Job

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Finally Leaving A Job I Hate.

Posted by Karl Weller on March 7, 2024
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There’s always a sense of trepidation when leaving a job for another. Your mind begins to meticulously calculate all of the potential scenarios of making such a drastic decision. Is it the right move? Is my current position really that untenable? Perhaps I can acquiesce to their demands or at least capitulate to certain changes? Maybe this new employment is worse? Sometimes though, you’ve just got to take that chance. Often you have to realise that some companies are just not worth your time and understand that your current situation is just not sustainable. Considering that a large period of time in the employ of this company has been an exhausting routine of corporate negligence and nepotism. That on its own is irritating, but after a while it becomes insurmountable.

Now I’m not going to disclose the exact details of my departure. Needless to say that even though it was mutual, it was by no means amicable. Many of my frustrations can be attributed to the coercive and borderline abrasive attitude of the management there. A militant managerial bias that supercedes the effectiveness of their employees, by protecting their friends and family. Demanding equal standards of labour, but not holding their buddies accountable for their lethargy. As such you have a divided workforce that resents the privilege few that can idle around, abusing cigarette and lunch breaks. Because who do you complain too? Your only recourse is to contact HR. A department within the organisation with a notorious reputation to gaslight the company’s employees like a protesting Vietnamese monk! Immolation aside, this HR department has ignored persistent complaints from workers on a routine basis, staunchly defending the integrity of management they are intended to be neutral too. Instead this established coercive attitude has been allowed to mature, with HR complicit in its festering. I truly believe that this HR subdivision is so naturally talented at enabling such oppressive behaviour, that they could probably condone the actions of Peter Sutcliffe!

As you can imagine I am both equally relieved and jaded at finally leaving such a toxic environment. I honestly believed the only way I could escape, was via a tunnel I had intricately excavated behind a poster of Rita Hayworth, over 5 meticulous years. I do leave a smattering of like minded colleagues that I will miss conversing with on a daily basis. Even if some of their widely erroneous opinions about the classic, original, Brendan Fraser’s “The Mummy” are rather elitist. And of course you are always apprehensive about a new job. The unknown factor of integrating yourself into a strange new dynamic. Gaining confidence in expressing yourself without immediately alienating yourself. But these are the risks we take in the pursuit of securing a future free from the ambient stresses associated with a job that is full of company jobsworths, hypocrites, thieves and bullies. So really the only risk would be doing nothing at all.

Work Sucks…Again.

Posted by Karl Weller on June 28, 2023
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Another day, another work related lamentation. It’s been a good few months since my last confessional release, but one long overdue. Have you ever had to endure such a torrid time at work, that when you do get the chance to relax and decompress from the work induced bends, you become so overwhelmed by the release of suppressed anxiety, that you openly weep? Not out of joy, nor because of some oppressive sadness. But more as though your body is letting out a huge sigh of relief. It’s difficult to reconcile these emotions without them consuming every ounce of repressed stoicism that has kept them at bay, so as not to burden your family with your problems, and rendering you completely drained. It’s more like a reset than recuperation. Much like switching off your PS5 after a 10 hour long session! Not that I’d know what that was like anymore. It’s just therapeutic to distance yourself from an environment you know is not beneficial for your health. Schedule a plan that involves committing to absolutely nothing.

I’m not going to get into the specifics of what has made my job such a heinous place to inhabit, as to inflict almost daily anxiety. That would require a 100 page dossier containing extensive details about various employees, that in itself would require substantial citations and redactions to ensure the anonymity of the accused is protected. Suffice to say that a week off work has provided much needed relief that even Andy Dufresne could empathize with. Of course the long term solution to such unrelenting adversity would be to find another job. A thought that I am now actively pursuing, though one that requires a judicious approach, uninhibited by impetuous motives. Despite the persistent trauma of my current employment, its flexible working hours, relaxed holiday allocation and convenient location makes it the preferred environment for my family and by extension, myself. But the stresses entailed in my current role often feel interminable.

The week that I had off once again confirmed just how influential my family is to the overall stability of my life. Not just the love and support I receive on an almost daily basis, but also the pervasive knowledge that my job is not a healthy facet to burden one’s self with. That life affords so many distinct alternatives and pleasurable diversions from which to challenge and amuse ourselves. Some people relish the provocations of a high pressure job. Surrounded by the obnoxious cretins that waste their day discussing logistics in pointless meetings, with other equally vacuous and ethically conflicted bureacrats, rather than engaging in physical labor. Not me. It is simply a means to an end. Whereas my family provide an invaluable source of curative invigoration. Nothing epitomises this sense of satisfaction more than my daughter on father’s Day. When she presented me with an obligatory Toblerone, a homemade card with a slightly sinister depiction of Spider-Man and “Fall Guys Bean”. As well as a PlayStation controller fashioned from discarded toilet roll tubes and a warm loving embrace. And considering just how much my daughter despises furnishing me with anything other than good humoured contempt, I don’t think my week off could have peaked any further.

