#also don't work overtime without OT pay

[sage-nebula]

DAMN RIGHT!! DO NOT WORK THROUGH YOUR BREAKS!!

[harleiquina]

I fully understand the situation and how it looks but sometimes we don't have other choice 😭 (I'm also taking 3 days off this week after working pretty much non-stop for 2 years)

In my case I work as an English/Spanish interpreter over the phone. I get paid 4dls the hour (6 hours shift/ 5 days a week) I used to work an 8 hour shift. There was a decrease in the amount of calls we receive so I was asked to change my schedule and hours on the line.

Still I can do Overtime (something I couldn't do in the prior agency where I was working) but I have to disconnect if I don't receive calls within 15 minutes on the line.

Every 30 days of work I have 1 paid day off (that didn't existed on my prior agency). When I started working in this new company, they had two choices: you take the day off or we pay the day (kinda like a bonus) so I started to accumulate them unless I needed to run an errand (like trying to get my health care up and running). There was a week where I couldn't work due to a massive power outage (4 days without power in the worst week of Summer 🙄) so I was like "ok, I'll ask them to pay me those days off so I won't lose money if I can't recover those missing hours". They changed that politic, they no longer pay for those days off (reason why I decided to start using them) so I had to work against the clock to have my full month pay.

In addition to all of it. If you work more than 47 hrs a week, the rest of the hours are worth 25% more. It was easier to achieve when I worked 8 hours (if I worked every day with 2 hours of OT I had 3 hours -a misery, I know- that were slightly better paid). Now OT is limited to only 2 hours - between 5PM and 7PM central time- (with the prior exception) so I can only work 8 hours if I'm lucky (I work from 10AM to 4PM).

I'm the sole bread winner of my family in a country that has a very sh'tty economy. Even if I hate my job I have to suck it up and try to work as much as possible because every cent counts. I am looking for other posibilities and I've sent my resume to multiple places, but nobody answers 😔

Remote work is great because I can work for USA companies and get paid in dollars... but, at the same time it allows a new form of slavery because there isn't a International Regulation that could protect us.

USA companies take advantage of this because if their worker is based in USA they are forced to pay at least the minimum wage... they are not obligated to do it with workers overseas. We are cheaper and cannot ask for other stuff like health care or workers comp or even unemployment/retire funds.

Still, there is a chance that some companies don't know that they have people working for them that are outside the US. I can say that because the whole how I got hired is kinda shady.

With my first agency (based in Mexico) I got hired after 2 tests (for Social and Medical calls) that were rather simple. I did the training (basically how to behave in a Call Center, absolutely nothing about Interpretation), they checked my PC remotely and I was ready for the line. Still, let's say that the agency was named A... the portal had the name B on it. And if you check B's website, you'll see that nobody can work for them unless they have all kind of certifications and actually studied Interpretation as a career. Their interpreters got paid about 15dls/hr (in 2021) and I was getting 3,50/hr (I assume that B pays A the full amount or even more and the CEO, managers and supervisors take "small" bites out of our pay. Something that also happens in the agency where I work now).

So maybe this agencies present themselves as cheap options that the larger companies see as a good investment and then we have to lie for them:

- We cannot say where we are located and if we are forced to do it we have to choose a random state and change the subject.

- When I had court calls the Judge would ask me if I was certified to interpret in their state (I had calls from Alaska, Washington and Connecticut most of the times) and I had to say that I was... under oath 🤦🏻‍♀️

- Technically my current agency did certified me on HIPPA and other stuff... but through a learning platform called Wizer. I don't know how valid those certificates are.

Anyway... that's our life...overworked and underpaid.

Dear Mr Gaiman,

I have not taken a single day off work for over two years. I have worked 7 days a week, 24-hour availability for the whole time. I have requested off on the 28th to enjoy the re-watching of Good Omens S2. This is the first thing I’m doing for myself in years, and I thank you.

My question is: How long are all the episodes? It’s released at 8 PM EST, so how long will I need to be awake to watch the whole series the first night? I need to know these things.

Just budgeting my time and caffeine — not looking for spoilers! I hope you know how happy you make your fellow humans. You’re an amazing person. Anyway, thank you!

Cheers,

Ms. A. Tombée

Until about 1 am.

[atthebeautycooler]

I'm finding that many artists don't understand or ask for overtime because they think they will be perceived as greedy or not a team player. Many times things will not be offered to you unless you ask for them. I'm going to explain why defining work terms and asking for overtime or a higher flat rate payment is important.

For the longest time an 8 hour day for print and ten hour for video production was pretty standard and no one really tried to deviate from that. But now there is alot of expectation of people working for 12 hours straight and now I am seeing 14 hours creep in. The expectation is you are working without any additional payment of overtime because they are telling you a rate based on when they think they will wrap. You will also hear things like "You won't end up working that long" or "It's what everyone else is getting." What everyone is allegedly doing has no basis on you and it is the wording used to get you to go along with this. Let me try to explain to you what is actually happening when you agree to this types of terms:

Did you know when you fill out a timecard that is being used to pay you that it is based on an 8 hour day? If you are union artist, you already understand how it works. How many times had you heard "don't worry about filling out anything, I'll take care of the rest" because your money is not being calculated the way that you think so let me break it down for you. Unfortunately we have lost the battle of an 8 hour day with our pay being based on but the payroll is still calculated on that.

