026-10/senado-aprova-fim-da-escala-6x1-e-reducao-da-jornada-de-trabalho

First time poster here but I want to get things off my chest. I am a therapist and work for an agency that on paper has good values and a good goal but has become so shady since I started in August of 2025. I am technically a salary employee but do not get consistent paychecks and have had management straight up tell me I am actually treated as hourly "because it wouldn't be fair to hourly employees if they didn't get paid when there is no work but you are".

Management will gaslight the shit out of everyone and actively silos pertinent information that or will have meetings with the schools providers are at but not include the providers in the discussions, especially if a school program is being shut down due to enrollment numbers. They will also straight up lie to employees and I know they commit wage theft by changing hourly employees time cars. Also, although it may not technically be illegal, management is being unethical by keeping clients enrolled longer than necessary but they also may be committing insurance fraud but I cannot confirm that bit.

Two of my friends were the ones who recruited me and one got fucked over by Management so she left. The other friend and i have been actively but quietly applying & interviewing for new jobs but were waiting until both of our weddings to leave because, you know, money. I am happy to say I accepted a job yesterday that is completely different from my current job, the company has phenomenal benefits, and even though the starting salary is technically less than my current salary, I will still be making more annually before taxes & 401(k) because the insurance I will be getting will be better and more affordable than my current job.

With how toxic, manipulative, and abusive my current job is, I feel like I am leaving an abusive relationship and I almost cried when I got offered the job yesterday. I put in my 4 week notice tomorrow and am glad to have the courage to change my job.

M, 32, London

I've worked as a field service engineer for 15 years straight out of school, working on kitchen appliances and building a career in that.

Althought i have acquired skills and a good background of being handy and able to fix anything I've gotten to the point where i just wasnt passionate about it anymore and not progressed to where i wanted in life so I quit my job and was going travelling to enjoy life and heal my soul.

Cant go travlling now as a family member is terminal ill so have chosen to stay and spend time with them which in the grand scheme of things, is totally fine with me.

But since being out of work, i'm now at the point where I just dont know what to do anymore. I wanted to upskill into doing my refrigeration F gas but its a high cost and availability dates are next year march... I was hoping to have left the UK at this point to go travelling around australia for 2 years.

Im now stuck in a country im not happy in, looking at jobs to cover me for the next 3-6 months to keep me financially afloat and prevent using too much savings.

The problem i have is The more I look, the less I want to work. This isnt a matter of laziness or wanting to sit on my ass 24/7. I just want to be free. To enjoy what little life we have. Maybe I am deeping this too much but after losing a younger brother a few years ago and being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, its just put life into perspective and made me realise how short and sweet it is.

I've applied for similar jobs in the sector, entry level in different careers, also looked at the govt skills bootcamp site rewritten way too many CVs just to beef up experience in other fields but No job feels attainable or preferable right now.

Like, whats the point? Why do i have to spend my time doing something im not passionate about for 8-10 hours a day, day in, day out, breaking my body to make somebody else rich.

After a long career in a physically demanding and mentally demanding customer facing role..I just dont have the energy for it, or for much else if im honest.

Ideally id love to be working outdoors, doing something different that I enjoy. But the lovely winter weather is coming so jobs like that are less in demand now

Why does life have to be like this?

I dont know where to start, what to apply for and what I want anymore.

I dont really know what in expecting in reply to this post. I giess i just need to vent and after being here for a while, ive seen just how many others are experiencing the same.

Burnout is an understatement right now.

As always, long story short I’m a shift manager at a local business for 5 years and my manager above me recently has had quite a few talks with me after work this year now. He requests to “just talk” but it fast started to turn into a lecture of “Everybody needs to make sure that they respect you and nobody here seems to listen to your leadership and I’m hearing a lot of bad things, if this isn’t fixed soon we maybe have to have you step down as a manager.”

At first I listened and was greatly concerned because this was confusing, I’m not going to say everyone’s best friends but we laugh and all talk when we have time, we all finish tasks together and work alongside each other smoothly, when I assign a task it gets done with zero friction. Most of us always come in early or stay late to help. He never told me what it was he “heard”, after talking to a few coworkers that’s been here for awhile I asked my manager for clarification and got blown off everytime now being told by him “I can’t tell you how to do everything if I asked my boss how do I do my job before they’d think I’m stupid.” And now he mentions that part only when he talks to me. He is genx boomer age, so maybe he wants me to be a tough callus boss but he doesn’t even say that.

