I saved a hotel chain millions during an outage. I got $1,000 bonus.

The second time, I got a pat on the back and no raise that year.

Fuck corporations

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 have one of these moments at every job. I always start overachieving, then something happens that turns me into a minimum effort employee.

At my last job I saved the company while working 70 hour weeks during crunch time, then on my performance review my boss blasted me for not being willing to work overtime, despite me having proof of his boss thanking me for all the overtime. When I objected he removed it and added three more false bad things instead.

At the previous job, I volunteered to come it at midnight to help the inspector process some units coming in late which needed to be shipped out by 2am. In a meeting of upper managers and me, I was congratulated for going above and beyond, and my direct manager said “Don’t thank him, he only did as he was required by his role.”

Heh, back in the day my workplace was abuzz about the very loudly proclaimed bonus that I got for some allegedly multiple million dollar save. They recognized me very publicly, but left the bonus vague, leading to speculation about if I would show up in a nice sports car or maybe even move into a house with the bonus...

It was a 100 dollar gift card to an area restaurant.

Working hard just makes you seen as a dependable asset for a single position. Managers see that as one thing they don't have to worry about anymore. By moving you to a higher position they could be risking a dependable asset for an asset that could be potentially out of their depth.

People move up the chain mostly by interpersonal relationships and by being generally competent, but not being irreplaceable. In corporate America it's always been who you know, not what you know.

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.

Worked hard. Took on extra projects, went above and beyond, trained new employees. Then I was passed over for a promotion. The 19 year old with 0 experience beat me out. I have 10 years management experience and 30 years customer service and 2x experience in that actual department. Perfect attendance, always on time, never been written up.
It's all a lie, don't believe the hype

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.

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.

Bullshit. I started my career in 1986, it didn't work then either.

And when i look back at my father and grandfather's lives, i have to say that only worked between 1939 to about 1970. That's when all the factories started closing and they begin moving everything overseas.

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.

Never work more than you are paid. No company will ever reciprocate. They'll just take your labor and give you a token "reward" worth almost nothing.

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

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.

And the remaining 30% are the boomers, that's why it isn't a 100% lol

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.

Another thing to think about.

Back in 1960, when the minimum wage was $1.00/hour, two people could have dinner and drinks for $5.00.

Last time I ate in a restaurant, it was over $50.00 just for me.

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

edit: I should note, it was a face food place (I was in IT), and they had a SHORT deadline, because they were selling the business and needed it brought into the 21st century. Before that, the stores were using a 25 year old BOH system.

I read the Four Hour Work Week early on and it showed me the light. Working hard does not get you more money. You gotta work the system to get more money. It's about managing expectations and appearances. Now more so than ever.

And how many of us are working paycheck to paycheck still?

Wonder if that might correlate a tidbit.

Fucking my boss owns 2 different restaurants, she comes in one day and has some stuff for us in a bag. Calls me over to her and tell me why she hands me like 5 pieces of dollar store chocolate and told me thank you for working so hard before going to the next employee......

The work environment, for the vast majority, in the USA simply sucks shit. It's basically, work until you croak.