.. stuff

After leaving my last job, I started to realize that this whole "work/team culture" idea that's pushed onto everybody who works in a sales (or other applicable) job environment is cringe. Higher-ups incentivize their employees (more like "work rats") to work harder and make more money for those higher-ups by introducing contests and encouraging competition to bring "unity" to a team and rally everyone to win over others in exchange for perks or prizes. And then, people who win those prizes get recognized and then their luxury vacation pics or luxury car pics or whatnot are spread across social media by the company.

And then there's team outings, where the head of the team takes everyone out for extracurricular activities, like sporting events, for example, and everyone mingles together and has a party or whatever. But I feel like that's like encouraging more fake camaraderie than there already is in the workplace - and a lot of people get sucked into the whole team spirit thing/pumping each other up/glorifying the idea of hustling hard to "make that bank." Why do people fall for that kind of thing? In a way, I think that's telling of how people really feel about their lives. Social interactions between coworkers seem fake enthusiastic, but why be that way? It makes me think that people are really miserable with their lives behind closed doors. People are having drinks with each other, not with people outside of work. And yet, all they talk about is work. But that elongates the amount of time and energy thinking about work because people are literally socializing with their coworkers outside of work, about work, and while engaging in an activity that is expensive (yes, alcoholic drinks are expensive when you go out to drink), dangerous (you could get yourself and/or someone else hurt), and unhealthy (liver damage/unhealthy weight gain). I don't understand that.. why not go out for a coffee instead? Why do coworkers have to drink alcohol together? Is it that they need to be able to "loosen up" to enjoy time with each other? If that's the case, then why bother? Why not just save time and money for better things? And then there's the whole hustle culture thing too - what is with people who talk about how they work *so* many hours and are *so* busy and are *so* tired? People seem to compete with each other for the busiest person in the company lol as if that's a prize to try and get. Isn't the goal in life to work as little as possible and to have freedom? Why do you want to work yourself to burnout? In the end, that's more damaging to your wallet than working normal hours with a little less effort. At least that way, you don't burnout.

I think hustle culture is really toxic and the whole camaraderie thing is really cringe too.. thanks for listening to my rant I guess. Idk lol

💯 to everything you said. Sales as a whole pits people against each other as a competition. I’ll just add…

I find the “we are like family” mindset extremely toxic as well. The last thing I want to do after working 40+ hours is spend more time with you people instead of my ACTUAL family.

Employers need to stop pushing the dinners and Christmas parties and events as ‘incentives’ and ‘rewards’. If you appreciate the work, pay more. That’s all.

Corporate jobs are like that - quite soul killing and phony. You either want to work for yourself or have one boss that you can work with. I pretty much work independently. There is an owner who I ultimately answer to but I can pick and choose what lucrative contracts I want because I've made myself that valuable based on my quality of work. You want to make the money but you also want to have as much personal and professional freedom as you can. If I went in tomorrow and said I'm taking the next month off, they would have no choice but to let me.

Team Building, check

Challenge Coarse, checkity check

Cooperative Planning(I'll lead), check

I Don't Care attitude, check, check

Martini in briefcase, check

Get me out of here, check

Job change!

I don’t fraternize with my coworkers

You know the work honeymoon is over when you all start dressing alike (casual Fri., leotard Tues., funky sock Wed.) or when they drag you up the pole on the challenge course.

Well I think sales is most like that since you’re directly related to revenue.

For the non-revenue cost centers it’s not as much. Just a couple things like Christmas dinners as a thank you to our employees, but the bigger the company the less of those you get.

My firm is a bit of a different environment, where every single person is involved in the strategy and path going forward. It helps with the team environment. We have social get togethers after big deadlines & more like a celebration the deadlines over!! & it’s also thanks to employees and sometimes a social event after the big strategy meeting annually. Certain people don’t show up, but most do & it’s a party lol. I suppose when you feel heard it’s actually a team.. but many companies I’ve worked for it’s just lip service.

Going into engineering has been the best decision of my life. I don’t miss any of that shit you described at all

Sales people really are like the perfect worker drones too. They do what they are told without pushback and get all “dog eat dog” at each other, for the most minuscule of prizes and promises. Then the companies operate on attrition, every single person is disposable. It’s a excellent display of human nature

What it boils down to is that most every job out there is about money in the end though. Gotta make those at the top even richer after all right

having experienced both (working alongside others and working for myself), i can say that both offers advantages and disadvantages. some people thrive off of social interaction (like they actually feel energized from it), whereas others can feel sorta depleted from it. some people feel more comfortable being part of a group and dividing responsibilities, whereas others don't mind having all the responsibility on their shoulders if it means they will have more freedom.

i was always hell bent on working from home and eventually made it happen.

but i definitely enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to work for an employer because it offered a stable income for me while trying to get my own business off the ground, so i'm forever grateful for that. 'cause like, imagine if i was jobless during that time. it would've been really hard. so, just use your work place as a stepping stone to get to where you wanna go.

as far as the mingling with co workers thing, yeah, i never really understood the whole appeal of co workers going out to have lunch/drinks together (even though sometimes we kinda gotta go along with it in order to seem pleasant, agreeable ? lol)

also, when i was much younger, i used to wear my burnout as a badge of honor or something , but now that i think about it, i was running away from my grief by trying to lose myself in my work. so people could do this as a way to run away from emotions they don't wanna feel. when you're fully immersed in your work, you don't think about anything else.

