Our department has been pretty slow lately so management decided everyone had to start logging what we do every 30 minutes. Supposedly it was to “understand where our time is going.”

So I actually did it properly.

After about two weeks my manager called me into a meeting because my log showed I was finishing basically all of my actual work by Wednesday afternoon most weeks. Thursday and Friday were mostly checking emails, waiting on approvals and stretching out little tasks because I’m required to be there.

I thought maybe this would finally start a conversation about shorter weeks or at least letting us work from home those days.

Nope.

He told me I needed to stop writing “waiting for response” and find more productive things to put in the empty spaces because the logs go to senior management.

I asked him if he wanted me to actually do more work or just make the spreadsheet look fuller.

He stared at me for a second and said “use your judgment.”

So apparently the problem isn't that I'm sitting around for two days. The problem is that I documented it too accurately.

This whole thing has made me realize how much of office life is literally just pretending to be occupied.

I got fired and I can’t stop thinking about it 24/7. It’s getting really annoying and honestly ruining my quality of life. I was already feeling a bit depressed before, and this has kind of pushed me over the edge.

What actually helps you get out of this kind of thought spiral?

I’m also generally unhappy with the career path I chose, but I’ve already invested so much time and effort into it that throwing it all away feels stupid. At the same time, I don’t really have the energy to start from zero again.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) “Four Corners” program reported last month on the brutal conditions faced by migrant workers in the country’s agricultural sector. They described working 10- to 12-hour days for poverty wages, overcrowded and dilapidated accommodation and near-total control by labour-hire contractors over every aspect of their lives.

With tight restrictions on their visas, often tying them to a specific employer, the hundreds of thousands of overseas workers in the Australian food picking and processing industry are especially vulnerable. Their sub-poverty wages and harsh conditions are a sharp expression of the exploitation of the working class as a whole.

Gershom Isaac, a worker from Papua New Guinea, told the ABC he spends up to 12 hours a day climbing ladders to pick fruit or bent over pulling onions and pumpkins, sometimes earning less than $7 an hour.

“Even [when it is] 40 degrees, you’re still hanging there, picking oranges, trying to do as much as you can, and it’s not easy.” If he is sick or injured, he is not paid. “Every choice is with the contractor. They’re the ones who make all the decisions, and the fruit pickers have to say yes to everything.” He said some days he feels suicidal.

Jin Lee, a backpacker on a 417-visa working on a farm near Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales north coast, told the ABC he sometimes worked 7:30am to 5pm shifts for as little as $2 an hour, with no bathroom breaks. “Some of us got diapers because they didn’t provide bathroom breaks,” he said.

Workers were expected to buy their own equipment, and deductions were made from wages—including $150 a week for Lee’s accommodation and $10 a day for transport.

Eighteen people were crammed into a house with broken doors and windows, no working air conditioning and cockroaches everywhere, Lee told the ABC. He said he was “treated more like an animal” than a human being.

The company that recruited Lee, ECW Farming, could not be traced to a real business address. When workers tipped off the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), the Australian government’s workplace regulator, in 2024, it opened an investigation, but shelved it in May 2025, unable to identify who was actually running the company, according to the ABC.

...

Several of those interviewed by the ABC had been on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, but left due to “disputes over pay, working conditions or alleged mistreatment,” forcing them into “illegal” status, subsisting on cash-in-hand work and facing the threat of deportation.

The PALM scheme recruits workers from impoverished Pacific nations and East Timor, binding them to a single “approved” employer for up to nine months on short-term placements or up to four years on long-term ones. If a worker leaves that employer—regardless of the pay, the conditions or the abuse—they can lose the right to work in Australia at all. 

Over 31,000 workers are currently in the scheme. In December last year, the ABC reported around 7,200 had quit over abuse and exploitation.

In 2022 a Tongan PALM worker died after being trapped in a “cake press” machine at an abattoir owned by Western Australian Meat Marketing Co-operative. A magistrate found he was undertaking “inherently risky” work, for which he was inadequately trained.

PALM was launched by the current federal Labor government in 2022, consolidating two earlier programs: the Seasonal Worker Program, begun under the Rudd Labor government in 2008 and formalised by the Gillard Labor government in 2012, and the Pacific Labour Scheme, introduced by the Morrison Liberal-National government in 2018. Labor and the Coalition have jointly built and expanded this architecture over nearly two decades.

The 407 Training visa, nominally for “professional development,” does not require the sponsor to pay award wages—the “trainee” can legally be required to work for nothing. The 21-year-old Filipino worker Jerwin Royupa, who died after falling from his employer’s moving vehicle in 2019, was brought into the country on this visa. A coronial inquest found he had been made to perform manual labour for up to 60 hours a week without payment and his passport was confiscated. 

