by Stacey Carroll, Contributing Writer

America’s workforce is highly educated, highly productive, and eager to succeed. We strive for the American Dream – get an education, a good job or a career, and make a difference. Those values and goals are ingrained into us from a young age, but sometimes the positions we accept are toxic to our well-being.

Here are five reasons it’s time to quit your job:

You Don’t Get Along with Your Manager

When you started the job, your relationship with your manager was one of mutual respect, ideas, and the betterment of both of you and the company. You were listened to, and you listened to your manager. However, over time, your manager stopped listening, started berating you, and doesn’t treat you like the educated human being you are. You would rather keep your ideas to yourself then get into another argument. You avoid your boss at all costs.

The Job Hurts Your Self Esteem

All the conversations about how badly you perform your job, and what a worthless employee you are begin to take their toll on your self esteem. You now question everything you do on the job and off the job. Your self-esteem is at an all time low.

You Can't Motivate Yourself to Go to the Job

You have never had a tardiness problem prior to your current position, but now you can’t seem to get out of bed. You’re chronically late. The thought of going to work fills you with dread and anxiety until you call in sick. You would rather be anywhere but work.

You Always Feel Angry at Work

You have never been an angry person, but now you are consumed with anger. You find yourself starting arguments with your coworkers, boss, and even your family members. You are prone to violent outbursts.

You No Longer Care About the Job

You show up because they pay you, but even the paycheck doesn’t matter. You don’t care if the work gets completed on time or at all. You do just enough work to keep your job.

I had a position where I could check off all of these. I was berated and belittled every time I walked through the door. The constant harassment took a toll on my self esteem. I became angry. I became sick – chronic headaches, stomach problems, high blood pressure.

Eventually, I just didn’t care. I showed up for the paycheck, but even the paycheck wasn’t worth the destruction to my mental and physical well-being. I knew it was time to leave.

Author Bio:

Stacey Carroll is the author of the thriller series - Avia.  She also authors the paranormal erotica series - The Blooddoll Factory. Stacey grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. she went to college at Indiana State University (ISU) and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in aerospace in the professional pilot program. She has flown Cessna 152s, Cessna 172s, the Piper Seneca and the King Air. She also graduated with a minor in computer science that specialized in web design.

She has always been interested in reading and writing, and the first book she was ever read was the Grimms Brother's Fairy tales. From the ages of 6 to 11, she read the Nancy Drew series. By the age of 11, she had graduated to Stephen King novels. A few of her favorites include Carrie, Tommyknockers, The Dark Tower Series up to book 3 (That's where it stopped in the late 80s/ early 90s), Pet Semetary, The Shining, Night Shift, The Stand, It, Cujo, Christine, The Eyes of the Dragon and Thinner (Richard Bachman). In her teen years, she moved on to Anne Rice and got through about four of those books before they degraded. If you've ever read Anne Rice, you know book 5 isn't readable. Stacey has read a couple Harry Potter books as she was introduced to them in the early 2000s, and she's never read or watched anything Twilight or 50 Shades. Sorry. I'm a vampire purist, and nothing needs to be said about the latter. You already know.

She is currently an author and freelance writer. She received an honorable mention in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 2008 for a short story entitled The Field. In 2014, she was published in 13 Stories by Us by MacKenzie Publishing.

Other books by Stacey

• AVIA II
• AVIA Memories

by Stacey Carroll, Contributing Writer

When we think about working, we think about the paycheck associated with it, not the expenses we incur as a result of working. I once figured out that on an average 40 hour week, I spent 1.5 days working to pay taxes. I spent another half day working to buy food for lunch, and another half day to put gas in the car. When all was said and done, I was only working 2.5 days out of every week for me and that was before all the other miscellaneous expenses associated with the job.


Cell Phones

It used to be that employers provided cell phones to their employees if they needed to get a hold of them during the workday and after the work day. Since almost everyone now carries a personal cell phone, many companies no longer offer this option. It reduces expenses on the part of the employer and adds convenience for the employee. They only have to carry one cell phone.

If you’re like me and only tend to use 100 minutes a month out of a 450 minute a month plan, you can easily absorb the work calls. However, I know a lot of people that use most of their minutes and text messages every month. This means that in order to absorb the work calls, those people have to increase their text messaging plans and their cell minute plans. That is an added expense associated with the job. If you have an unlimited talk and text plan, you're good, but plenty of people still have minute phones.


Working Off The Clock

It is illegal for an hourly employee to work off the clock. Of course, that doesn’t mean that companies don’t have unwritten rules that require working off the clock if all the work is not complete. I have had jobs that required research or online test taking while at home. I wasn’t paid for it, but it was required for the job.

In the case of a salaried position, every hour after 40 hours is a decrease in hourly pay. I had a job that paid $40,000 a year or roughly $19.23 an hour, but I rarely worked 40 hours a week. Most weeks I worked 50 hours a week. I’d get on the road at 6:00am and arrive back home at 4:00pm. Then I’d have to take calls from customers on my personal cell phone. If the customer’s need couldn’t wait until the following day, I had to drive out again. The added hours decreased my hourly rate to $15.38 or less, and since the job was salary I never saw any overtime. I figured out that over the course of a month, I was losing almost a thousand dollars in overtime pay.