Surviving Work.

Posted by Karl Weller on December 17, 2020
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This blog, on many an occassion has been a refuge from the spate of misery that regularly impedes my life. A secure space to express personal thoughts and opinions for my own cathartic satisfaction. My habitual torment is predominantly associated with my professional life, most notably the persistent moral quandaries that make work a considerable challenge. Whether its being pressured into accepting a role I didn’t want, the absent health and safety measures initiated during COVID, or just the general deceitful rhetoric of a company whose HR department is only rivaled by that of “Umbrella” for “questionable ethics”. Today’s topic however concerns an incident that occured last week, resulting in an employee being physically accosted by a supervisor and subsequent acquittal of said supervisor.

Now I should probably preface this by saying that much of what I’m about to say is delicate, highly confidential information that relies on consistent speculation, my own observations and unreliable witness testimony. But considering the historic negligence of the company, I’m interpreting much of this as reliable. Also, I was the one tasked with sending security to manage a significant situation, that led to his removal from the building. Because in any decently run company, the individual in question would have been out on his all bullying ass immediately. Gone! Quicker than Sonic on steroids. In most instances, grabbing someone by the throat and pinning them to the wall because they owe you money is usually frowned upon. Human resources would have suspended them, pending an investigation to establish all the salient facts and determine an appropriate response. Which in this case is immediate dismissal. The obvious caveat to this being that this isn’t a decently run company, nor one that cares for the those lower down in the hierarchy. Instead the measures taken seem to placate the incident, ensuring that a committed member of staff is reinstated quickly, at the expense of what the company deems an expendable subordinate. Easy to replace.

Again I have to reiterate that I have no firm evidence to support these claims other than consistently circulating rumours, including the prevalent supposition that there is video evidence corroborating the claims of GBH, as well as fist size hole in the wall. Not to mention my own experience with the accused, having been well acquainted with his volatility in a previous exchange, with him taking great umbrage to my flippant remark about golf not being a real sport. I am well aware of his temperament, as well as he influence on those around him. He has this radiating, gravitational pull that attracts other, aspiring egotists. Forming his own little entourage of impressionable young men, that willingly abide by his rule and further inflate his considerable hubris. So when one of his acolytes was called in to discuss the incident with a member of HR, its not surprising that he would back him without hesitation. Which is a bit like exonerating Hitler after hearing testimony from Hermann Göring!

I’m not surprised by this acquittal. This a company operated by a committee that will make a prejudicial decision based on the effectiveness of the accused, not his actions. Turn a blind eye to a grievous abuse of power if it suites their needs. And yet discipline those that have taken time off sick…..during a pandemic! The kind of people that would push you under a bus, then accuse you of negligence. What most disappoints me however is the complicity of those I thought could be respected. The people in a position to do the right thing, but choosing not too. People of integrity who are supposed to protect those that find themselves at the behest of some lumbering knuckle dragger that think they are untouchable, not validate their delusions. That, out of all of this is the most concerning.

Losing Your Job Sucks.

Posted by Karl Weller on July 25, 2018
Posted in: Feature. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

This week has probably been one of the most difficult 7 days I’ve experienced as an adult. Certainly the most disappointing. The company I’ve been employed by for nearly 13 years is going into administration, having failed in its attempt to secure investment from the many interested parties that flirted with the idea of acquisition and expansion. This leaves colleagues of mine, people I consider friends, some of which have been employed by the company for longer than I’ve been alive without a job. Fortunately I have been able to find an alternate means of employment, allowing me to accept a rather valuable, if not entirely generous redundancy and continue working immediately. This was my biggest concern. Not being able to provide for my family was a paralysing notion. Though only officially informed of our current predicament just a couple of weeks ago, the companies struggles to remain solvent were all too apparent, even to someone as oblivious as me. So I seized the initiative and applied for every available vacancy I felt I could do.

Encouraged by my family I persevered despite the many failed applications and vacuous responses. Job hunting is such a profoundly frustrating process that really tests your inert capacity to tolerate rejection. If you’re not being informed by some vague missive that you aren’t qualified for a job, you’re not being told anything at all. Much of the free time you get not applying for every vacant position in a 20 mile radius is spent making redacted alterations to your CV, emphasising key skills or attributes deemed beneficial to potential employers. It’s a tiring, thoroughly impotent means of recruitment that’s more concerned with the fastidious qualities of the person rather than the individual themselves.

But mercifully I’ve successfully navigated my way through the convoluted online job sites and monotonous recruitment agencies to find work that is a reduction in pay, but still keeps a roof over my families head, leaving me to reflect on a job I’ve been loyal too since I left school.