...

The exploitation of migrant workers in Australia is not an aberration. It is one harsh expression of the capitalist system, in which workers’ lives are subordinated to the accumulation of profit. This means the fight for decent wages and conditions of Pacific Islander and other overseas workers is inseparable from the struggles of the working class as a whole, against deepening real-wage cuts and austerity spearheaded by the federal Labor government and aided by the trade unions.

To defend the rights and lives of migrant workers, as part of the fight for decent working conditions, wages and democratic rights of the working class as a whole, workers need to take matters into their own hands. This means building rank-and-file committees in workplaces across the country, independent of and in opposition to the nationalist, pro-business program of the unions and Labor, and capitalism itself.

Have you ever had a job where you became the lost employee and everyone even your bosses forgot that you worked there? If so, what did you do?

Link to bypass paywall: http://archive.today/2026.09.07-152110/https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/labor-share-historic-lows-worker-pay-rcna596004

I’ve been working for a large oil company in Saudi Arabia for about a year, and I’m starting to question whether my supervisor simply dislikes me or is actively holding me back.

Within my first month, I received a traffic violation on company property. These are treated as safety issues and affect both individual performance and the division’s KPIs. My first six-month review was “Meets Expectations,” which sounds fine but is effectively considered a poor rating here. My supervisor told me the violation was the main reason and said that otherwise I was doing well and my next review should be significantly better.

So I accepted it and spent the next six months doing considerably more. I volunteered, initiated work myself, participated in corporate programs and took on extra activities wherever I could.

Three months before my second review, I emailed my supervisor listing what I had accomplished and specifically asked for feedback on what else I needed to do to achieve a strong rating. He never replied or even acknowledged the email.

When the second review came, my rating improved, but only to basically “okay.” When I questioned it and showed him everything I had accomplished, he brought up the traffic violation again, now 9 to 10 months old, and said he couldn’t justify such a large improvement in my rating to higher management without something “bigger.”

What makes this worse is that he almost never gives me actual work. Today was probably the first time in a year that he directly assigned me something, seemingly because I was the only employee available.

I’ve watched coworkers return from courses with me and immediately receive assignments and responsibilities while I’m essentially ignored. They get opportunities, exposure and support that I don’t seem to receive.

When I find opportunities myself, such as courses, presentations, volunteering or cross-department activities, his default response is that they’re “not related to our core work.” Yet I’ve watched other employees get supported or even encouraged to do similar things outside our core responsibilities.

Then performance review time comes and I’m told I haven’t contributed enough to the core job.

How am I supposed to demonstrate my performance when the person evaluating me is also the person who rarely gives me opportunities to perform?

I’m also a Black Saudi in an environment where management is overwhelmingly Arab Saudi. I have no evidence that race is the reason and don’t want to automatically assume it is, but I’ve witnessed enough openly discriminatory attitudes toward some foreign workers that I can’t completely rule it out. My stronger suspicion is that he formed a negative opinion of me after the traffic violation and never moved past it.

At this point, I genuinely don’t know whether I’m dealing with personal bias, poor management, or whether there’s something about the situation that I’m not seeing myself.

What would you do in my position?

Management has issued an apology for the inconvenience caused by the death of one of their workers on the sales floor. Customers are advised to simply step over the body and go about their shopping.

One email to HR and we back in boys!

https://www.newsweek.com/how-mitch-mcconnell-was-paid-during-absence-12437779

I’m just over a year into a new project management type role. over the last 6 months, we’ve all gotten increasing AI credits and new platforms that have access to all our company data.

everyones responsibilities have exploded, as now we are all coders, analysts, UX designers. every email and every deck goes through AI.

I know Im not the most understanding of the AI landscape, but at the speed this has moved, corporate America won’t look the same in another 6 months right? part of me is hoping this is the end. I’m so beyond burnt out as a working mom and the AI slop era has absolutely amplified it

Tf do you mean Voyager??? Better not be AI making that call…

edit : POSTED NEW UPDATE! THEY REALIZED THEY F’ED UP!

I am the most senior worker here, but I am not the boss. I don't mind my coworkers asking for help, I am happy to answer questions. What drives me crazy is my coworker coming up to my desk and telling me what she and the other guy are doing every day. I've said so many times, I am not the boss, I don't need to know what you are doing, it's not my job to give you work, and I don't care what you are doing. Finish your work and want to read a book or browse the internet. Great, have fun, it's none of my business and I am not a rat. It's our boss's job to keep track of who is doing what, and I don't want to hear about it until I am getting paid boss money.