Tip Jobs

Certain positions such as waitressing and pizza delivery pay less than minimum wage. The employee works mostly for tips. The hourly pay for waitresses has not increased in 20 years. They still make $2.15 an hour. Employees are now required by law to report their tips for the day and pay taxes on them. Companies are also required to make sure that the hourly wage plus tips equals at least minimum wage. If it doesn’t, the company is required to make up the difference. Companies do not want to make up the difference.

If the waitress only makes four dollars in tips for an hour, the company is required to pay her an extra $1.10 for that hour in order to bring her hourly wage up to minimum wage. Chances are the company isn’t going to do that. What they are going to do is plug in the minimum amount of tips to ensure that she made minimum wage whether she made that much or not. This is a two-fold gotcha. The waitress didn’t earn that extra $1.15 and she has to pay taxes on that $1.15 per Uncle Sam.

Companies have come up with some creative ways to cut costs, and almost all of them are touted as being more convenient for the employee. While it might be more convenient, it is also an added cost for the employee. I make sure I know all the extra expenses before I start a job. Then I subtract them from the hourly wage. If I can live off of it, I take the job, if I can’t, I negotiate with the employer for a higher hourly wage. Just because it’s an employer's market doesn’t mean you need to let them nickel and dime you. Know the extra expenses associated with the job, and know the hourly wage you need to survive.

Author Bio:

Stacey Carroll is the author of the thriller series - Avia.  She also authors the paranormal erotica series - The Blooddoll Factory. Stacey grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. she went to college at Indiana State University (ISU) and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in aerospace in the professional pilot program. She has flown Cessna 152s, Cessna 172s, the Pipe Seneca and the King Air. She also graduated with a minor in computer science that specialized in web design.

She has always been interested in reading and writing, and the first book she was ever read was the Grimms Brother's Fairy tales. From the ages of 6 to 11, she read the Nancy Drew series. By the age of 11, she had graduated to Stephen King novels. A few of her favorites include Carrie, Tommyknockers, The Dark Tower Series up to book 3 (That's where it stopped in the late 80s/ early 90s), Pet Semetary, The Shining, Night Shift, The Stand, It, Cujo, Christine, The Eyes of the Dragon and Thinner (Richard Bachman). In her teen years, she moved on to Anne Rice and got through about four of those books before they degraded. If you've ever read Anne Rice, you know book 5 isn't readable. Stacey has read a couple Harry Potter books as she was introduced to them in the early 2000s, and she's never read or watched anything Twilight or 50 Shades. Sorry. I'm a vampire purist, and nothing needs to be said about the latter. You already know.

She is currently an author and freelance writer. She received an honorable mention in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 2008 for a short story entitled The Field. In 2014, she was published in 13 Stories by Us by MacKenzie Publishing.

Other books by Stacey

• AVIA II
• AVIA Memories
  

Are you looking for the best job in this bustling economy? Here are some tips to make sure you don't get screwed.


We don’t allow second jobs.

Watch out for this one especially if the pay is low. Typically, this requirement should only come from a job paying $35,000 or more a year. It has to be a livable wage, and trust me, the company interviewing you knows what constitutes a livable wage. The individual applying and interviewing should also know his or her minimum livable wage. If the job is below those thresholds, proceed with caution.


The pay is salary instead of hourly.

Typically, a low wage job is also an hourly job. I didn’t see salary until I was making $40k a year. Even my $35k assistant manager job in 2007 was hourly. At $20k a year, you really don’t want to be answering phones all night after you’ve left the office or checking work email in the middle of the night. The company isn’t paying you for that, but if the job is salary they will expect it even if they didn’t specifically tell you.


The company is in transition.

Two companies I worked at were in transition. At the time of my hire, the latter had just fired quite a few of their middle managers. The goal was to hire new middle managers with better qualifications and fresh eyes. By the time they downsized me in 2009, they had let most of those new hires go and reposted the jobs with a salary decrease of $13k, and reduced requirements. If they can transition the old out, they can transition the new out just as easily.


You are extremely overqualified.

The last job I applied for required a high school diploma and a couple years of office experience. I applied because I wanted office experience. At that point, I had ten years of retail experience, a year and a half of sales experience, and a Masters degree in Human Resources Development. In other words, I know how to handle and deal with people. The job was phone and computer-centric. I figured if they were a growing company, I could run my own office in a couple years. I was wrong. What they wanted were my ideas. After that, they didn’t need me.

Needless to say, I didn’t give up my other income when I started the job. I did share my ideas. One of them was used against me during the exit interview which I found slightly amusing. They had yet to implement the idea.

The bottom line: apply wherever you like, but pay attention during the interview process. The interviewer will give hidden clues to the company’s direction, viability, and expectations. If you choose to accept the position, great, but keep your night job. The company may have a hidden agenda for hiring you and once that agenda is met, you will be let go.