I’m so tired of emails, check-ins, daily update meetings, constant phone calls, shifting priorities, unpredictable managers

I’ve never enjoyed any job I’ve ever had but I still show up and work hard and find satisfaction. But each job is its own special kind of draining.

I’m 25 and in my first corporate office job and it’s just a never ending bombardment of emails, calls, slacks, meetings, drop-ins, check-ins, angry customers, rude industry contacts and oblivious management.

The role is continuously expanding and my time is just being diluted by all the new roles and tasks. We’re all then spoken down to when we can’t catch up. Anyone who has spoken loud enough about it is either sidelined or let go. This is Billion £ company that does not have a HR because it’s too quirky and ‘progressive’ for that stuffy tradition. But this means you’re at the mercy of any manager’s whims - and I’ve seen hard workers pushed out for not pandering egos in every department.

The whole office runs off a nauseating mixture of “we’re just like one big family!” and “we must hit this quarters projections or there will be consequences”. They’ve purged more than half the team when sales slumped for two months in a row before so it’s a constant looming threat.

I’m sitting here on my phone as emails continue to come through. I have to speak with customers, government organisations and engineers daily who talk down to everyone because they’re just as tired as I am. I’m so sick of being everyone’s punching bag every day while I just try to help them with the few resources this company gives me.

The sheer volume and speed of communication and tasks is unsustainable. A human cannot and should not have so many shifting and urgent tasks and demands in their heads all day everyday. This isn’t healthy. Why did we let this become normal and expected? And especially for a job that doesn’t pay enough for me to buy a home or even a flat? A job that interrogates me when I have to leave early for a hospital appointment?

I know I need to quit but I’m terrified I won’t find anything and run out of money. This job pays relatively well - more than most people I know but really not enough for this feeling. I’m scared that I’ll feel like this everywhere anyway. I’m beginning to just mentally check out now.

This was just a rant but also to codify the state of a modern ‘sit in a chair all day’ office job. I’ll probably go back to work like normal in a minute and suck it all up again. I just hate that this is probably just what being an adult is like.