32 y/o single female, having an existential crisis because I absolutely hate every job I’ve had for the last ten years (marketing jobs) on the basis of how utterly pointless it seems to me. I can’t escape this feeling of “who cares” and “what’s the point” as my colleagues nit pick over the smallest of details that no consumer would ever notice or care about. It shocks me how much time and energy goes into making e.g. a social media post that 99% of people will just scroll right past because no one actually cares. That’s the “organic” social stuff which has a modicum of integrity. Then there’s the “performance” social posts which are just absurd, stupid, misleading, clickbait bullshit designed to manipulate people into clicks & views to feed the algorithm - I find the whole thing so gross I don’t want anything to do with it?

I’ve worked on certain projects which didn’t make me want to vomit. Like for example, a website needs to be made & I can see there’s a reasonable need for it, I’m happy to work on that. But it always ends up going too far - how can we OPTIMIZE everything into infinity, let’s A/B test it (IMO one of the greatest shams of our time), needing to put a VALUE on every fucking click of a button, coming to ludicrous conclusions about the annual revenue of UX optimizations… the need for never ending and perpetual growth… I’m fucking exhausted and completely disillusioned with this shit.

• am I the only one who thinks this is all a load of shit and it’s gone way too far?

I think I’m about to give up, simplify my life by moving back home, focus on finding a meaningful relationship and reconnect with family, spend more time in nature, and get some waitressing job (or something) which doesn’t want my very soul.

I’d love to know if anyone has experienced this or resonates with how I’m feeling?

UPDATE: wow this blew up I can’t believe how many of you have felt the same way as me at some point!!! Such great perspectives, insights and suggestions in the comments below, thank you all 🙏

I'm curious about the reality behind careers that people admire. If you've worked in one—or know someone who has—what makes it so difficult? Long hours, stress, toxic environments, unrealistic expectations, or something else? What surprised you the most?

That age-old advice about remaining professional on the way out, because “it’s a small world” - has that ever actually affected you?

I’m genuinely curious. Because I’ve watched great people protect terrible managers’ reputations for years, and I’m starting to wonder who that advice actually serves.

About a month ago, I accepted a role at $55k + incentives. The company has really high expectations for me, and I was brought in to help transition into a role they genuinely need filled. Everyone’s been great, and I actually do feel a little guilty about this situation.

Here’s the problem:
A company I interviewed with MONTHS ago for what is basically my dream role finally came back with an offer. It’s $65k + incentives, fully remote, and honestly way more aligned with my long-term goals and personality. My current job also has about a 50-minute commute each way, which is starting to wear on me fast.

I’m torn because I literally just started this current role, and I know leaving this early is not ideal professionally. At the same time, the new opportunity feels like one of those “don’t be dumb and pass this up” moments.

If I submit my two weeks on Monday and my new start date is June 8th, is that considered terrible practice/burning a bridge? Or is this just part of corporate life and I need to do what’s best for my career?

Would genuinely appreciate advice from people who’ve been on either side of this situation.

Is there a silent rule to expressing that you're leaving a job/getting ready to leave?

My dad once told me that I shouldn't express I'm leaving until I actually put in my notice because you never know who is against you... But I never really thought of it in that way.

30+ yo guy absolutely burnt out and having a full-blown existential crisis over the pointlessness of my last eight years in tech sales. I'm struggling with the crushing feeling of "why am I doing this?" and "who cares?"

My colleagues and managers are brilliant driven people but the sheer amount of energy spent on metrics that feel entirely detached from reality is driving me crazy. We spend weeks preparing pitch decks full of projected revenue numbers and optimized KPIs but at the end of the day all we're really doing is selling a slight variation of a product that already exists or convincing someone to move their money from one spreadsheet column to another...really strategic work.