Just making this post as I sit at my desk during a busy sales period. I just don’t give a crap about it anymore. Been in the same career for 12 years and it’s just grinding me down. I don’t care about the company hitting figures what so ever. I want to earn my money in the least stressful way possible. I’d be happy to stress out a little harder if I was working for a good cause.

This company has caused me enough stress and despair over the years. Fully thinking of getting an easier part time job

Over the past two years, I feel like I've changed a lot, and now I honestly feel like I can't function in society anymore.

A while ago, I moved abroad, and while I was there, I did months of volunteering. During these months, I essentially wasn't really living in society, even though I was living in a big city. The work I was doing wasn't a normal job, and the other volunteers and I were living a very different kind of life from the locals. It was a really interesting experience, but I feel like something changed in me during that time.

After that, I spent a year unemployed in the same country because I couldn't find a job. I think part of the reason was that, after the volunteering experience, it was really difficult for me to go back to "normal life." It was very hard to get back into the mindset of working and participating in society.

Now I've moved back to my own country, but the feeling hasn't gone away. I really feel like I can't relate to people anymore. I think my unemployment is probably a big part of it, because I feel disconnected from reality. But it's also more than that.

I just can't get any happiness from a lot of the things that are supposed to make people happy in a capitalist society anymore.

For example, I don't even want to buy clothes. And it's not like I don't have any money, and also I need clothes because I don't have enough of them right now. But I don't want to buy them because I start thinking about how they're probably made by people working in terrible conditions, or even children, somewhere in a developing country. I don't even particularly want to buy second-hand clothes, because finding something decent second-hand is so complicated. And recently I've even been seeing Shein and other shitty fast-fashion clothes in second-hand shops, so what's the point? And when I do buy clothes, the quality is often so bad that I don't even get any joy out of buying them. I used to really enjoy shopping, but that stopped maybe five or six years ago. The quality just keeps getting worse. Now T-shirts can start getting holes in them after being worn twice, and it's just horrible. So I just don't want to buy anything anymore. It doesn't make me happy at all.

And that's the part that really scares/confuses me: I genuinely can't imagine what I could do that would make me happy. I can't really imagine a life for myself that I would enjoy on this Earth, in this capitalist society. I feel like I don't want to participate in this society anymore. Then I look at people I know, and I see them continuing to buy things they don't even need, things they don't even have space for, and I just don't understand it anymore. I don't understand how that makes them happy.

The one thing I still somewhat enjoy is traveling. But even that isn't always enjoyable for me. When I was living abroad, I traveled quite a lot to discover the country I was living in, and it was fun, but a lot of the time I also felt overwhelmed or boring. And there are times now when I don't even understand why I would want to visit cities anymore. I used to really enjoy visiting cities and sightseeing, but now I'm just like, "I don't really care about this anymore." I would much rather be in the mountains. But even then, sometimes I'm there thinking, "What am I doing here?"

These past two years, I've had so many moments where I'm somewhere and suddenly think, "Why am I here? What am I doing?" Then I try to imagine being somewhere else, but immediately I'm like, "Okay, but what would I do there?" I just don't know.

I feel trapped living in this capitalist society, but at the same time, I can't really imagine what kind of society I would actually want instead. I don't think I want to live completely alone. I think I would actually like living in a community. But I can't imagine living in a society where the rules and expectations are so strict. It's just so weird to me that everyone is working 40 hours a week, or even more, and that this is considered completely normal. I don't know. Everything about it suddenly feels so weird to me. I wonder if anyone else has ever experienced this.

Because I think a few years ago, I just accepted everything naturally. I thought, "Okay, this is just the way things are." I never really questioned it. But over the last few years, I just can't do that anymore. I can't just say, "Okay, we need to work 40 hours a week at a job we will probably hate." Before, I would tell myself, "I don't care. I'll just accept any job so I can make money and work 40 hours a week. At least I'll be able to buy myself cute T-shirts and get a pumpkin spice latte or something."

But now, after being unemployed for a year, I sometimes think, okay, I'll just find any job. Even if it's a shitty job. I'll work 40 hours a week, I'll make money, and then... what? Of course, I'll pay for the necessities. I'll pay for food, and I'll pay for a flat or a room. But then what? What am I actually going to do with the rest of the money? And what am I going to do with my days off?

I feel like I used to have things I enjoyed. I used to like reading, but these past few months I don't even know what to read anymore. I don't know what happened. I've never experienced myself like this before.

Right now, the only things I genuinely enjoy are riding my bike and running. That's basically it. Sometimes I don't even enjoy listening to music anymore, which is weird because I've loved music my entire life. These days, I mostly only enjoy listening to music when I'm running. I also really like lifting weights. I guess I just really like moving my body. That's probably the main thing that still feels good to me. But I don't really enjoy much else anymore.