I remember the elation of receiving my first paycheck there, a meager £740 which by today’s inflated standards is comparatively poultry. But I was 17 years young. No one up to that point had ever been irresponsible enough to give me that kind of money before. That weekend was a haze of frivolous exultation, purchasing the much coveted Nintendo GameCube as well as a wealth of games and fatty treats that give me heart palpitations just thinking about it. The hedonistic excesses of preliminary employment enabled me to fully embrace the value and fleeting acquisition of money. I learned a valuable lesson about squandering money without carefully considering the implications of not having any. Eventually I began saving some of it, preserving small quantities, flourishing to an amount that finally allowed my girlfriend and I to get a mortgage. Acquiring our own little bastion to raise our boisterous little girl and live reasonably comfortable and fulfilled lives. I won’t forget that, nor the experiences I’ve shared with my colleagues.

I could never say that I loved my job, nor that I hated it either. It’s not work I’ll remember with effusive admiration, reciting anecdotal tales about a 12 hour shift where I drank 8 cups of tea and got a splinter in my finger. But I will remember the people, the jokes, the camaraderie and some of the most absurd conversations I’ve ever had and the ridiculously heady Christmas parties I’ve ever attended.

I want to wish them as well as anybody else who has recently lost their jobs the best of luck. I’ll certainly miss them.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. 

Posted by Karl Weller on September 7, 2017
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For the past 11 or so years I’ve been gainfully employed as a printer. We predominantly manufacture labels with various designs and colours depending on the customer’s very acute specifications. They range from simple, plain rectangular labels that can be applied to sandwich packaging or something intricately decorative with multiple layers, resistant to cold temperatures. The job entails a great deal of studious concentration to ensure that plates, cutters, and slitters are aligned with perfect synchronicity. You’re required to scrutinise the quality of the products being produced to ensure a level of consistency, which is crucial to maintaining individual label standards. Efficiency is essential, necessitating diligent judicial scrutiny to minimise the risk of blemished merchandise. It only takes one smudge, one solitary indentation of a bar code for an entire supply to be rejected, costing the company thousands in reparation. The constant delegation and subsequent retention for prolonged visual observations means that I’m prone to headaches. Nothing severe, but enough to know that a dark room and solitude isn’t without is retributive benefits. Have you ever tried to focus on a moving object, one that gains perpetual momentum as you try to observe the slightest change in a text movements, that is only millimetres in size? It’s challenging, requiring significant mental exertion as opposed to the physical labour, but not overbearing when moderated. The job is largely simple once you understand the complexities. Like anything it’s about repetition and adapting to any issues that may arise. Yet the job, specifically the way the company operates as well as other bureaucratic functions has greatly diminished my interests in continuing to work in this environment.

The last couple of years has been especially challenging, with many colleagues leaving or retiring. The introduction of a new hierarchy that endeavours to run the company in their own laboured fashion has only compounded the issue. Yet the managerial shuffling and staff resignations are just symptoms of as yet undiagnosed ailment. It’s difficult to really isolate precisely what’s made my contributions so apathetic, as I’ve never really loved my job anyway, but there’s an atmosphere around the place that has drained any enthusiasm I had for this profession. It’s provided a solid if not lucrative wage and affords me the opportunity to spend additional time with my daughter as I get every other Friday off work. But it’s not really a career, more of an arcane occupation that’s eminent prestige, once yielding a substantial revenue is reserved for its more prosperous 80’s heyday. The trouble I have is that I don’t really know what else I want to do!

Most people my age have either determined a career to pursue or are actively training towards some specific project. I’m 30 years old and I’m still unsure what I want in a career. I’ve never nurtured an ambition for a prospective career and I’m envious of those who have. People that know precisely what they wish to achieve and have the conviction to go for it no matter the result. For me it isn’t just a case of searching for alternate means of employment, as I don’t simply want to walk out of one job a dislike for another equally dissatisfactory occupation, but instead establishing a direction. Ascertaining an appointment with prospects befitting of my many inert talents.

Money has never been of great value to me. It’s never something I’ve craved. It serves its purposes adequately and any surplus capital available to me once bills as sundries have been sated for another month is used sparingly but affectively. Whether that’s to purchase a new pair of shoes for my daughter, a second-hand game or something altogether less extravagant like a shower fitting. The trouble is that bills and food aren’t getting any more affordable, and the money generated by my girlfriend and I simply doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. So though I am perhaps not comfortable working for a company that equates the loss of employees and increase in business as a positive inflation of financial productivity, my motives for wanting a change are more a little more pragmatic.

There’s no certainty that a vocational adjustment will ameliorate the growing austerity that has only been perpetuated by the UK’s decision to leave the EU. But I’ve spent too long waiting for something to happen and it’s long overdue that I did something, however risky it may seem.