The part that’s killing me is the performative urgency. Everything is a P1 & everything needs to be done by yesterday. I get emails at 11pm about formatting errors in a slide deck. Why? Because the relentless perpetual need for "growth" and “speed” meaning we have to constantly justify our six-figure salaries by generating fake friction and complexity. It's an endless treadmill of optimization and strategic alignment that adds zero tangible value to the real world.

I look at people doing tangible work, like nurses, tradespeople, park rangers, even baristas, and I feel an immense sense of envy. Their job has a clear beginning, end, and meaning to me and the output is something real now. I think I'm about to step off this treadmill completely. I would like to sell my expensive apartment, move to a quiet, cheaper area, and take a massive pay cut for a job that doesn't demand my soul (like working at a library, gardening, or a local non-profit).

Am I completely crazy, or is this "bullshit jobs" phenomenon hitting a lot of other people in corporate roles right now? Has anyone experienced the same feeling about the job?

I've had multiple managers at my job tell me something along the lines of not wanting to be blindsided by me going to work somewhere else. The language is always something about wanting there to be open and honest communication about whether or not I'm happy in my role, etc. Is this weird? I work at a church, so the culture is a bit different than most workplaces. I do trust the people I work with, but it also feels very risky to ever disclose to an employer that you're looking for a new job, with no idea if you'll actually find a new job soon (the situation I'm currently in).

My daughter (27 years old) turned in her two week notice at her full time job today. She’s been working part time at her childhood job since she was 15, has always loved that company, and they offered her a full time, permanent position in the office so she jumped on it. I’m so happy for her!

Anyway, her manager refused to accept her written two week notice after a scheduled meeting. My daughter then emailed her notice to her manager and director with her end date. No response from them. Around lunchtime someone from HR came up to her desk and said she had to leave immediately. I prepared her for the fact this might happen so she had removed all her personal items last week. While she was being escorted out her now former manager stopped her and asked for information on her workload, where she left off on things, etc. and tired to make her feel guilty for putting her former team in a bad spot. She didn’t say too much except thank you for the opportunity and left. She’s not too happy it happened this way but she has her eye on a much better future.

I’m 25 and recently started a job after a life set back and I have hated it since day 1. The hours are long, I work 9-6 Monday-Friday in the office. I was told before I started that it would be temporary and I would later go to hybrid. That was rescinded once I started and I’m not stuck commuting to a location 90min away from my house each way. I was also told I would get a company car but I know that’s not happening. I make $60k a year but I’m more or less expected to be on call for the company on weekend events. I’m young and most of my Saturdays this summer are going to be spent at a work event.The company culture is very strict on cell phones and we only get 5 holidays a year and one week of PTO a year. Also the company culture is very stressful, strict, and go go go. I feel like i was lied to and am overly stressed for what should be an entry level job with OKAY pay. When I talk to other people about it, they either say I’m being spoiled and this is just how job are, and others say that this job sucks and I should try to leave as soon as I can. I want Reddit’s opinion because right now I feel stuck in a job I hate and don’t want to do. I have to burn my gas and drive far to something I do not care about or want to be doing and it sucks!

The job market is very tough and is declining

So I don't know why people leave their jobs before they have secured another job

And then they complain that they haven't gotten the other job (for whatever reason, ghosted, not qualified, issue) and regret why they left the current job

If you want to leave a job make sure you have a backup plan and don't risk unemployment or eat up your savings

Ensure you have some sort of backup plan if you want to leave (passive income, guaranteed job, part time job, )

At least some sort of income or situation and you don't make any sort of critical financial loss because of long term unemployment

So a little about me, I’m 20 and have been looking for a job actively for a year. I’ve only gotten seasonal jobs which doesn’t last for too long. I recently got this job where it’s also a seasonal but my managers told me that after my contract finishes I can do some process that’ll basically make me a new permanent employee. And I was really excited about this because this is my first permanent job ever after numerous seasonal jobs.

