u/Ok_Drummer_1514

I've been working at the company for a little over a year, and my job has been a mix of administrative support, member/customer service, and helping organize events and conferences. I was hired for a specific role in a specific department and did that for a while. During that time, I traveled to an out-of-state conference with the company, and everything went really well.

Right after I got back, the person who was handling the front desk left, and my manager basically told me I'd be handling reception too, on top of the job I was hired for, "temporarily." She said they would bring someone in within a short period of time, but that was in March. Since then, I've been asking every so often because I'm trying to get back to work that involves more client interaction and more travel for events, and I never get a clear answer. Her whole attitude toward me changed as soon as I started asking about it.

I went to another conference weeks ago, and it went better than expected. When I got back to the office, I saw that they had posted ads for both: the reception/front desk role and the original role I was hired for. I asked my manager what that meant for me, and she only said: "I need you focused on the front desk." And when I asked her whether there would be client work for me after they hire the two new people, she didn't give me any clear answer.

I spoke to HR at the beginning of this month and got basically the same vague response. Then I had a face-to-face meeting with my manager yesterday, and she started saying things like "maybe this isn't the right fit," and "I don't feel confident giving you more responsibility," and "I'm not sure you understand what we need." Honestly, it really hurt, because I know I'm capable, and I've done well in jobs that were much harder than this one. I honestly feel like it's become personal.

I ended the meeting by saying that I like the job and want a chance to prove myself and make her and the team happy, but based on her tone of voice, the fact that she didn't reassure me, and her body language, I'm almost certain my time here is coming to an end. She even said, "It's clear we're not on the same page."

Is there anything I can do if I'm 95% sure I'm going to be laid off soon? The conversation was really bad, and it seems like things are getting worse with her. After what happened yesterday, I feel like there's no hope for me to have a future at this company.

The situation is exactly as the title says. My wife has been getting scheduled almost every Saturday because of this, and honestly I feel like this is insane. Is this considered a normal religious accommodation? What religions don't allow someone to work on Saturday?
Before this guy was hired, she used to get about every third Saturday off, and now she has worked 11 Saturdays in a row. She works in a supermarket, so of course Saturday is one of the worst shifts to get stuck with every week.

The situation is even more frustrating because I work a regular 8-4 job and her shifts are usually late, so we already struggle to find time to spend together. Losing almost every weekend makes it much harder.

She talked to her manager about it, but from what I understand, he's acting like his hands are tied because it's a religious protection issue. Is there anything she can do here, or is she just going to be stuck with Saturday shifts forever? We're in Canada, if that makes a difference.

I work at a small company. Usually there are only 4 of us in the office: two other women, one man, and me. The rest of the people either work from home or come in at random times. My coworker is away for 12 days and I'm covering her role while she's not there. She has also covered for me before.

Our work is usually very separate. There isn't much overlap at all. When people send me emails, they're usually very nice and overly polite, as if they're asking me to do something really burdensome. I often get things like "Hi love" and "Could you please help with XYZ when you get a chance?"

Since she's been gone, I've been getting emails about the things she usually handles. And honestly, I wouldn't even call most of them requests. They're short, rude, commanding, and have a kind of condescending tone. No please, no thanks, a completely different vibe. At first I told myself, okay, maybe I'm misunderstanding because I don't know her job that well. But this is coming from several people and they're all writing the same way. So now I'm sitting here thinking... Is this how they talk to her all the time? What the hell??

And on top of that, her workload is excessive. I mean, she doesn't need "better time management," she needs another person to help her. The other day I prepared 14 packets for them, and when I went home I was exhausted and sweaty from running around all day.

Am I making too big a deal out of this, or should I say something? Should I talk to her, or to the people sending the emails? Also, I'm 44 and she's 29. I can't stop thinking that maybe part of this lack of respect is because she's younger or something.

The first time an interviewer asked me this question, I was very surprised but I brushed it off and thought it was just a one-off thing. That place sent me an offer a few days later, but I rejected it. The whole vibe wasn't comfortable, and not just because of that question.

But it happened again in an interview last week. The hiring manager asked me point-blank if I lived in my parents' house. Then she asked me where else I was applying and if I had any other offers. When I told her yes, I had one and rejected it, she wanted to know the reasons in detail. I gave a general answer that it wasn't the right fit for me, but she kept pushing and wouldn't let it go.

Seriously, is this even a question that should be asked? I feel it's very invasive every time. I'm still new to the job market (just graduated), so honestly I don't know what's normal and what is considered a big red flag.

Hiring managers always say they're looking for someone kind, enthusiastic, reliable, good at communicating, and so on. But honestly, that talk feels like nonsense to me. I know a lot of people working at Fortune 100 companies, universities, regular office jobs, and their actual work is really not that great at all. Some of them are annoying, messy, impossible to work with, dishonest, fake, and can't explain anything, yet they're still working in good roles.

I'm in San Jose, and several tech offices, and a lot of people I've met follow the exact same pattern. It makes me wonder how they even got there in the first place when the job market is this harsh. If people like that are getting hired, then either it's mostly nepotism, or hiring managers are secretly filtering for traits they'd never admit out loud.

The whole society runs on connections. Rich people, attractive people, and people with good connections keep getting more opportunities than honest people who work hard. You see this all the time in entertainment and sports too.

Honestly, I think a lot of these positions are filled through referrals, family friends, inside connections, or random luck. Especially roles at big, well-known companies. It doesn't really seem like it's about skill or interviewing well most of the time.

I really don't understand why I feel this way. When I look at my parents, who have been working for decades, it's clear that if they had a choice, they wouldn't choose work, but they endure and continue, accepting it as part of life. But me, I'm completely exhausted, and the idea of continuing this job feels impossible. The truly perplexing part is that my current job situation is something many people would envy. I work from home, and my income is sufficient to cover my expenses and even have a little extra for simple luxuries. I even just returned from a 10-day international vacation. My mind constantly wanders into fantasies of generating passive income, just so I can stop working and truly enjoy my time. I genuinely hate my job. To make matters worse, I have a large amount of student loan debt for a higher degree in this very field. I don't even have the motivation to look for a higher-paying job in my field, despite having the qualifications. The simple truth is that I don't want to work. Is there anyone else out there with a seemingly ideal job situation but still harbors this deep aversion to doing it?

Honestly, I feel completely stuck. I'm 32 years old and make less than 90k a year, and it's hard not to feel like I'm very behind, especially when I see friends and people younger than me easily surpassing $150.

I've been looking for a job for about 14 months, sent out over 1200 applications. I've tweaked my CV a million times, and even paid for a professional service to polish it, but in the end, there have been almost no results.

I've started thinking about going back to school for something like cybersecurity or data analytics, but I keep hearing that the tech market is very tough these days. My degree is originally in marketing and communications, so this would be a major career pivot.
But I'm looking for any advice or personal stories on how to get unstuck and move forward. What did you do to get to where you are?