Work is going to kill me.

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There's a word for this.

Karōshi (過労死), which can be translated literally as "overwork death" in Japanese, is occupational sudden mortality. The major medical causes of karōshi deaths are heart attack and stroke due to stress and a starvation diet.


A week ago, I informed my managers that I paid a great deal of money to live closer to work, since my job is going well. This week, they told me my internship will end in September & I won't be hired, never mind that I filled in for half my team for weeks. I'm expendable. No one cares about me beyond the revenue I can generate. I don't even do this for the money, it's about the blood, sweat & tears I put into building my own engineering career from scratch. I poured eighteen years of experience with computers into a job I thought people would want me in. They don't care about computing the way I do, even if that's why they hired me, it doesn't matter.

The fact is, however, that I'm dead weight for everyone. People don't want anyone like me, I'm a hacker & you probably aren't. Being different makes me incompatible with people & I mean everyone. I belong with machines, people have made it abundantly clear to me that I belong nowhere else.

You belong here, just not with those that don't or can't appreciate your incredible talents and qualities. It says more about the industry than it does about you.

I'm going to HR about this manager I just got the news from. I already knew he was resentful about my background & he's not actually running the show. His bosses are much cooler with me.

I have a number of friends in the company by this point. I'll work it to my advantage somehow but today all I can think is that this will be the death of me. I did way too much to please these people for nothing.

Unfortunately, those in powerful positions are also often those who have little conscience.

CBerg: I'm really sorry to hear this it sounds like it's pretty devastating for you. I don't have any work experience of any note so what I'm gonna say may not be of any use or comfort to you and is probably all stuff you know better than I do but I'll try nonetheless. We live in a sh***y economy particularly the labor market in this f****d up country. The low unemployment figures mean s**t when it doesn't measure the millions of people who are either no longer able to work or have simply given up looking b/c they either couldn't find anything or couldn't find something that would pay enough have adequate hours benefits job security etc. And those who are working overwhelmingly are working 2 or more jobs in precarious conditions that again don't pay enough don't have job security or else are temporary have long hours little to no benefits etc. The only people who've been doing well since the 2008 Great Recession are the top few % of the population who've gotten nearly all of the wealth created in the last decade. They're doing fine but the bottom 90% of us are hurting in many cases alot since 4/5 of households live paycheck to paycheck. I would make a political comment but I'm guessing you aren't interested so I won't other than to say we have the worst income and wealth inequality in the US since the 19th century.

Menace is right this is the industry you're in which is like nearly all industries these days in this regard. Most of us who are working are expendable in the eyes of those who run the economy. I'll just end by saying I'm glad to hear you say in your second post that you possibly have options that you're gonna pursue. I hope they work lead somewhere and whatever happens I wish you the best of success in your career!

Some states are "at will" employer

Employees in some states can get fired for any reason or no reason



Before moving closer to work, you should, research employment laws

That sucks. If you have the technical skills, someone will employ you for them no matter how "prickly" your personality may be (this is a bit presumptuous as I have no idea how you come across in person, but it's a problem for a lot of us autistics). It's a matter of perseverance and finding the right situation.

<sarcasm>You now just finding that out?</sarcasm>

Welcome to the modern world! You, like everyone else, are nothing more than a side of beef, to be thrown out when you get to your expiration date!

If you haven’t figured it out yet, management views labor as an expense that must be eliminated whenever possible. I put up with that kind of bullsh!t since getting my Master’s degree in 1985. I’m glad I no longer have to deal with the rat race known as the employment market.

At least it's a 3 day weekend. The way I see it, I could go furniture shopping, draft my resumé, study some code I want to know, get back on my bike now that my hand feels OK (that's an uglier thread) OR just have lots of beer for lunch.

All I did for the last 90 minutes was taking a sip of coffee.

I guess this is one of those days when I should be seen & not texted. Any minute now I'll come up with something to do about it. I want to take a drive, is there somewhere any of you think I should go? I'm so freaking bored. Help?

I guess I'll just jump in my car in a minute before having seriously planned anything.

I used to go shopping at hardware stores but I got all the stuff I need. So now I buy clothes I don't need. Easier on the wallet.

Last edited by BTDT on 25 May 2019, 4:36 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Isn't this a little harsh for the Haven? I mean my post wasn't particularly optimistic either, but I at least tried to be understanding and supportive. Isn't that the whole purpose of this specific board/forum? The dude's already down and yes, sorry to hear about your own difficult career experiences. But this board is here for people asking for support/advice, not just "the world sucks, didn't you know? Man up and deal cuz that's what I've been dealing w/for the last 30 years!" Try showing a little compassion, at least here.

I haven't had a car in an eternity, but ya I totally get the need to just go for a drive when you feel like this. Going for a walk, run or whatever is supposed to provide the same kinda thing. Enjoy your extended weekend, CBerg!

That mostly just makes no sense to me anyway, the stupid economy is trying to kill us all; why should anyone be OK with that? I'm a nervous wreck of a caffeine zombie on a Saturday, stop pretending that's evolutionary normalcy.