It reminds me of a video I seen recently where humans in a boat got a trained bird to catch a large fish. Then the humans ripped the large fish out of its mouth just to toss the bird back into the water, then treated it with a small minnow. That is pretty much every work environment in a nutshell.

Posted by Lionheart917
Companies don't care about their employees; they only see us as numbers. That's why I don't stay loyal and keep moving when a better opportunity comes along.

This.

I completely agree that to employers, we are just numbers. Being a top performer, I never ever, not once, think my job is safe because from experience, the moment someone performs better than me, I lose the perks too. Loyalty should be only to yourself and those important to you like your family. If work fucks up time with your child, don't choose work. Choose your child (or in general, your loved ones).

Posted by LadyNeptune
💯 to everything you said. Sales as a whole pits people against each other as a competition. I’ll just add…



I find the “we are like family” mindset extremely toxic as well. The last thing I want to do after working 40+ hours is spend more time with you people instead of my ACTUAL family.

Employers need to stop pushing the dinners and Christmas parties and events as ‘incentives’ and ‘rewards’. If you appreciate the work, pay more. That’s all.

Also, when employers think you are not a good employee for not hanging out with your coworkers (aka not attending events and Christmas parties) is just shit. Personally, if I'm doing my job well, I wanna be left alone please. Lol

Posted by serenidad
having experienced both (working alongside others and working for myself), i can say that both offers advantages and disadvantages. some people thrive off of social interaction (like they actually feel energized from it), whereas others can feel sorta depleted from it. some people feel more comfortable being part of a group and dividing responsibilities, whereas others don't mind having all the responsibility on their shoulders if it means they will have more freedom.



i was always hell bent on working from home and eventually made it happen.

but i definitely enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to work for an employer because it offered a stable income for me while trying to get my own business off the ground, so i'm forever grateful for that. 'cause like, imagine if was jobless during that time. it would've been really hard. so, just use your work place as a stepping stone to get to where you wanna go.



as far as the mingling with co workers thing, yeah, i never really understood the whole appeal of co workers going out to have lunch/drinks together (even though sometimes we kinda gotta go along with it in order to seem pleasant, agreeable ? lol)



also, when i was much younger, i used to wear my burnout as a badge of honor or something , but now that i think about it, i was running away from my grief by trying to lose myself in my work. so people could do this as a way to run away from emotions they don't wanna feel. when you're fully immersed in your work, you don't think about anything else.

Who needs a group when you have dxp? Hahaha 😂

Posted by TXCowboy
Time for a career change, entirely.



You belong in the hospitality sector, consider this heavily.

What makes you say that

Posted by Bumboklaat
I've known this my whole life. Good thing you figured it out tho. Congrats on life experience, you will be real, you will not always fit in but at least you will be real.



Also this is not in every culture. In the USA work/business is everything which is were so bad at enjoying it. We think were well off until you look at other first world countries.

Yeah I've wondered if work culture is similar in other parts of the world

Posted by GeminiJim
Have you really only just realised this??



You're only a "team" because it sounds more palatable than group of employees

No, I've known this for a while but it's only really registered into my brain after doing sales for so long lol

Posted by Saturn_Returns
It's known as playing the game and sucking up.



I often try to keep to myself, much to the annoyance of some of my work colleagues (both past and present). Besides, I've always been too much of an outlier for many to comprehend.

Weirdo! 😌

Posted by BaeMaxx

Posted by serenidad
having experienced both (working alongside others and working for myself), i can say that both offers advantages and disadvantages. some people thrive off of social interaction (like they actually feel energized from it), whereas others can feel sorta depleted from it. some people feel more comfortable being part of a group and dividing responsibilities, whereas others don't mind having all the responsibility on their shoulders if it means they will have more freedom.



i was always hell bent on working from home and eventually made it happen.

but i definitely enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to work for an employer because it offered a stable income for me while trying to get my own business off the ground, so i'm forever grateful for that. 'cause like, imagine if was jobless during that time. it would've been really hard. so, just use your work place as a stepping stone to get to where you wanna go.



as far as the mingling with co workers thing, yeah, i never really understood the whole appeal of co workers going out to have lunch/drinks together (even though sometimes we kinda gotta go along with it in order to seem pleasant, agreeable ? lol)



also, when i was much younger, i used to wear my burnout as a badge of honor or something , but now that i think about it, i was running away from my grief by trying to lose myself in my work. so people could do this as a way to run away from emotions they don't wanna feel. when you're fully immersed in your work, you don't think about anything else.

Who needs a group when you have dxp? Hahaha 😂

click to expand

Lmao ew

Posted by Saturn_Returns

Posted by SnowBunny726

Posted by Saturn_Returns
It's known as playing the game and sucking up.



I often try to keep to myself, much to the annoyance of some of my work colleagues (both past and present). Besides, I've always been too much of an outlier for many to comprehend.

Weirdo! 😌
click to expand

click to expand

🤢