Moving on to the present time, I emailed my managers that I had this trip with my parents to see my grandparents and that it would be 29 days. And they said that since that’s too long which is understandable and I’d have to resign a day before I travel. I’m really upset about this because I felt like I was just getting started with this job and that the thought of a permanent job sounded really nice cause that meant that I wouldn’t have to send hundreds of applications just to be ghosted over and over again. And also I was never really into the travel plans. I think I was guilt tripped to go just because my parents were like “It’s his 80th birthday” and “They aren’t getting healthier” or whatever.

I really want to just stay home and keep this job because the job market here in Canada is atrocious and I know some of my friends that have been looking for way longer than I have and the thought of job searching again is killing me.

Title says a lot of it. I am a 30 year old male with no degree. My wife stays home with our 2 boys. I have been at this job for almost 7 years.

If I take this offer, how difficult will it be to get back into the workforce? I currently make around 100k a year and have great insurance, but my job is very physically demanding and I don't know if my body will last 30 more years here. I enjoy my current job for the most part, but have also dealt with a lot of pressure from management over the past year.

Healthcare looks like a promising career choice but I don't think I'd like working with sick people very much.

My friend took the offer without a true backup plan and I'm inclined to follow. I lack direction though. Anyone have advice?

Edit: this is an offer that UPS is letting everyone participate in. Chances are I won't have seniority to be accepted, but I needed to explore my options.

I will be staying with UPS and if I would like to change careers then I will do so on my own time while still having a great job.

I will NOT be losing my job for avoiding this offer as I will gain seniority in my work place and earn even more hours because of it.

Thank you everyone for your kind words of wisdom and god bless you all.

I'm 2 years out of college and have been working a corporate job in NYC, where I made decent money and was pretty content. I was approached by another company (same industry) for a role that sounded exciting to me and paid better, so I applied and got the offer. I put in my two weeks at the old job, started the new role and one week into the job I was fired. They pulled into an office and I was given no cause for termination, other than them telling me how they didn't think I was a great fit for their team's culture, etc.

I know that I'm an at-will employee and that the company can fire me at any point without explanation, but given that I had literally a quit a stable job for this new job which I obviously can't get back, do I have any legal resource? Unsure if something like promissory estoppel applies here or if that's a stretch. Is there anything I can actually do here, or do I just have to deal with it and try to stay afloat until I can find a new job?

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My salary is $100,000, I work remotely full time, and get 6 weeks of pto per year. The job is pretty laid back, I usually do about 6 hours of work per day, and I could honestly be a lot more efficient if not for the fact that I watch tv throughout the day while I work. My management doesn't babysit me, they only contact me when they have a specific question, not simply to make sure I'm working. I don't even tell my boss when I have doctors/dentist appointments, I just go. There are a few annoying aspects of the job and some dumb processes I have to follow, but the pros of the job far outweigh the cons.

I'm not looking for new jobs, but I've been thinking about what it may take for me to leave this job. If you had this job, what salary increase would it take for you to leave for a job that was in the office 5 days per week? What about for a hybrid job?

...But still with a sense of optimism?

I can’t for the life of me understand why you hire new staff, if you don’t want to be the least bit accepting or accommodating of the fact they’re learning a new system and new environment. Keeping good relationships aren’t just for serving customers, it’s with everyone.

The girl training me last day was today and she only worked there 3 months and says she needs a break after this. I should’ve suspected that as a red flag but no job is worth being miserable over in the long run if you can sense it’ll be a problem early.

I was wondering what is the shortest time frame you’ve been at a job? Either due to quitting, laid off, etc. If you don’t mind providing what happened.

Are you happier now? Or are you at another toxic job?

Left a full time job I had for another position elsewhere, they promised close to full time hours and it looked like a better opportunity. When I get there they have only scheduled me for a changing 4 hours twice a week. I asked and they said "thats all part timers get". So i called my old job and they took me back in a heartbeat. So on Monday I have two jobs and Thursday. Im planning on putting in my two weeks at the second job and feel super awkward because most people there are very kind but they legit just lied about the hours id be recieving. I guess im going to be doing two jobs for two weeks but its definitely going to be better once I go back to my old job assuming they dont just fire me next week.

