Right there with you!
 

Things pretty much suck all around. I'm living with my parents, I have no job, and my check engine light has been on for months (I use the Homer Simpson method where if I cover it up with electrical tape then it is fixed). I am getting money from where I can but it really isn't enough to meet my needs. Student loans are a real killer. Even after consolidation I'm still paying several hundred dollars a month. You know when I haven't deferred payments which has happened way too much.

So what I'm trying to say is you aren't alone. Lots of people are in the same boat. So we should just keep trying, right? I mean something has to break our (and everyone who is in this position's) way at some point.

Organizing with others in your workplace or same branch of work often delivers results.

I did not have that experience when I was working. If they aren't afraid of you then it won't matter. We weren't allowed to form anything even close to a union. If we did we would be fired. At least that's what we were all threatened with. Our boss had absolute power and could say anything he wanted. For instance he kept at me that I was late. I wasn't late at all but he needed to look like he was doing some kind of boss work sometimes. I wouldn't have put it past him to "modify" records if I had decided to press the issue with his boss.

And that's why you organize! The only time workers ever made gains and bettered their conditions is by fighting for them, together. Your employer can threaten you and they will of course use any means at their disposal to discourage their workers from organizing. Because they are afraid of the results. So organizing is what we should do, what we must do if we are to ever take back control over our own lives and achieve a just workplace.

Sorry to hear that, that's a really incredibly shitty policy.

You def. should look around at any other options that are available.

Of course like.... part of what makes a situation like yours a trap is the knowledge that there's no given that any way you try to improve your situation is gonna make it any better, or even not make it worse.

And then like... the people around you who're trapping you in that situation will also react to you trying to get yourself out of it by sabotaging you in all kinds of ways that they won't even recognize and absolutely won't admit are sabotage, because some part of their own worldview is based on you being in and staying in that place they have you at.

None of which i'm saying to cut you down or to psych you out, but like...

The same way as you posted this thread to vent and let some of these things out, I'm saying some of this stuff to you because when you're able to recognize that these are the obstacles you're going to face in trying to improve your situation, you can prepare yourself for them and recognize them for what they are, and maybe armor yourself a little bit against them.

There's lots of shitty work environments that involve shitty people, but there's also lots of work environments that aren't shitty, or aren't as shitty as whichever one you're currently at, and... you know, based on what I'm hearing, another work environment definitely isn't too likely to be MORE shitty than the one you're currently at.

On the topic of one thing you mentioned:

You should probably consider whether there's anyone IRL you can reach out to about any of this.

Which, you know, don't listen too much to me cause you know a whole lot better than anyone else whether that's actually a reasonable thing to do.

But like... one thing about being someone who's dealt with stuff like

Is that you've been taught in a lot of ways that you 1. can't and... more importantly really 2. aren't supposed to, or even more like... aren't allowed to reach out to other people, and that's part of the trap that you've been put in.

It can still go bad cause your perceptions of who to reach out to and how to reach out to them are also pretty skewed, and you know, there's just legitimately crappy people to reach out to.

But there are people who'll help you when you need it, and odds are you know at least one person who'll hear you out and help you - like, actually for-realsies help you - and like... if you reach out to one person and that didn't work, you need to recognize that it wasn't about you, it was just like... part of the process of finding the person / people who will help you.

Anyway. I hope you're able to get something out of any/all of that, but if not then just, you know, I hope you continue to feel able to vent about it here and that doing that is helpful for you.

Also I noticed you posted up a thread of some of your creative writing, I hope you're getting some pleasure out of that and that it's a bit of an escape from all of this other shit.

When I do talk to family about my depression I get "if you are depressed than you need to be on medication". They literally cannot comprehend that someone can be unhappy with their life (no matter what that life is) unless they have a chemical imbalance. Yes I know this is stupid for many many reasons, I tried to explain it to them but they dont understand.

Friends, better but you eventually just go around in circles. Plus alot of my friends aren't all that chipper either. They dont have my crushing debt but they barely have work.

I have tried looking for work but the few places hiring don't give me enough hours. I need to make atleast 500 a month to cover my loan payments, car, ect.

Many things prevent that, even if a strike crippled a store and somehow no one new wanted to work there, this is a multi-national company handing down these decisions. They see stores opening and closing daily. Their labor force is in the millions. The scale would need to be so massive it will never work.

Remember this new policy is to make it easier to fire people. They are actively trying to get rid of people. You cant threaten them with quitting, they want you gone so they can hire someone new at minimum wage with no benefits. All a strike would do is save them the trouble

You might find this helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPwlunKzxnI

Maybe you and your friends could get together and learn a new trade on the side with a little assistance. If you want, I could look up ways to start a co-op and maybe that could help you out of your funk and learn some new skills.

And that is precisely why organizing and resisting is important, to fight shit like that. It's a class war, and the capitalists and bosses are winning it. We either stand up or give up. It's not easy, I know.

Yeah a lot of people are shit to people with problems, because they wanna take you having problems as there being something WRONG WITH YOU. Because if it's something wrong with you then they don't have to consider that there could be anything wrong with the way they're treating you.

As with a lot of things, there's even a name for it

Not that your issues even don't have some chemical component it's just that people love to switch off any and all thinking at that point instead of considering that your chemical imbalance could have anything to do with them treating you like shit.

Yeah it's hard when the people around you are stuck in the same sorts of shitty situation you're in.

I did stop putting up with their crap. I called my bosses out on them giving unrealistic work load, unclear direction, and having me pick up the slack of other people. Now I'm fired so... atleast I dont have to work now....