Today I had a few chores to take care of. I had to drive my mother to the city. I had to take some money out of the bank and change it from the local currency to Euro for when I leave to Germany. I also met with a friend and went for a coffee, since this is the last time we'll do it until I come back from work in November. Then I had to go back to the place I worked at, in order to pay a bill. There I saw my former colleagues and we talked for a bit.
I often think about my former job.
I like to think about the good parts, about how I went to the shop in the chilling mornings with a coffee in one hand and the key for the door in the other. I like to think of how I took off my jacket and quickly turned on the computer I worked at. I like to think of the few minutes I spent getting the shop ready for when I would open, checking the new e-mails and figuring out what I had to do for the day.
When those memories start to seem a bit too beautiful, I like to counter everything with the bad parts. How I would be stressed 24/7 because we would not get our target done. How we'd have to send a report with our sales numbers every 2 hours each day. How we'd have to explain to our boss that we can't just force people to buy what we sell, while being told each time that it's our fault that we don't sell more, and that the company has great offers (it didn't).
After I talked with my colleagues today I realized how much harm a bad job can do to you, both personally and financially. If you're the type of person that cares and tries to do more and better, it's twice as bad. You can work hard, and yet your efforts will be fruitless. You can care and do the small things that other people don't and your bosses won't care. You can spend extra hours at work without asking for extra pay without anyone giving a crap.
Working really hard can be nothing but a waste of time in an environment in which none of your efforts are appreciated.
I saw all that again when I went to pay my bill today.
My colleagues were all at work today, but for absolutely no reason. Something happened, and the electricity in the shop has been turned off. They won't get it back for around 2 days. And yet they were still obligated by their bosses to come to work and be present there. Why? Because why not? Even if all the activity is done through computers, and not having electricity meant that they could not do their jobs, they were still required to show up and waste their time.
Their paychecks are still bad, even worse at times than they were when I worked there. Of course, there is way more work to do, but the payment either stays the same or goes down.
The lack of respect and the lack of appreciation for the employees is still considered normal. Daily reports once every 2 hours are a must, so that the manager of each region can constantly supervise the "progress" of each store on a daily basis and call and stress the people working there when the numbers aren't "as high as required".
It's a bad place to work at. It's marketed as good, and the fact that you're not required to do any physical effort is advertised as good. You just sit down in front of a computer, talk to clients, sell them things and nothing else. You even get more free days than other people.
They don't advertise the stress, the lack of resources in the shops, the lack of appreciation, the lack of respect, and the low payment. They tell you that you can make a lot of money, without telling you exactly how much you actually make.
Working at such a job shows that at times, working hard is not a solution to your problem. No matter how much effort you put in, you won't be appreciated unless you get the boss the only thing he cares about - money - regardless of how much trouble you can get yourself into by using shitty "recommended" and scammy methods.
The solution to such a problem? Leaving.
Sadly, not everyone can simply leave a job and immediately find another one that is better. Some people are forced to stay at jobs that pay little but demand more. And that sucks.
There's little advice I can give here. It's easy to tell people to leave and find another job, but I've been in that position, and I did it, and it's not that easy. There's no guarantee you'll immediately get hired by someone else or that you'll find a job that's actually better. Quitting your job because you hate it and trying to find a new one is a risk. For some people it's worth it, for some it isn't.
Regardless, this shows that sometimes, working hard doesn't pay off, regardless of how many people claim otherwise. It's good to know this, and not be fooled by false promises from a boss that doesn't care about you.