Story of an unhappy millenial : working for an angry old school boss.

Gamster Gamer
Sep 1, 2018 · 4 min read

Today, september 1st, I woke up once again feeling so unhappy about who I am today and what I will endure again this day.

“Being a millenial isn’t as bad as you said” people weave at me whenever I try to state that i’m unhappy with my work life.

The problem for our generation is that we saw and heard promising stories of how beautiful this world is, and how companies are shifting their management mindset towards more well being for their workers.

I work in a different environment, toxic environment to be honest.

My boss thinks there is nothing more important than his company, and he believes that as an employee I should feel grateful for taking part in it, especially that the job market is not so promising.

From the morning until the end of the day, i’m just sitting there in my desk trying hard to concentrate on my work while he could call me at any moment and yell at me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m aware that every job has an range of stress that changes depending on situations. We’re way above the average level of stress in our field.

What I hate the most about this job, is summed in 5 essential elements :

  1. I work monday to saturday afternoon, and sometimes sundays and holidays without having the right to say no to it.
  2. Whatsapp messages, emails and phone calls from my boss in weekends and evenings.
  3. Not being able to have a friendly conversation with the boss.
  4. No financial perspectives in the coming months/years.
  5. My daily tasks range from administrative mundane tasks, transporting guests, grocery, meetings, anything but what i’m passionate about.

Many people advised me that it’s okay to have some distance with your boss. But, would you consider normal not being able to ask your boss about his opinion on any small decision ? And being answered in rude ways when you do ?

Do you think it’s appropriate to stay at work from 9 a.m straight to 7 or 8 p.m ?

Do you think it’s part of work to never be encouraged, or supported, aknowledged, and rather be yelled at in front of other people (guests, clients, coworkers) ?

Many ideas cross my mind every time my boss yells at me, sometimes I’m just thinking to quit this job, and risk being jobless instead of being unhappy and worried 24/7.

I try hard to separate between my job and personal life, but how would I really do it when I receive a Whatsapp message while i’m having a beer with friends ?

My self-confidence has dropped a lot since I started this job, every single day he reminds me that i’m not working enough, that my writing sucks (well he’s right on this one), and that what I do or will do will never be enough for this company.

I just can’t figure out a way to stay in this job and manage to wake up less stressed and unhappy every morning.

More seriously, every morning I enter work I keep looking at the window to to see when he’s coming, like he’s some kind of threat to me. Which he is absolutely.

I feel trapped : I just bought a car, spent all my money this summer travelling, and have no particular interest in whatsoever job or field.

If I quit, I will have to deal with being poor for an unknown period of time. If I stay, I will probably go nuts someday and what’s left of my health will be consumed by the feeling bad.

I’m here at medium reading stories of successful people, of people who travel and achieve what they want. But I guess most of them have managed to escape the trap, the trap of the old school boss.

Old school bosses tend to think there is nothing in life more important than work, and we should be grateful for working 50 hours a week. While us the millenials, saw how unhappy and trapped our parents were even when being well paid.

Is happiness overrated ? Well it is somehow, but I think there is a minimum of self-esteem, satisfaction and accomplishment feeling every human being should be able to feel in his everyday life.

I don’t want to just live happily ever after, that’s not even possible. I just want to rest in my free time, have control over my personal life, and not worry all the time if my boss has sent me another emergency message on whatsapp.

This job stopped me from travelling, spending quality time with family and friends, stopped me from having fun, filled my mind with negative thoughts about myself, messed with with my well being, and forced me to quit the gym.

Would you stay at a job like this ?

Would you risk quitting and start your own project ?

Is life worth all this amount of stress and abuse ?

I’m really confused about everything now, I’m thinking fast about many options, but I wanted first to share my story with the community first.

I hope people out here in Medium will be able to help, this is not the story to inspire you, it’s just a simple call for help.

So, help me please overcome this pain.

Looking forward to read your insights on this !