u/stormer_wallet

There are a lot of posts these days about people leaving their jobs or getting fired in a very dramatic way, and I understand why those things spread. So I thought I'd share something a little calmer.

I recently left a job that was paying me $92k/year, and accepted a role at a small nonprofit. The old job paid well, but it was literally eating my brain every hour I was awake.

The nonprofit offered $76k/year, and instead of pushing them on salary, I asked about time. In the end, we agreed on $76k/year for 34h/week. So yeah, what I take home is less, but I genuinely got back space to breathe (and if you do the math, it comes out to about 12% more per hour). I had also prepared myself with research and numbers, but I focused on work/life balance and productivity instead of market rates.

Honestly, I feel like I'm flying now:)

I'm saying this while knowing that I'm already in a comfortable position, and that people closer to minimum wage often don't have this kind of choice. But when we do have room to push, I think we need to push for more than just salary.

Try to remember that antiwork isn't just about giving your boss the finger. It's about changing the way work exists in our lives, and making negotiating hours as normal as negotiating salary.

The job hunt had been exhausting me for about 18 months straight, and believe me, I applied everywhere I could possibly be even slightly qualified for. A few months ago, I received an offer that seemed like a dream. But when the actual contract , it was completely different from what we had agreed upon in the interview. It took them four days to get back to me, just to confirm, 'Yes, this is the agreement.' I felt cornered, so I accepted. It was a nightmare. In the end, enough was enough; I told myself that no income is better than sacrificing my dignity and constantly feeling like an idiot.

So I went back to searching, and found myself looking at a specific company here in the country that I had applied to several times before. Honestly, I racked my brain trying to recall all the confusion that happened with them late last year. I had applied for a specific position in September. In November and early December, I went through four interview stages. Not to praise myself, but I felt I did very well in them; each stage was with different people, and in one of the middle stages, I managed to break the ice with someone who was initially very grim, and by the end, we were talking normally and joking. In my last interview, they told me they would get back to me in the coming days, and said there were 'internal adjustments to the salary structures for this specific position.'

After that, there was no sign or news. Not a word about the job. About five weeks later, I saw the exact same job advertisement posted again, but this time there was a clear $12,000 deduction from the advertised salary. I scratched my head, really thinking about this. Was I too expensive, or did they hire someone who didn't last a few weeks? Out of curiosity, I applied again, just to see, but as I expected, no one responded to me, even after I had gone through those four interview stages.

Anyway, I had completely forgotten about this strange matter. But it all came back to me this morning when I was applying to the same company again. I opened my old applications, and here was the real surprise. Any other job I had applied for there simply stated 'Application Rejected'. But for *this specific job*, the one where I went through four interview stages? It said 'Status: Position Suspended.' And from what I know from others in the field, this is companies' polite way of saying, 'You're fired.'

My mind is still reeling from all the questions. Honestly, a part of me wishes they would call me for an interview for *this new* application, just so I could calmly ask about the time I apparently joined their team and then was let go, all without ever stepping foot in their office. This whole thing was so bizarre that I just had to tell you all about it. Seriously, who comes up with this stuff? Good luck to me, in this never-ending job hunt!

After eleven months at my job, I've come to the inevitable conclusion that they hired the wrong person. I have 17 years of experience, a few certifications, and an MBA. The interviews went well, and on paper, it seemed like a perfect fit. But I was hired to oversee strategic partnerships and client relations, while what they really needed was a data scientist or a senior developer to solve complex technical problems. Every time a new project or issue comes up, my only real contribution is setting up calls with the actual technical experts. I'm basically a human scheduler.

My weekly check-ins with my manager have become very awkward. I never have any real progress to report. I've tried to suggest other projects where my experience would be more useful, but I'm told to stay in my lane and that I wasn't hired to do that.

I've started applying for other jobs, but the market is tough and the short time I've spent here isn't helping. So for now, I'm just trying to look busy. I take online courses, read our internal wikis, and constantly check the internal job board for any openings. It's gotten to the point where I bring in donuts every couple of weeks just to try and ease the awkwardness my presence creates. Honestly, I feel like an imposter stealing a salary.

My annual review is next month. Should I bring up the obvious mismatch first? Or should I wait for them to say something? Could I try to negotiate a resignation with some severance? Or should I just keep going until they let me go and see what they offer then? If you were in my shoes, what would you do in a situation like this?