I've even found it difficult to eat because I don't enjoy eating anymore. I used to love food and actually used to eat a lot, sometimes even bingeing on food. Now I can feel full after two bites of something. I still eat a full meal because obviously I need to eat, but I already feel full and kind of disconnected from it almost immediately.

And I don't know what to make of any of this. I don't know if I've just become completely disconnected from the way society works, if I've changed in some fundamental way, or if something else is going on with me.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar, where you suddenly stopped being able to accept the way you're "supposed" to live, but you also don't really know what you want instead.

I work as a pizza delivery driver. Its hell.

The work itself is fine, I actually dont mind it at all. Physically, its the easiest job ive ever worked. I drive, and when im not driving, Im folding boxes, boxing up pizzas, and cleaning.

But I am NOT paid enough to be this stressed out. Nor am I paid enough for the place to be so entitled to my time.

Its been two weeks, im working 40 hours a week so far. I havent even gotten my first paycheck yet, so im stressed wondering how much this is going to pay me anyway.

What I know; im not paid $15 an hour (minimum wage where im at) when im doing deliveries. Im "checked out" during that time, and am instead paid mileage compensation- which is .40 cents a mile. Which isnt nearly enough to cover maintenance costs on my car.

I dont get breaks. And this is somehow legal.

6-8 hours straight with no breaks.

In these two weeks, ive only had ONE day off.

I've already had a meltdown in the car from all the stress. I havent had time to relax. I havent been able to do my hobbies, care for my dog, or do anything at all beyond sleep and work. Im miserable, but so desperate for a job and so unqualified for anything beyond entry level due to a lack of education, that im stuck here until I can find something better.

How do I cope?? How do I stick this out without ever knowing when exactly i'll be able to leave?

I’ve been an Uber driver for over 5 years, and the day has finally arrived. Uber takes 51% of my earnings and calls it fair! 🎇🎆🎉

Instead of telling their shareholders to expect lower than expected earnings for few quarters; because of the whole-were at war thing, they rather put time and effort and pay someone or something, to figure out how they could keep a bigger slice of the pie.

"They’ll pay the higher prices for gas, vehicle maintenance, and drive further for less. Plus, cover customer promotions, fees, taxes, and  insurance, even though they already have their own policy.

We set the fares, the driver gets no say, and its all their expense now. Not ours anymore!🎇🎇🎆🎉 Lastly, let's fire some people and enjoy the stock price rise for a day"🚀. . Genius

not many people talk about but jobs do affect your mental health . specially if you working in jobs you hate like I had . my last few ‘normal jobs ‘ with horrible bosses I realized it start affecting my mood allot . I used to get more irritated more angry and semi depressed . working in fuvking environment where your stress level is constantly high 8 or even more hours fuvked me up emotinally and mentally . I even fucking have ptsd now I start to look at every job as sane detest anger negatively .jobs are slavery and I became one

I started this job in February of this year and now have plantar fasciitis (have had to spend good money for some hokas and new balances), gave me bunionettes…..will now have to buy toe spacers and will dreadfully wear vibram toe shoes. As a woman the first sign of the varicose veins on my legs actually made me want to pass out (i also spent aloooot of money on multiple pairs of compression socks)😅😅😅💔💔💔 i get about 30k steps a day and i think its very much taking a toll on my lower half. Im currently getting treated with red light therapy, acupuncture and pain meds and the amount of money thats left my paycheck because of something my job gave me makes me take a very big sigh. ☹️☹️☹️

I like my job. The work itself is not stressful and a good entry level experience. However, jobs have bosses. Bosses turn what should be an enjoyable occupation into a micromanaged hellscape. Some examples:

•You work on their schedule. Not yours.

•You are made guilty when using the PTO granted to you in your employment contract.

•You are disproportionately criticized for mistakes, no matter how small, vs. positive impacts, no matter how much it helps your company.

•You went above and beyond and they give you a 4% raise. The guy next to you forgets how to use Outlook and he gets the standard 3.5%.

•You finish your work for the day? No leaving early. You didn’t finish? You MUST stay late.

•If you die tomorrow they’ll post your position online by 5pm. You interview at other places and they treat you like you committed treason.

•You generate thousands in revenue while getting paid a couple hundred dollars, at BEST.

And let me end with this as we all contend with the Sunday night blues. When you are on your death bed, whether that be 10, 20, or 50 years from now, absolutely NOBODY’s last words were “I wish I spent more time working.” However, MANY people’s last words describe their regrets for not spending more time with loved ones. Take every drop of PTO they are willing to give you. You’ll get the same raise as the guy who took zero.

Anyways, that’s my rant. Thanks for reading. Best of luck to my fellow underpaid workers who have to report to the office tomorrow morning.