Are you a slave to your dream job?

The morning that Patricia’s dog got sick after eating something in the park, something clicked in her. Scared because the animal would not stop vomiting, she took her to the vet, and when they handed her the bill after the examination and an X-ray, she suddenly became fully aware of the harsh reality of the past two years she had spent working tirelessly for a salary that barely covered her most basic living expenses. That day, for the first time since she had become independent, she had to ask her parents for money, as she could not afford her pet’s treatment.

But why did she make so little money, if she worked many more hours than what her contract stipulated? Because the company took advantage of Patricia’s eagerness, her motivation and career hopes. They used her passion to exploit her. Patricia laments: “After three years working in my area, I managed to get into a leading company where I thought I would be able to do great things. I was very excited and started giving 100%. The problem is that two days later – literally – they were already asking for 300%.”

For two years, Patricia worked from sunrise to sunset, with hardly any days off. She stopped going out, exercising and even watching funny movies, her life revolving around an absolute availability for a company that took as much advantage of her as it possibly could.

The problem is that the notion that life revolves around work is a deception that, in most cases, only benefits the company. A worker should not have to give up everything in order to have a profession. There are labor regulations that take into account a series of rights for workers; however, as in the case of the firm for which Patricia worked, sometimes they are not complied with.

The problem – in addition to the failure to comply with the law – also lays in the fact that career culture (that which places work at the center of life) uses many tricks to exploit the worker. First, the need to work for a living. Then there are the false promises and the various motivational speeches that we hear since childhood and that increase exponentially as we reach maturity.

Aurora was another victim of that slavery in disguise. After she got her dream job, she started hearing (and being conditioned by) this type of motivational speech: “Right from the beginning, they told me that I was privileged to be where I was. It is true that I was in a large company with a possibility of promotion, but that was no excuse for them to tell me things like that I shouldn’t clock in, that people like me shouldn’t do it because we were there for our career and to serve the company.”

To a certain extent, this is reminiscent of phrases like “at least you have a job,” commonly used to make an employee accept poor working conditions. Arguments like “you are privileged” and “not everyone gets to where you are,” are used by the system to stifle the desire to quit; If you have come this far, you should not give up now. You are chasing your dreams.

This does not mean that pursuing a career is a bad thing in itself, but labor rights must be taken into account. Have a career, but with respect for the schedules, decent wages and a life beyond work. A career, but with rights.

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