Like, I still have termination anxiety. When there’s nothing obvious to do at work, I get really anxious, like there’s something I’m forgetting to do.

What should be relaxing is a source of dread.

  • Iwishiwasntthisway [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I go days at work without doing anything. I’ve also been laid off multiple times in my professional life. But, on the other hand, if I keep asking for work that calls attention to the fact that I have nothing to do.

    By my estimation, half of white collar jobs are like this and everyone just engages in theater about how busy they are

    • WafflesTasteGood [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      By my estimation, half of white collar jobs are like this and everyone just engages in theater about how busy they are

      This is common in a lot of blue collar manufacturing jobs I’ve had too. Gotta milk the work and get it done as close to the expectation as possible or else you’re rewarded with more work and higher expectations.

      Always been a huge point of frustration for me since I like to get a good pace going and stay busy since it makes the shift go by faster, but then I have to arbitrarily slow down to keep from giving the boss man the wrong idea.

      • Andrzej3K [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        2 months ago

        On quiet shifts when I worked at McDonald’s, we’d deliberately dirty up the work surfaces so we could look busy when a floor manager came by — because otherwise they’d find some awful/dangerous job for you to do instead

  • luddybuddy [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    Absolutely. It’s better with WFH as I have started to just browse the polygon mammal site or do laundry when this happens, but I used to really struggle in the office, feeling like I need to look busy.

  • AtomPunk [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I feel comfortable letting my bosses know when I can take on a little more as I now trust them with not overloading my plate. But I also feel the anxiety that I should be hauling ass the entire workday like I did back at major warehouse retail.