Anyway I put in my two weeks today when my new job starts in December, I did a lot for this current place knowing it wouldn’t give much back but good god.

I have never received a promotion the entire 4 years I’ve been at my current job.

Hounded them over and over again.

Just been told they have “no money” or “timing is not right”. “We don’t have it in the budget”.

Basically every excuse under the sun to not pay people a market rate for the experience they have.

And yet every month they seem to bring more and more managers onboard because they “know their stuff”.

At this point is basically just become adult daycare for nepo hires. People who just sit on calls all day and offer no value. But everyone around them thinks the sun shines out their ass for some reason.

They’re basically all protecting their own asses because they know they offer no value and would get cut instantly if we needed money.

These managers do nothing aside from scrutinise everything you do in order the make themselves look busy.

And hold hour long meetings where all they talk about is how great their weekends were and how amazing they are. It’s all me me me.

Anytime anything goes wrong they immediately come to you up in arms and stressed for you to “trouble shoot” because they don’t know what they are talking about.

I have just started to respond with; “That’s above my pay grade” and they go absolutely ape shit when they realise they actually have to try and fumble their way through the very job they passed an interview for.

They serve no purpose.

I have 5 direct managers and I am in a team of 4 of us.

But what really grinds my gears is they keep seconding people into roles after claiming they had no money to give the rest of us a pay rise or promotion.

So the “budget” they don’t have magically appears when the face fits. Yet when I ask, they don’t want to know.

They just promoted one person into a;

System infrastructure continuity lead

Whatever the fuck that means

And all of our systems are Microsoft.

This person has basically hidden anytime anything they have done in the past has gone wrong.

And now they WANT TO REWARD THEM with more money and a shiny new job title.

They’re being taken for a ride and they truly believe this person is some sort of genius. They’re all freaking idiots.

The last process this person put in place got scrapped after 2 weeks….. and now they are suddenly the EXPERT in everything.

The higher ups are now moaning about productivity slumping.

Like yeah, no shit we aren’t going to work as fast.

There is no incentive to.

That is why productivity is falling.

All my colleagues just have no motivation anymore because month by month we just keep getting shit slung at us, and nobody ever has our backs.

When something goes wrong it always falls on us. And it is never the managers who step in. Keep getting told “It’s a learning experience” like we aren’t all adults and are still in high school. It’s a humiliation ritual at this point.

When you screw over the workers who actually provide value you will soon learn very quickly that everything can unwind in a few weeks if we don’t play along anymore.

i understand all humans need some sort of occupation or purpose, i wouldnt advocate for humans to just sit around all day... but the work week is incredibly draining and i just dont wana do it. especially my manual labor job where i work every saturday and have unpredictable work hours. i feel like i gave every ounce of my energy and will to get through a work week. then sunday is my one off day (which my coworkers encourage me to work lol), i spend most of it sleeping. then i do some laundry and food shopping then BAM its time for bed to get back up for monday morning. i legit feel like im being tortured. no social life, nothing to look forward to, just endless misery. and all of it is because of work. thats the main culpret every time. worst part is my family thinks i have the best job because of the reputation and all my coworkers brainwash eachother into not quitting and the societal pressure of my family, friends and coworkers truly keeps me from quitting because im terrified of judgement... but anyway i feel we shouldnt be working more than 3 days a week as a society. 4 max. we are all drained and these jobs kill you mentally and physically. i wont be surprised if i die young because of this job...

So my boss texted me today about tasks and her being out of office this weekend starting on 10/15. Payroll periods are the 1st through the 15th and 16th through the end of the month each month. I requested I get my check either on the 15th or 16th since our agreement is getting paid either the day-of the end of the period or the following day.

My boss retaliated and fired me, and also raised performance concerns that were never raised before. Her concerns also contradict our in-person conversations re leaving/not coming in due to lack of work and/or for medical reasons. She was always more than ok, sometimes relieved, when I wouldn’t come in/leave early but her text firing me states I have “pushing it for far too long” due to my work hours.

I took an HR course in grad school and my basic knowledge, plus state law (Revised Codes of Washington), suggest this is two separate issues regarding (1) wages and (2) retaliation.

The employer volunteered for my mom, who just retired, so I’m really anxious about all of it because it’s a personal connection.

Hoping for any advice on what route I should take: (a) report it to labor & industries, (b) file a civil lawsuit, or (c) propose a private settlement.

Employment law offices are now closed, since the text firing me was sent at the end of day. Just hoping for some input in the meantime.

