Ragged Riches

So, as a writer, I understand there’s a major push for people in our industry to “grin and bear it.” Any writing job suddenly is good enough to be worthy of dealing with abuse, neglect, and underpayment, right?

It’s true that our industry has been devastated by AI. Most companies are now choosing AI slop over real writers. It sucks. And it’s humbling.

But does that mean we should always grin and bear it? Well, as a veteran who’s never had a job with health benefits, my answer is “NO.”

Recently, I did the unthinkable at one of my editing jobs.

I quit.

And by quit, I told them that I was getting bad vibes, felt afraid to do my job, and got the feeling that I wasn’t wanted—despite me having been the only reason that a magazine was even published for the past six months.

This is something that is treated as a “verboten” deal as a writer. Writers are losing jobs left and right. In fact, many of the top magazines you see are mostly just rehashes and updates on old articles, peppered with a little AI assistance on new goods.

I’ve head more than one person say they’ve learned that those major magazines are mostly just created by one or two people. That means that the jobs that were once there? Not there anymore.

It may be shocking to hear this, but the truth is that I’ve been down this road before. And I’ve learned something: every single time I’ve been down this road, I’ve regretted staying as long as I have.

Here’s the one surefire hint that you need to leave your job (or gig) ASAP…

The moment that I stop feeling listened to is the moment that I start to look for other opportunities. It’s not when I hear people say the company is in dire straits. It’s not when I see inappropriate stuff going on in the closet.

No, it’s when people genuinely don’t want to work with you.

It’s possible to turn a ship around, but only when people are willing to work with you. I’ve seen companies turn around in crazy, wild ways. It took everyone on board, everyone working together, and everyone pulling their share.

I’ve worked in countless businesses. To date, I’ve never seen a single business that was able to turn itself around when people refuse to listen to others or abide by the due dates that were set forth.

In the last job I walked from, there were several major hints that made me make that decision.

It wasn’t just a one-step thing. It was a lot of major issues that refused to get solved, simply because everyone was just doing their own thing. There were several examples of this…

The Ignored Systems

I had a system I set up for everyone based on all the other workflows I’ve ever done for a magazine. It was simple: give people reminders of due dates, have them add their pitches to a Trello board, and have me “walk” their pitches across the board as they get done.

Everyone ignored it.

Okay, not a problem. I created a “To Edit” folder to drop all items to edit in. Once they were edited, they’d go in a corresponding “Ready To Publish” folder.

This worked because I was the one dropping everything in, writing when everyone else was past due, and editing everyone’s so that things were on time. No one else was doing it.

Had I chosen to do nothing, there would have been no magazine.

Well, someone came in and said they were going to make things faster. I offered to make a marketing plan. She ignored it and said I did it poorly, but wouldn’t tell me what was wrong with it.

Then, I started to offer insights on what kind of systems worked. Every single suggestion I made was panned. Demoralized? Yes. But it got worse: the system they put in place made my work damn near impossible and didn’t solve the “problems” my system had.

At one point, I blew up at everyone and asked them what I had to do to make them listen to me. They had no answer. That was my major clue that I should have quit.

Eventually, they relegated me to deleting posts from the site. Why? Because I told them it would have been wiser to just start totally new and they didn’t like that.

I didn’t want to delete posts. I wanted to do what I was hired to do.

Ignoring Counts

With magazines, everything needs to be systematic, including word counts. Otherwise, we end up short on content at the 11th hour.

I wrote everything with the command that every page would have 450 words, max. Well, one day I get a message that we’re 19 pages behind on the magazine.

I looked.

They were not using the word counts and suggestions I made. After that, I had to come down twice as hard with people but it made little difference.

“But I Just Said That!”

Most people would likely have quit after being patently ignored with a plan that made little sense and an outline that basically butchered a streamlined editing process.

I had been treading water and had slowly grown a rapport with writers. So, I started to coach them toward writing more cohesive themes. We had two magazine issues where I picked the theme.

I then asked for another theme.

One of the other coworkers immediately panned the idea of themes. He said he hates themes, doesn’t want them, and it was his call.

Guess what: the magazine had a theme the month after that happened because someone else suggested it. I even pointed it out, but they said, “It’s not a theme!”

Me: “THEN PRAY TELL, WHY ARE ALL THE TOPICS SURROUNDING EQUIPMENT?! THAT’S THE LITERAL DEFINITION OF A THEME!”

Maybe I didn’t explain it well enough? Whatever it was, that was another sign that this was not working out well.

Pitched Out

In any magazine, we have to deal with pitches. People pitching the magazine is a sign of a good magazine. It offers interaction and community. It also lets editors see where peoples’ eyes are in the community.

I made a pitch sheet.

I showed it to people. It was promptly ignored.

Another higher-up said, “We’re not using pitch sheets. This is not a pitchfest.”

Okay, so no one wanted to actually get on the same page about writing. Cool.

The Lockout

At one point, I started to hound them for updates. I can’t edit work without knowing what they want out of the editing, what they want for products, or anything else.

Moreover, I couldn’t really write without knowing what to write about. Every other phrase was, “We’re handling it,” or “We’re working on it.”

I mentioned I was starting to feel shut out. They had no answer. Eventually, I started asking others if I should be worried. They had no answer.

Finally, it just dawned on me: they didn’t want me there. At all. And they didn’t give a cat’s tail shake about what experience I had. They just didn’t want me to do anything with them.

Here’s how I quit.

Honestly, it was a breaking point. I was going to try to continue my work, but the moment I saw the group chat empty once more, I got fed up. I got tired of it.

So I kept it short.

I said, “Hey, I’ve been getting very bad vibes about all this lately. I’m not being listened to. I’m afraid to pitch things because I already know the answer’s going to be no. I’m afraid to edit things because it feels like no matter what I do, it’s bad. Sorry I couldn’t keep it together.”

And then I logged out of everything. Boom. That was it. I apologized, but honestly, I know I deserved better.

Then, I messaged my coworker who was actually decent with me. I told him I didn’t hold it against him. He agreed that I deserved better. And that was that.

Here’s why others refusing to work with you is such a big warning sign.

A wise man who wrote From Good To Great explained it: you can’t put the people on the wrong seats in the bus. If everyone is doing their own thing, the organization will not go anywhere.

You need everyone listening to each other, working to move things forward. You need to make sure that everyone listens to the person who has the most experience in their given field.

In that particular job, I was the only one who had magazine experience. I had 20 years of experience as an editor and writer. I had a track record of success, provided that people listen to me.

By having a team that refuses to work with you in any capacity, you are getting set up for failure. What that team did quite literally made my job impossible by the end of my time there.

They’re also showing you they don’t want you to be around them.

After a certain point, a team that doesn’t want you working with them will find a way to push you out. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to be that stubborn to stay (and soak up the bad vibes) or choose yourself.

Every time I’ve “stuck it out,” I ended up hurt over the long run.

Doing the whole “grin and bear it” thing doesn’t work. It’s harmed my reputation. The clients (or jobs) often don’t pay out the way they swear they would.

And the experience always ends up harming my mental health.

This time around, I decided to cut things off. I decided, for the first time, to choose my own mental health and myself, rather than watch others trample my work.

Today’s schoolyard bullies are in offices and cubicles. It’s up to you to make sure the bully doesn’t win. You can only do that by not playing the game.