I'm officially unemployed.
I worked a merchandising job together with a team. Team members have changed constantly over the years, but for the past few months we had six people altogether. Although there were six people, three of us were constantly fixing and cleaning up after the other three. And most people had to leave early to start work at other jobs and school. Which, at the end of the day, left me fixing up and cleaning up after everyone else. I would come home EXHAUSTED. I would usually pass out immediately after I ordered out food (which I did more and more frequently as the days passed because I was too tired to cook.) I had the *audacity* to send an email to my supervisor about the fact that the workers they sent to our team aren't pulling their weight, and that I considered my time valuable ($hint hint$). I also mentioned at the end of the email that the way the work is structured was unfair- they typically overload us with work at the beginning of the year and have us scraping for work by the end of it. (If we don't work our seven hours, we have to do menial labor for the store, which can be in violation of the stores labor union.) I told him I knew that that wasn't his responsibility- but it was worth mentioning because I feel that its unethical and something should be done about it. He told me that “I was being paid for the time I'm working”, that he doesn't create the planograms (the layouts for the sections we work in), that we technically had one extra person on our team, and that he gets 20-25 applications a week. Listen. I don't get insurance. I don't even get paid enough to even pay rent. I live in one of the most expensive cities in the country. I have to live with my fiancees family, and if I didn't live with them I'd be living with my parents.
Upon receiving this unusually prompt email, I broke down. He doesn't give a fuck about the fact that NO ONE is getting paid enough for this job. Everyone on that team either lives in the projects or with their families. Even if they work two jobs!! No one at this corporation is going to give a fuck about giving me a raise just because I bust my ass more than everyone else. They don't care about how they oppress their workers, and here's this dude I'm emailing who swings by every once in a while and tells us he got a brand new house on the shore.
I don't want to be miserable waking up every day. I don't want to be so tired and irritable after work that I snap at everyone who talks to me and fall asleep while I do things. It's not worth it. You can't trust a corporation to take care of its workers. This is the time when a lot of people are betting on themselves, and I think that's the way to go now. I will now have more time to work on my artwork, maybe write thought pieces or reviews, or make videos. But it will also be a hard time financially. I'm going to look for work out of necessity, but I really want to be able to live off of my art. I hope those of you who have found success in your life will support me and others like me because CORPORATIONS DON'T DESERVE IT. Its all about us as individuals.
My website is http://www.abyssanthus.com, you can peruse my artwork there, I have a shop link up with a couple of items for sale via RedBubble for now. You can share my artwork, commission me, donate to my Ko-Fi/Paypal, or support me monthly via my Patreon. With this free time I'm going to beat out my depression and work on art and other things for you to enjoy so watch out! 2019 is the year for positive change!