Sometimes, we love our jobs.
Other times, we're part of the unlucky 72 per cent of Australians who don't feel happy, fulfilled or content in our role.
With that being said, it's good to know that no-one's alone in feeling less than satisfied in their job. Earlier this week, more than 20,000 people on X (formerly Twitter) confessed to the workplace experience that "radicalised" them and made them hate their jobs, and it was... enlightening.
And look, we don't want to turn you against being employed or anything. But these answers are juicy.
Watch: The best time of day to get everything done at work. Post continues after video.
A last-minute task.
"I was an unpaid intern at a law firm. Work hours were 10am-7pm. [Once, on a] Friday, I'd received ZERO work despite asking around. At 6:55pm, I shut down my laptop and started packing up. An associate approached me and handed me a four-hour-long task. I said I'd get to it on Monday. He said, 'Do it now.' I asked if it [was] urgent, and he said, 'No. But I want you to do it now.' I politely but firmly said, 'It's 7pm on a Friday, so [I will] get to it first thing on Monday.'
"He then stood three inches from my face and SCREAMED at me until the office coordinator came up to him and stopped him. She then took him aside and had a talk with him. He then approached me and said, 'Sorry I shouldn't have yelled, it's just that I have Rajput blood in me.'"
HR complaint.
"The HR lady called me a b***h and I couldn't report her to herself."
Period tracker.
"I had a supervisor who would write down how long I went to the bathroom and it basically became a way to track my period. She apologised years later and [said] it was her first time being a supervisor. But I will never forget her little legal pad dedicated to 'Ashley Bathroom Breaks' that was like '5/1/15 — 4 minutes. 5/5/15 — 8 minutes, came back with a snack.'
"We had lil' ice cream cups in that office and there'd just be a week of 'bathroom — 10 minutes, came back with ice cream.' I was like, 'Yeah girl. I was swapping tamps and craving chocolate.'"
— theashleyray.
Coupon CEO.
"I worked at a coupon company and the CEO moved his desk right behind me and would count the number of times he saw me on Facebook and send the tally to my boss. My boss explained that I designed the coupon code ads and had to confirm they worked on FB but he didn't stop.
"... [This] CEO started the company and his first order of business was to hire a bunch of hot women (not my department). He didn't scrutinise anything they did though."
— jeffernaut.
A scheduled funeral.
"My grandmother was about to pass and I went to my manager... crying asking for the next few days off. She looked at the schedule and said, 'Well if she dies tonight you don't need to take off because funerals are usually three days later and you are already off.'"
Bad promotion.
"In my first real IT job, I worked very hard to be the highest output worker on the team in an attempt to gain traction and move up. When promotions came around, they skipped over me for a new hire because I was 'too valuable in my role and we can't afford to lose you here.'"
— eric_nail.
DNA lesson.
"I was teaching science in my former high school, before my PhD, and someone from the school directorate told me to 'reduce the level' because the school was rural, women were there looking for husbands, and students weren't 'as good'. Next class, I taught how to extract DNA at home."
— mathchaos.
Double work.
"My manager quit when I was three months into the job, made me do both my job AND the manager's with no raise and kept telling me how essential I was to the team. Then they hired someone else to fulfil that higher position and asked ME to train her..."
— userbfIy.
Money matters.
"When I worked at the movie theatre, they had us do a competition where whoever sold the most membership cards won a PS4. While trying to sell the card to an annoyed customer, he asked if I made a commission on [the sale]. Then I realised I got paid the same $7.25 an hour no matter how well I did."
The director of SpongeBob SquarePants weighs in.
"In 2000, I learned that each new SpongeBob episode recouped its ENTIRE PRODUCTION COST by the middle of the second commercial break in its premiere airing. We didn't (and still don't) get residuals."
— jaylender1.
Overworked.
"I kept complaining about how overworked I was. When I finally left, they hired SEVEN people to do my work. When I gave my notice, they asked if there was any salary I would stay at, and I asked, 'Why haven't you been paying me that all along?' I didn't say it maliciously... which is why I think it really landed.
"I offered to do consulting off hours for them at what was a fair rate (not too much above my pay + benefits) and one of the leaders of the org just lost it."
Welcome back party.
"Seeing a coworker have a stress-related heart attack, and was back at work the NEXT week and her manager threw her a welcome back party with cake, soda and chips…Like she [didn't] JUST have a heart attack."
— thecindynoir.
Long shifts.
"During an ICU month, one of my co-residents worked 21 days straight just to be able to get four days off in a row."
— DR_mac2.
Conflict-avoidant conflict.
"I had an animated pilot in the works. When they decided they didn't want it anymore, one producer just up and ghosted me because he's 'conflict avoidant'. The other showed up on my doorstep with two trash bags full of my art/pitch material that he then threw on the ground.
"I think what p**sed me off most is the first guy tweeted not too long after about how it's important to support independent creators in animation."
— aricatuesday.
Bad raise.
"I asked my boss for a promotion and a '20 per cent' raise after a few years of top reviews. She said no. I found a new job making almost double my salary, told them I quit, and she begged me to stay saying they'd match the salary. I left. My replacement was so bad, my old boss got demoted."
Feature Image: Getty.
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