I’m going to tell a story because.. that's what we are encouraged to do. This company may remove any dignity you have left. It’s 2020… or maybe 2030… time blurs when you’re deep in the fog of regret. You made one of the biggest mistakes of your life: you believed the recruiter. You ignored the bright red flags. They own the red flags effectively normalizing the horrors. You took the bait. I get it. So many of us did.
You were promised a career-defining opportunity, a rocket ship. Instead, you were shipped off to “training,” a reprogramming camp disguised as onboarding. Something felt off. The scripts. The slogans. The cult-like cheer. But it was okay, you told yourself. “The product sells itself,” they said.
Slowly, you begin to realize the truth: to survive, you have to sell the lies. You have to defend a product that leadership is too arrogant to improve. You have to smile while spinning outdated tools as industry-leading innovation. You’re no longer just selling a service—you’re selling your soul.
Your mental health starts to slip. The weight of the deception, the micromanagement, the shifting metrics, and the silent punishments for speaking up—it all starts to show physically. You’re exhausted. You’re anxious. You’re on “E”. You still give and shed blood every week. It’s a mean cold environment.
All the while, you sit in an office surrounded by senior directors and regional leaders raking in bonuses off your labor. The market could be crashing, but their expectations don’t shift—just the goalposts. The greed always wins, you are still a hostage. You need to make ends meet, right? The money likely isn’t good either and especially during tough times. Boy are these tough times.
Your clients know. Their former clients know. You know. And they know you know. There is an undertone of hatred for you and the company with almost every cold call and warm call. But you’re expected to smile through it all, to take the blame for broken systems and empty promises. If you don’t fall in line with the right clique at the right time, they’ll turn the screws just enough to make you quit.
Or… you could walk away.
Because nothing—nothing—is worth selling yourself short for a company that sees you as a number, not a person. The real sell is getting people to work for them. You are being sold by the team. You will not like or love your purchase for long. They cannot help themselves. They get paid to do. You would need to survive for years and years to see the benefits. Even then… how many years of your life do you want to lose for a false and faint promise? Maybe the kiddos. But not as a seasoned professional.
