#and I can hire people to help me with the work

[stevishabitat]

Particularly when it comes to call centers, a lot of the abusive rules that retail jobs get slammed for are just as prevalent.

Like not being able to have access to food, water, or bathroom except on breaks.

When I was in-person there was a supervisor who walked the "stalls" to make sure no one had food, water, or their cellphone on their desk.

You had to ask permission to get up from your desk and the super would put your phone in "away from desk" so you wouldn't get calls.

Any status other than "available" or "in call" knocks points off your score which can get you disciplinary action. Not picking up on the third ring knocks off points.

When the pandemic forced these companies to allow wfh, some of these companies forced employees working at home to have video surveillance, or spy software on their computers, including software that required constant mouse movement to ensure they hadn't left their desk.

I count myself very lucky that my employer did not implement any surveillance when I switched to wfh. But they have laid off about 85% of the workforce in the last four years and my seniority won't save me from the next purge.

They also do the thing where they'd hire people for supposedly full-time but never give them enough hours to actually be full-time and get benefits. Almost every call center worker I know works multiple jobs because it's not enough to live on. Those of us that can't work multiple jobs are on and off of government benefits depending on how many hours we get to work.

And yes, we get horrible treatment from customers. Cussed at, demeaned, sexist and racist abuse, and we have to continue being kind and pleasant on the phone. We're not allowed to hang up.

Being brought to tears isn't uncommon. Getting reprimanded for trying to stand up for yourself isn't uncommon. Customers asking for a manager so they can try to get you fired isn't uncommon. I've had customers demand to get my last name so they can find me on social media and I guess dox me? That one was really nasty.

This is for tech support for educational materials BTW. I'm sure folks working for, like, a cable company or cell phone company (or god forbid, insurance) get much worse.

Office jobs can be abusive as hell, and it is not helpful at all to pit low wage workers against each other.

[lumiidragon]

This is probably a weird question but do you have any advice on spotting those scams where someone asks you if your commissions are open

I remember you posting about someone who asks if you can draw their kids pet or something (I can’t remember very well)

Are there any others you know of?

I'll be honest, I've rarely gotten potential scams that weren't PAINSTAKINGLY obvious, but my biggest red flags for the one that I had posted about were:

-They were a blank blog that wasn't even following me. Why would you commission an artist you're not even following, yanno? If you get a commission request from someone, do just a little basic check such as check out their account. If it's a blank account, an account that's not following you, or an account that has shady shit on it, then that needs to be your first sign that something is off.

-They sent me the exact same message they sent a friend of mine. It helps to be involved with other artists and the art community. You'll catch things like this easier. What they sent me was basically word-for-word to what they sent a friend of mine, and she wasn't even offering open commissions, just HTTYD head shot commissions. Commissioners aren't sending artists copy-paste messages. So if you see other artists saying something about a scam with those types of messages, watch for that.

-The type of commission didn't align with my usual subject. I am a fanart artist with some original work speckled in. I don't draw IRL stuff unless it's for IRL people simple because that's just not what comes my way. I draw HTTYD as my main with some other fandoms so my usual commissions are OCs. In fact, every commission is someone's OC, not someone's pet. So although there's nothing against someone wanting a commission of a subject you don't main in, it is weird to go and commission a fan-artist "your son's pet" (and weirder that it has to be specified as "their son's pet" as well.

-The BIGGEST one, they refused to go to my Commission Carrd link. I have a commission section on my Carrd that I expect people to go to, read up on, and fill out a form. I do this because I need people to known and understand how I work, what I do and don't do, and so I can guarantee that people are reading and accepting my terms. I don't want to do business with someone who can't be bothered to read my terms. When I offered my Carrd for them to read my rules, they flat out said "No. Just post your prices here." That reply alone made me tell them "professionally" to fuck off, I'm not interested then.

A super easy way to protect yourself from scams is to really make sure your bases are covered in your TOS and make sure that you're sending proper invoices with those terms and conditions and have all of the information set so people are less likely to scam you.

Most scams you're going to see are going to be pretty obvious, so follow your gut instinct. If something seems "off" or "uncomfy" about a client, politely decline the commission and move on.

The more "complicated" your hiring process is for a commission, the easier it is to spot a scammer in the process because most are not going to go through all of that. People who are actually interested in commissioning you are going to take time to read your rules, terms, prices, ect. If they don't have the time to bother with your commission information, then they aren't someone you're going to want to work with regardless if they're a scammer or not. I'm sure that there are a lot of other ways other artists' can provide, but these are just my basic takes on it~!

[actual-corpse]

Did I really just sink 15 consecutive hours into Supermarket Simulator?

Yes... yes I did...

[deoidesign]

Btw just want to be clear that Time and Time Again is set to, and will if I don't pause, conclude in May 2025!

Webtoon didn't want to renew or give me any extra episodes so I'm trying to work with what I have. I'm sorry it's ending sooner than I'd like, it's been difficult to come to terms with and challenging to condense my plans.

You deserve a solid conclusion, and I've spent months writing to try and reach that. If there's anything you'd really like to see before it ends, do let me know in case I can (and want to) fit it in.

I'd rather not work with them again, and I hope I won't have to! But coming off of years being overworked and underpaid does not make that easy, to say the least...

I'm doing my best, and I hope you like what I have coming up.

[knowlesian]

not to project like a motherfucker on natalie berzatto but ohhhh boy the impact of a narrative that says “hey, is your desire to make sure everybody around you is okay also about you? and could that perhaps be partially a maladaptive trauma response you should look into and maybe mitigate? because if it’s a genuine question that’s fine, but if the only answer you will respond well to hearing is yes that’s a You Issue Too, Babe”

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent images I suppose ~

[x22817]

I'm doing it scared. I'm doing it stupid. I'm almost definitely doing it wrong.

