For most of us it only took that one “thing” that opened our eyes to the he-l that place is.
What was your thing?
10 replies (most recent on top)
I didn't mind getting drunk in company dime and time, but I definitely could see that it was a problem !
After over three years in my position, I found it impossible to transfer to another department, impossible to advance within my department, and had gained almost no valuable skills that I felt I could leverage to a better job somewhere else. At that point, I realized my work was pointless at best and actively harmful to the people my program was recruiting at worst. I became so depressed that I couldn't get out of bed most days and had multiple panic attacks when I did make it in to the office. When I finally got it together enough to confess how I was feeling to my boss (which I knew was a terrible idea but at that point I felt I had no other choice), she said, "Yeah, lots of people feel that way here."
??!?!?!!!?!?!??!??!?!??!?!!!
I quit within a month for another boring but slightly less destructive job. That company eventually set me up for a career change that I absolutely love and am grateful for every day.
You described the experience that was common place! There was So Much Li---r, seemingly all the time!
Depending upon the occasion being "celebrated," 2u had officially started serving drinks (mimosas) @ 10 a.m. No boundaries were upheld.
The 'old verbal rule ( spontaneous dance parties that seemed to pop up @ 2x week, in house/company happy hours or Halloween) was 'don't drink at your desk. But folks did, because the parties may start early in the day and your manager (while keeping one eye on their own cups) had an eye on how long you were under the tent or in the kitchen areas on a given floor, where the bottomless bottles were sitting. Meaning, some ( putting it mildly) were doing their work (including direct contact with prospects/students) while having the opportunity to and engaging in the opportunity to consume limitless amounts alcohol. Too often, just another day.
Looking back, I see how so many of us were indoctrinated.
We were living the frat life (it seemed) and getting paid to do so. I remember walking through the office and thinking how "cool" it was that people had li---r bottles on their desks. And then there were the parties and nights at the bars and the infamous All Company Meetings. We were seated in rooms with the likes of Michelle Obama and Diana Ross. How could we not be charmed by this life that made us feel as though we were rubbing elbows with the elite? We felt special to be a part of it all.
Had my particular management team not shifted to the reverse of the "no a**hole policy", I probaby never would have questioned a thing nor would I have resigned of my own volition.
It is, in retrospect, that some of the rules we were asked to follow now seem suspect. Those of us who worked with students and faculty from ALL of the colleges, had to hide to that we worked with other colleges or who we worked for in general. A simple slip of the tongue/or email address could land us in hot water or render us jobless. I got written up twice for such infractions as we were under no circumstances allowed to let the students know 2U existed. At the same time, we had so much work thrown at us that it was impossible to multitask which meant - it was a vicious cycle of either doing the work in quanity or quality - but never both. The industry standard for chat managmenent is 2. There were many a day I exceeded 20 AT A TIME. There is no way to simultaneously manage 20+ chats and not make mistakes. The day I got yelled at belittled for not answering a Slack message in less than 30 seconds, that was it. It is the only time in my life that I have ever angry cried to the point I was shaking and couldn't speak.
And this, my friends, is how I found myself hating 2U and questioning all of the years and heart and I put in to it.
I am so grateful I got out. My relationships suffered, my mental health suffered, I drank too much, I began to self destruct. I hope in writing this, I can offer hope to those of you looking to deboard the Rocket Ship. There are places out there that will care about YOU. Or at least not work you to death for miserable compensation. You probably won't get a keg wheeled in for a spontaneous party, but is that really what any of us imagined for our career trajectory? Do we really care what our fearless leader dresses HIS HOUSE up for Halloween? Probably not.
Begs the question, ' why was it so imperative for this company to seek and hire droves upon droves upon droves within the gen z population?'
Were they always identified as lazy people but you took the chance things would be different aboard the rocket ship?
Or was it 2u that corrupted them?
Or did they have a higher, overarching purpose --Was their function to produce this intense playground for the ceo to play in? Where booze (and who knows what else) may abound? Where more often than not, the hard questions would/could not be asked (after all, what previous experiences would they have to compare their experiences to - some whose first or 2nd job experience - was 2u)?
Pathetic man child!
@gqa+1p7rckqK, try David Halperin (Republic Report).
https://www.republicreport.org/contact/
What opened my eyes was when old processes returned as an updated or new process. I was like, we did this 3 years ago. I remember I said to myself, these people don't know what they are doing or where they are going. I also noticed when they wanted every hour on the calendar accounted for. In my department, there were barely any genz. I would have to say most mid millenials like in early to mid 30s. They played pretend. Like they were these corporate people and barely any had seen a real corporate environment. Also, when all the wokeness with DEI and safe spaces, pronouns was in the forefront. I agree with DEI and safe spaces, pronouns, etc, but shouldn't be the company's identity. Its too much content. It was weird the bridge from we want to be corporate but modern. They haven't been able to bridge that gap.
What were these departments that supposedly had employees looking for "excuses not to work"? Everyone I encountered was woefully overworked and stretched thin (but I guess I mostly only knew about TechDev and Learning...)
2u posted a salary range for an internal position that was above what I was making. I applied, and the first thing the recruiter told me was that it was a lateral salary transfer. Wrote some feedback for the hiring manager of the position about falsely advertising a salary range, and was laid off 2 months later 🤷♂️
Too many gen Z kids who found any excuse to not work.