Say you have agreed to be paid $200/10. You think you are being paid $20/hour right? Wrong!!! You are actually getting $18.245 an hour...let me show you the math:

18.184 x 8 hours = 145.46

27.27(1.5) x 2 = 54.54

Equals $200 for 10 hours

So if you are agreeing to working a flat 12 you are actually getting around 16/ hour and 14/ hour if you are working $200/14.

If you are wondering what the big deal is...let me show you what you would actually be making if you negotiated $200/10. With overtime of (1.5) starting at 10 hours and double time (2.0) after 12 hours:

18.184 x 8 145.54

27.27 x. 4 = 109.08 $254.62 pay for 12hrs

36.37 x 2 = 73.74 $328.36 pay for 14hrs

And if you are working an 8-hour day $200/8, you are actually making $25.00 an hour. And this is what you would be making working overtime:

10-hour day (2 hours OT) $275.00

12-hour day (4 hours OT) $350.00

14-hour day (6 hours OT) $450.00

See how it is significantly more $$$?

Now if everyone in production is going along you can see how much they are not paying out!!!!

So if production is being adamant of you working a 12 or a14 hour day you should be adamant on getting a higher base pay or overtime. #themoreyouknow #dontgetmoneyscrewed

Love and Lipstick,

Margina

Beautybeautebeauti.com

[mrmeriwether]

This has been the single hardest thing to learn since becoming a creative professional, and it sucks that most every single creative has to face it themselves at one point or another. The comic illustrates it beautifully and this breakdown gives even clearer context! Thank you for putting this out here.

To add my own experience as someone who went to an art school and has now been working in AAA games for 7 yrs... It's especially tough because burnout/overworking is one of the very first things I was warned about. But! It's so, so easy for that message to get drowned out. I was also told my field is hyper-competitive! To do my best on small-scale projects for grades at a time in my life when I first tasted independence and didn't know what to do with it. I was building toward that One Big Moment (finals/graduation).

For the first time, I could stay up ALL NIGHT working on something, and literally no one would stop me. Sure, I'd feel gross seeing the sun rise while I'm still staring at a screen, but I was tough! I could take it if it meant I got that sweet validation of a finished product! I was incredibly proud of those extra hours, and my professors praised me for my effort. The warning grew quieter, and long-term effects were impossible to see. I just needed to make it through college, I could overwork myself a little, right?

Plus, it wasn't just about external validation. I was doing what I loved! How cool that I could throw myself in entirely to my creative passions.

Then, all my hard work landed me a dream internship, which became a dream job!! And suddenly, the pressure cranked up! The stakes for everything were higher now -- I NEEDED my work to stay great so I could pay for food and rent, and to prove to myself that I deserved to be here. I was surrounded by folks with my same passions, but also with years of extra experience and honed talents. It was intimidating! It was exciting!

Plus, now I could be paid OVERTIME! When work got busy, I could buckle down, stay late an hour or two (or more) polishing my work, and pocket some extra cash? For those of you keeping score at home, this is how crunch culture is made. What doesn't get mentioned as often is that being in the middle of crunch is as exciting as it is miserable. There's a weird mix of adrenaline and camaraderie -- we can get this done, if we all work together! Once again, that old warning conveniently gets brushed away in the moment. Part of you knows you shouldn't put yourself through those extra hours, but another part WANTS to, and another is scared what might happen if you don't.

And then you ship a game. And it comes out and (hopefully) people play it and enjoy it. And it gets good reviews, maybe even gets nominated for awards. You did it! This thing is out there, and it is loved, and your name is in the credits as proof that it couldn't have happened without you.

....and your hands have been hurting way more than they used to. And your car is at the shop now because you couldn't find time to get an oil change. And you've brushed some people aside for the past few months (wait, when did it turn into months?). And your relationship didn't survive this one. You knew things were getting rocky, but you were going to focus on that next, just as soon as you got through this last bit of OT! You didn't realize the release date was going to get pushed back. You didn't realize just how much of yourself you placed in this project. You can't remember the last time you've been to the doctor. Your boss gives you a few weeks off, as a reward for all your hard work. You use it finding a new place to live. You get a promotion. That extra OT money goes to rent, since there's no one sharing the bills now. Your hands really hurt. And then...

You realize you have to do it all over again.

For me, I had to live through the consequences before I finally remembered that first advice I got back in school, finally allowed myself to bring it to the front of my mind. In the moment, it felt like I was working extra hard as a temporary measure. Project-based creative work has that allure to it, it feels so final at the time. But there's always another project. Your team talks excitedly about a sequel, and you finally realize that THIS IS IT. This is your life, and it is a continuous thing, and the industry you're in will be more than happy to eat you up and spit you out if you let it. You start to see your older coworkers in a new light, realizing your ferocious drive wasn't necessarily a badge of honor. You begin to understand the high turnover rates in your industry.

I started stepping back more, allowing myself to do Good work instead of The Best work, if it meant going home at a normal time. I still feel that pull though, and I'm still learning and healing. It's a long process. Not the kind you push through with your head down, consequences be damned. The kind you'll carry along with you for the rest of your life, gently, but with purpose. The art will still get made.

I’ve gotten enough questions about my “Rulebreaker” comic that I really wanted to clear it up, so here’s a little peek at what I was trying to say! Thank you for your patience, and interest in these comics, it means so much <3 

(The comic referenced is linked here):

https://www.tumblr.com/maddiesharafian/642329764808540161/rulebreaker?source=share