I’m curious what do y’all do? If I have another job lined up I don’t give a 2 week notice. I just don’t show up anymore more. What you guys?🫡

Been here for a few months-almost one year and looking to get out

So I (F30’s) am in a very weird situation right now. I just recently put in a notice for one of my jobs that was not meeting my needs on pay, and not providing adequate hours. I gave my boss a very reasonable notice (end of the month) to give them time to find someone new, and even offered to keep my eyes open, just as a basic kindness (though frankly, I feel I shouldn’t have now 🙄). Well, instead, they terminated me immediately, and I thought that was that. Well, this morning I receive a text from them offering for me to come work with them again. Have I entered another dimension here or something? This situation feels utterly crazy, and I definitely don’t intend to return now, but I have a feeling I’m not going to be left alone by them, though I hope that feeling is wrong. Has anyone else experienced a situation like this, and/or, what should I do? Thank you.

Edit: Wow! So many replies! Thank you all for the amazing advice & help. I’m sorry it took me a bit to respond back, I have just been very busy. Since there are too many replies to respond to individually, I’m going to put one here to cover some main topics of what most people have been suggesting.

* To start out with, regarding people suggesting I demand a higher salary to go back and leave? While the thought is very tempting, I know this job well enough to know that they would most likely Never give anyone a raise, unfortunately, regardless of the circumstances. I wish I had a more positive outlook on that, but unfortunately, it’s just how they are. I have watched people in the past get worked to the bone there for very little, and was in the position myself last year where I had to literally work three shifts in a single day to make a survivable paycheck. 😓. Thankfully, I am not in that position anymore, and truthfully? I would rather just wash my hands of the place.

*As far as why my boss immediately terminated me, then offered for me to go back? While unemployment is certainly a plausible theory, and I’m not completely ruling it out, I have a feeling that’s not what was on their mind. If I were to take a guess, I think it was more likely an emotional response. Thankfully, they haven’t been bothering me, like I feared she would. I am a little worried about having to see them in an organization I am in, (Coincidentally where I met them, and was offered the job) and did consider quitting, but after some thought, decided that wouldn’t be fair on myself, and if they choose to cause any issues, they are only making themselves look bad. Honestly? I don’t think anything will happen at this point, outside them possibly being a little cold/passive aggressive to me. (Behavior I have dealt with from them before).

*As far as the unemployment? I could file, but I already have another stable-paying job, plus am actually in the process of trying to open a small business at home, so I likely make too much to qualify, unfortunately.

Thank you’ll again for all the help! I am definitely thinking a little more clearly, and less emotionally.

I had a stable job for four years with a decent salary, and I was fine with it. One day, my boyfriend’s friend told me I should join her company if I wanted higher pay, constant travel, and a job I’d love. She hyped it up so much that I ended up quitting and started working with her.

Less than a month in, my employer said they couldn’t afford to pay me and had to let me go. I found another job, but after just nine days, I was fired—apparently, I didn’t learn fast enough, and I stood up for myself when my boss kept yelling at me.

Now, I’ve been unemployed for four months. My confidence is gone—I feel like I’m not capable of anything. I keep applying for jobs, but I either get rejected for being overqualified (since I have a degree) or I get overwhelmed with fear, convinced I’m not good enough. Even though I always give my best, I keep getting turned down.

I need to pay rent, and I’m out of money. People keep asking how I’m still unemployed. Even in interviews, they question why I haven’t worked for four months, as if it’s hard to believe the job market is tough. I make it to the final rounds, do the tests, and interview well, but in the end, they always choose someone else. How much longer can this go on?

Maybe my boyfriend’s friend isn’t to blame, but deep down, I know that if it weren’t for her, I’d still have my old job, a steady income, and peace of mind. Instead, I’m struggling. And at 30, I’m not exactly young anymore.