u/Ordinary_Gain_6807

I go a little crazy every time I hear a business owner whining and saying, "People don't want to work anymore." The funny thing is, I saw an Operations Assistant job posted a few weeks ago. My friend applied for it, and they had already hired someone and closed applications in less than 6 days. More than 200 applicants. But yeah, go ahead and keep explaining how no one wants your miserable food service jobs, or warehouse shifts with awful pay, random schedules, and benefits that can barely be called benefits.

There's a reason these places have a "Now Hiring" sign up around 340 days a year. The turnover rate is insane, because these jobs are designed to burn people out and replace them. Honestly, it's not complicated. People really do want to work. They want work with a future, and employers who treat them with basic respect, not another exhausting, dead-end gig that makes them feel like poverty wages are a privilege.

For about 10-11 months now, my role has changed very drastically from something I loved into work that is mostly sales, basically cold outreach, along with a pile of boring admin work that seems to increase almost every week. My KPIs are still in the top third of the people doing this job nationwide (450+), and in the parts of the job that are not related to sales, I'm probably in the top 12%. The problem is that the work I used to be happy doing is now something I dread and can't stand. I'm not a salesperson, and I don't want to become one, and I feel like I'm pretending that I'm doing fine until someone notices that I'm bad at the sales part. And I feel like that's inevitably going to happen.

Last January, the company asked 18 people to leave voluntarily to avoid layoffs. About 24 people agreed, but no one from my area of the country did. After they changed the territory assignments after the 24 people left, they realized they still needed to reduce headcount in my area, and in May they laid off 6 out of 29 people doing the same job as me in my region. This time there was no opportunity for anyone to volunteer, and the way they chose people didn't make sense to anyone. I genuinely like and respect my coworkers, and it was very hard to see people leave who wanted to stay, while I would have gladly taken the package.

Since then, my manager has told a few senior people on the team that he expects another small round of cuts sometime near the end of the year, possibly late winter. The severance is honestly excellent, and it would give me enough breathing room to look for work I want to do.

What worries me is another layoff process happening that feels as random as May's, instead of offering people the chance to opt out first. The same severance was paid in both cases, so it's frustrating to think that someone else might lose a job they want while I'm still sitting here pretending I'm fine. My manager is generally a fair person, but since these changes started, he has seemed more stressed. Would it be stupid for me to tell him I'd like to be considered if cuts happen, even before anything is officially announced? Should I frame it as helping the team so they don't lose someone who wants to stay? If I'm honest that I'm burned out and unhappy in this role, I think the worst-case scenario is that they eventually push me out anyway. I do have a few open offers elsewhere, so I'm not in a panic.

Exactly as the title says.

Option A ($85K per year):

37.5-hour work week, Monday to Friday, from 8:30 AM to 4 PM

30% remote work

35 days of paid vacation per year

Option B ($125K per year):

52-hour work week, 5 days on and 5 days off

Rotating 3 day shifts followed by 2 night shifts

90% on-site

12.5-hour shifts (from 7 AM to 7:30 PM or from 7 PM to 7:30 AM)

Average of 52 hours per week calculated over the year

20 days of paid vacation per year

Which one would you choose, and what's your reason?

This job is really draining me. I'm stressed and mentally exhausted to the point that my family and close friends have started noticing that I've become different, and they're worried about me. The work environment is also really bad, and people are leaving all the time. My manager's behavior with employees is honestly about, like yelling at people until they cry, or embarrassing them in front of everyone. I've seen more than one coworker cry at work.

I'm anxious almost every day I'm there, and focusing has become harder and harder. What scares me is that I've only been in this role for a little over 5 months, and this is my first job after graduation. I keep thinking that if I leave this early, with a gap on my resume, it could make getting hired somewhere else almost impossible.

I'm trying to tough it out until I find another position, but I don't know how much longer I can keep going when I come home upset almost every night. Financially, I can cover my expenses for a few months without a job, so I'm not in immediate danger on that side. But I don't know how I would explain this gap to any future employers. Should I leave now, or force myself to stick it out a little longer? Am I ruining my career before it even really starts?

I keep coming across career advice telling you to "follow your passion" and build your entire professional life around it - but honestly, it's starting to seem less inspiring to me and more like bait. The jobs I was most interested in always made me feel like they demanded far more from me than they gave back. Long nights, average pay, and this strange feeling that I was supposed to feel lucky just to be there because I was "interested in the work."

On the other hand, people I know who chose practical but boring jobs pay their bills, clock out at 4:30 PM, and don't think about work again until the next morning.

Has building a career around passion become overhyped now? Or is there something obvious I'm missing?

I'd really like to hear real experiences - from people who chased what they loved and made it work, or burned out completely. Seriously, be honest.