Edit: boss leaves town for vacation on the 15th of this month, so tomorrow (PST). She says she’ll mail my check on Monday, which is 3 days late, if it’s postmarked on Monday.

So I know this isn’t legal advice (I already posted there. They were not helpful.) but I’m just wondering if this is something worth looking further into. I work for a human services company in New Hampshire as a direct support professional. We provide behavioral support for individuals with developmental disabilities. At the end of our work day, we are required to submit a service note detailing what we did that day with our individuals along with our time sheet that shows what hours we worked using a service called AccelTrax.
If we fail to submit those two things within 24 hours, those specific days are then considered “special late”, and pay for “special late” days won’t appear on your next paycheck. So, for example, if I make $200 a day but forget to submit my time sheet and notes within 24 hours, that’s $200 missing from my next paycheck. And there is no guarantee that the $200 will come with the paycheck after that either. It can take months before you’re finally paid for a “special late” day. My company claims this is because payroll has to review each individual “special late” case, so it creates a backlog. But I’ve heard from a few people now that this doesn’t sound legal and I’m starting to wonder if it is

Jerry pulled me into office when I came in to let me know how bad things are. Apparently last Friday "there were so many complaints about me." Upper management was angry with me. They said I didn't clear a mess in the new property where an event was being held. And someone declared that I was "standing around on the landing for 20 minutes doing nothing." But also property tenants were angry with me. There was a mess in their area too. Allegedly I specifically not being there was the cause of it. Then my co-workers were complaining that I wasn't helping out there. And that I always did that. Jacob, my immediate supervisor, said I was nowhere to be found.

I replied carefully that I didn't know what he was talking about. This seemed to anger him further. He announced that "he's been patient with me" and that "I've had to talk to you repeatedly, like 4 or 5 times." "Patient" with me??? "Again, I don't know what you're talking about. When did we have an issue before?" So, apparently every time we met previously it wasn't to discuss issues that came up and their solutions, it was a disciplinary meeting covering what a bad employee I've been. Too bad no one ever told me that. Jerry snaps that Friday was his day off, and he was spending time with his wife, and he was having "to deal with it" because of me. He says, "this has never happened before - they contacted me 5 times on my day off!" What he dealt with on Friday I really have no idea.

The funny part of this is NO ONE SAID ANYTHING TO ME. Upper management said nothing, and did not call me. The tenants did not call me. They had nothing to say when I came by. And my co-worker Deborah, she definitely had nothing to say to me on Friday. She wrote her complaints down for Jerry to read; seemingly texted or called him too on his day off and interrupted his wife time to discuss how she can't handle the work when I don't come in alongside her, and probably also how it's beneath her to tell me this since she contacted Jerry instead on his day off and I heard nothing until a couple of days later. I tried to explain that I didn't want to work alongside Deborah since she "liked to work in that area" and I felt if I came in that we would run out of things to do and someone would then have to leave to find something else to work on. Maybe it sounded complicated. I was told Deborah doesn't think I like her very much.

Jacob seemed to think the main tenant area required me to hang around while he trained a new employee. He never told me this. I missed a text message from middle management which was just him ferrying the message to me. Then he called and parroted the idea to me that the tenant area would be a dumpster fire if I didn't hang around there. That consisted of me standing around doing nothing for some indeterminate period of time, because Jacob thinks it'll be bad if I go do actual work somewhere, and because having never talked to me, or god forbid asked me about it, I didn't know when he would be done training and therefore when his destructive directive about hanging around would expire.

Then there was the issue with upper management. Why was I not over at the new property? Uh, probably because my immediate supervisor told me not to go there. He said he would take care of it. But why ask him? Or me? No, no. Just blame me for every fucking disaster in absentia. I told him it was simply false that I was standing around for 20 minutes. I said that I stop there to look over the area and think about my next stop. It certainly isn't 20 minutes. I didn't mention, I couldn't even stand anywhere 20 minutes without being in pain.

And this manager Jerry doesn't seem to have too many marbles upstairs. It was "get angry first, ask questions later." So, Deborah is complaining about me-"NO, I'm complaining about you!" Great, thanks Jerry, for ferrying Deborah's complaint and adopting it as your own even though you have no fucking clue what you're talking about.

What does that leave? I asked humbly why no one seems to be able to give me the complaints about me. Is it MY fault that there's assholes calling you on your time off and interrupting your wife? I was told so little I didn't know what he was talking about when he brought me in. He just started with "how did Friday go?" and I had little to say about it, I stayed busy, I worked on our checklist, I checked into the main tenant area regularly (the one Deborah and the tenants said was a disaster). It was like he was talking about someone else and I couldn't figure out who.