But I'm doing it!

[goldenpinof]

.

[mandiemegatron]

Super love that everyone wants me to take their shifts when they're sick but the second I'm sick, suddenly people don't know how to respond to texts 🤷‍♀️ these bitches are fucking USELESS.

[fuck-customers]

🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐

24/10

I worked a seasonal position as a receptionist, and my boss offered me a temporary position helping out in another department for a month once my contract was up. I accepted on the basis that it was 30 hours a week max and all I'd be doing was admin tasks, no speaking with clients. Which after a season full of holidaymakers I was desperate for.

The week I'm supposed to start I receive no communication from who I was told was my new boss until the day before I'm supposed to go in for a little bit of training, and she's put out when I reiterate that that week there's two days I can't do due to previous commitments I made while I thought I'd be unemployed. And when I get to work on the training day, the person who actually will be my boss doesn't ever work that day, so my poor previous boss had to scramble to find something for me to do, since no one could train me nor could I get on the company system properly as my new boss hadn't sorted my contract.

I'm annoyed but hey, things happen. It's the first week, so there's bound to be hiccups, right?

I get to work the next week and my new boss starts to train me with the system I'll be using, only to be pulled away because we have an auditor in and of course that's more important. I don't mind that at all, but don't have me come in to work if you know you don't have time to train me. The same thing happens the following day and there's another new hire from a different department in the same position as me, so we end up doing hardly anything all day and feeling like spare parts. By this point I'm fairly pissed off that the three shifts I've done have been pointless, but I'll persist.

I do two more shifts this week, both of which are actually me being trained and working, and it's becoming very apparent that I will actually have to speak with clients for this role; it's not just helping the department catch up with paperwork. I'm very much feeling lied to, messed about, and like I'm not the right fit for the job, so I take the weekend to think about it, and message my new boss on Sunday morning to tell her that I'm grateful for the chance but I won't be coming back in. I was very polite in my message, I didn't mention my frustration with the disorganisation in the department, the fact that everyone looks down on you for actually taking your lunch break rather than just working at your desk while you eat, or that, morally, I cannot be involved in helping sell holiday homes to people on a site that's severely rat infested and crumbling, but the general manager refuses to spend any money to revamp the place.

I was very final with my message, which I think was obvious by the fact that I wished my new boss the best of luck and a good holiday season, so I figured that would be that. I'll admit my anxiety has me refusing to check whatsapp so I can't see what she's said, because a) I'm not ready for that and b) to me, it's done and dusted.

She's tried to call me five times in the last 20 minutes. I don't know what the hell she wants, but I'm not answering. My best guess would be she wants me to work my notice, but there's absolutely no point. I'm still not trained properly to do this new job, so at least some of my one weeks notice would be me being trained for a job I'm leaving. Normally I'd never quit without giving and working my notice, but in this instance it's pointless.

I'm not going to answer her calls or call her back. I don't care. Honestly, working on reception was bad enough; it's very clear that the company as a whole values profit over guests' happiness and safety. It's one thing to sell someone a holiday on our shit hole of a site, but it's another thing entirely to be a part of them becoming an owner of a run-down holiday home. At least with guests, I can give them vouchers or money off a future holiday or at a push a refund. With this new job, I can't do anything but apologise for the shitty situation I've helped put the new owners in. I wish I was brave enough to say that to my now ex-boss.

Posted by admin Rodney

[muirneach]

aaagh. i try not to worry so much about money and whatnot because its my number one anxiety and im sooo happy i have my job because its really easy and also tennis themed but they are NOT giving me a lot of hours. i wanted to work full time (or at least like 30 hours a week) this summer because i didnt work all school year and i really really need cash for university. some back of napkin calculations tell me id make an extra ~1.5k if i was working back at my minimum wage job this summer. and i would be doing two jobs if i could but my hours at the tennis club are not consistent (like, it’s not as if i work every thursday or whatever, i just work whenever and i cant schedule around it) so i couldn’t plan my second job around it. and i know i could be firm and tell each place i can work xyz days but i hate doing thattttt. someone give me ten thousand canadian dollars please ! okay complaining over

[nobodybetterlookatme]

Okay I'm not saying that this semester's students suck ass bc I'm not there to teach them, but isn't it just such a coincidence that the vast majority are failing so miserably and they don't have someone who will tutor them outside of class and go over notes and skills with them, while the previous semesters did have that and the majority passed? Super interesting stuff. Too bad we'll never know if things could've been different if they had just fucking paid me :)

[thedreadvampy]

oh boy the depression hole is deep and it is muddy

hahaha I fell into the classic trap! overidentify with your job and considering leaving it will trigger an existential crisis!!!!

[cuntwrap--supreme]

So close to being finished with my post office training! I just have to do my driver's test next Thursday and I'm officially an assistant rural carrier! Which is step one in becoming a full time employee and receiving those sweet, sweet government job bennies. But also, it's a lot of sorting and shit, and tism go brrrrrrrr with that.

[syncrovoid-presents]

I am. Not dead. BUT will be gone for a like a day or few because the stuff at work did not! want! to! work!

Which I'd another way of saying that I finally was able to get free after working 34 consecutive hours in a row. The day prior I got 1 hour of sleep and that is all after 5 days of 10 or 11 hour work days.

I am so sleepy. I am taking tomorrow off and probably going to sleep right through it. Anywho cheers everyone!! I am going to go to the shadow realm now @:P

[terryfuckingturniptruck]

I get that it sucks that I have to call out of work, but like "okay..." isn't a great response.