Turns out Deborah has this issue with me. Oh, this doesn't get done at the end of the night. Well, I wasn't doing it to spite her! I run out of time. I prioritize what needs to get done for the night. She comes in at 6AM, she has time for it, and what is the problem?

Jerry explains that I'm "hard to approach," that I "glare at co-workers" and that I'm "unresponsive." I said, "what does that mean??" And he explodes that I should know what it means because I work with the public. What??? Maybe I would be more "responsive" if someone acted like an adult, approached me, and told me what their problem is. My point is I have no idea what he's talking about. Who am I glaring at? Deborah? Everyone? Who is saying this? Why are they complaining about me but never including me in the discussion? What the fuck is wrong with these guys?

He also complained that I was being "defensive." I said "people are making accusations about me, I can't just roll over and agree with the terrible things they are saying about me." Is it wrong to explain yourself and defend your actions? He started bitching about how "we've spent 40 minutes going over this and we're still not through." Making me feel bad about continuing the meeting, I tried to disengage in a dignified way, when middle management called and said I had to go do something.

Now we're pretending we're all on the same page - I've been told by the man himself to ignore most of the checklist - that's new, thanks for belatedly mentioning that - in favor of the first few items. Why even have a fucking checklist if people are going to hate on you for working on it? I swear the next time we have a meeting these people are going to say "our checklists are not getting done." Worst communication ever.

Anyway, having applied for a leave period, and having been physically unable to work the schedule they had intended me to work, I get the feeling these guys are just looking for excuses to fire me.

8.5 hours of call center (9 on mondays or whenever upper management decides)

7Ish hours of sleep

6 hours of free time (usually not this long)

(tht isnt 24 hours but theres other responsibilities)

If i didnt hate my job so much, itd be inconvenient, but id live, tbh. I hate working 40 hrs a week plus mandatory overtime, but itd be much better if my job wasnt like this. I get yelled at people daily. I cant go to the bathroom. nothing i ever do is enough and i keep getting more work and stricter rules with no additional pay. Not a moment to breathe between calls and constant abuse.

Its just depressing that i spend most of my time having to keep a customer service friendly voice going while the other person is telling me im an idiot or that im personally responsible somehow that their doctor didnt fax over documents or smthn.

It genuinely makes me not want to be around people anymore

I have a good work ethic. I dont like work but no one does. I can work. But if the work is me being treated like im less than and im not even allowed to say "hey, thats mean, please dont say that" or YAWN bcs its unprofessional? (yes i got coached for YAWNING. Bcs this job is exhausting, sorryyy) then that makes me feel absolutely awful.

Its not just the hours. Its what those hours include. I have nightmares, hallucinations.

This happened about 3 months ago now. I wanted Monday and Tuesday off but I would have been on night shift that week and the guy I work with isn’t an electrician so my boss says how about taking Friday and Monday cause we can cover one night without you. I agree even though I was going to the beach for family vacation and it added about 200 a night for the room.

I come back in on Tuesday and he tells me that the front office is not happy you didn’t show up on Monday! So I think this is a joke until he pulls the write up from hr up and asks me to sign.

I find out on Monday he didn’t tell my co-worker I wasn’t coming in and he had to be in 2 hours early to cover my shift we are staggered by two hours.

So I sign the write up and but next to it I do not approve of this because of approval of PTO.

Later in the week I go to my plant manager explain to her and show her my approval for the day off. She says I will clear this up with HR.

3 months later nothing no response from plant manager via email.

I live in a small community work at a huge company this town every one knows everything and everybody. I’m only here 3 years. I’ve never been late never missed a day never had a write up.

I’m lost I don’t know what to do cause my plant manager and the HR manager over are department are on nickname basis with one another.

This point I feel like if I make a big deal about this I’m going to ruin my career or just put a target on my back.

Our office had an employee appreciation lunch last Friday. HR made a big deal about it being on the company and ordered food from a local restaurant.

Today we got an email saying anyone who didn't stay for the team building session afterward has to pay $18 for their meal.

The session wasn't mentioned in the original invite. I left after lunch because I had a client call, which my manager scheduled.

The $18 isn't even the issue. I just find it ridiculous that a company can turn a thank you into something you owe them for.

Three other people got the same email. One of them replied asking where this policy was written and HR hasn't responded yet.