Have you had your "FTE"? (Or Was it an FTM?!)

[MikeThePilot13]

Is there any way to trigger a FTE or does it have to come naturally?

 

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[RussRussman18]

Is there any way to trigger a FTE or does it have to come naturally?

Mental masturbation, don't worry about it

 

[easy850]

For me it was about 3 years ago.

I was still in high school, doing a work during school program (CTE) where I could get out of school and work at a real grown up job for one day a week.

Be allowed to skip school while making money?
(Skipping a couple times to hang out with friends of course)
Count me in!

Anyways, it's a warehouse job.
The pay was $15 an hour which was almost twice the minimum wage at the time so I felt pretty good to work there.
Most of my co-workers were double or triple my age which was strange but I'll come back to this later.

The company was an e-waste handler, they got paid to securely dispose of used electronics, mostly 5> old computers that companies and schools didn't use anymore.

The job was taking pictures of products that the company listed then on eBay.

Pretty easy, I used a camera before.

No biggie.

Click click away, I'm getting through pallets of products. Every day I'm getting better. I made small talk with my co-workers while I worked. After work, they drank at the bar or went home and slept.

That's when it hit me.

This is their life. Wake up, shit, shower, shave, drive to work and shut off for 8 hours, return home, sleep. Repeat.

I was shocked. I knew I didn't want to end up like that.

But it gets better.

While I was working my manager, Brandon, pulled me to the side. I wasn't getting some little thing tagged correctly and he wanted to let me know about it, while scrolling I spotted the eBay dashboard for the company.

$259,425 in the last 90 days. I was in awe. This is just one sales channel they had.
The best part? They were being PAID to get the items they were selling.

And my paycheck? I was working every Wednesday for eight hours a day.
By my iPhone calculator calculations, I was destined to make about $250 for my two weeks of work. Not to bad.
After SSI tax, medicare, breathing, pooping and living tax, I was left with a little over $200.

$100 in a week. While the company I was working for made at the very least $21,000 a week.

That was my FTE. It more inspired me than anything else. Sure there was anger, but not in the employer but in the system and in myself and other's that fell for this trap that we call a 9-5 or rat race. Well, if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

​

 

[RicardoGrande]

I think I posted earlier in the thread about my FTE I had about 80 minutes into my first 12 hour shift of my first "big boy" job thinking "Oh sh1t... I got DUPED!" which is all and well... but my life didn't change over night.
After that realization in that cramped cubicle, I was just a millenial with a chip on my shoulder, but couldn't summon the energy or will to do anything solid about that outside of work.

This past January something broke.
I usually used to drag myself home from work, pop a beer, and zombie out, and I'd spent 4 years like that, trying to be numb because I kept getting into paralysis and seeing other people's success stories here on TFF and thinking "I don't think I could do that".

However, with the oncoming bubble pop and recession, hyperinflation deleting my savings, something finally snapped and almost overnight it seems I got the confidence back in myself and I've been able to work on my WD side hustle for hours in the early morning before work, and even for hours after work and then the weekends.

I know the FTE is supposed to light a fire under your a$$, I still think of my encounter 5 years ago as the original, but something had to have happened because I really have the fire and the hunger now, nothing else is as important as the work I'm able to do for clients, and learning more tools to improve the value of my offerings.
I wanted to write this because I thought I would never escape the cycle of procrastination. I knew without a doubt that I couldn't continue being an employee for the rest of my life, but couldn't take the right actions.
That's changed.

If you too have issues with ADHD or taking right action, I highly suggest you sign up for www.focusmate.com, you can work with a real human being every hour of the day for just 5$ a month.

 

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[JIRS]

I had my FTE lat month, I just didn't walk out of my job, but I knew that I had learned enough and was not going anywhere with the company. I had previously slept under my desk after 27 hour long work day (yes, that is not a typo) with a blood shuttered eye, coughing out of stress, and a threatening customer insulting me and accusing me and escalating any issue with high ups in my company .. that did not make me quit back then as I felt I needed the salary to pay the bills and debt. I however, started saving a bit more and preparing for my next FTE starting that day.

HOWEVER, this time (2 years after the blood shut eye / coughing / abusive customer event), this is what made the sh*t hit the fan in my brain (a three part sh#t train), it may not sound that stressful in comparison with other FTE/FTMs here (I am truly humbled by your experiences and punchbacks), but this was the culmination of many punches; this one just came as a 1-2-3 special:

FTE 1/3: After a couple of weeks working 80+ hours a week, and trying to keep up with the abusive amount of work, I let a non-value item escape ... and my director (2 levels above my level) took the time to write an email on how "disappointed" she was about me letting that non-priority item escape. The twat doesn't spend the time to understand the workload of my high priority projects, but has the time to write a long email to chastise me ?
FTE 2/3: THIS time, a VP above my Director calls me out to again to reprimand me about a project that died months ago but I was trying to revive as a side project. It hit him suddenly that it was important again. Guy calls me and basically asked me why after so long, I wasn't able to spend a couple of hours on this project - which by the way is not true. I thought to myself... but I spent my entire PTOs during Christmas working as if I was at work and actually had spent some time pushing this turd up the mountain for the company, but that wasn't enough. I kind of let this one slip, because the VP is 3-4 levels above me and doesn't really know what's going on in the trenches.
FTE 3/3: The same Director from FTE 1/3 calls me and asks me about the rescue-project (in FTE 2/3) and again complains about my lack of follow up. The same "I am disappointed" lady. I explained to her that this was not the case, for the first time in months requested a PTO Friday and didn't use it to catch up on work but to think about the F#CK'ed up situation I was in.

This was it, no matter how many sleepless nights I sacrifice for this company, I am always going to have more work than possible in 80 hour weeks and I am always going to be behind. I put my 2 weeks notice, and worked my 80+ hours/week, took an early distribution from my 401k which will bring me 6 months to try my idea out. I am ready to work 80+ hours/week, get shit from customers and live under stress, but I know that at the end, if I work 2x as much , it will increase my bottom line and not just half my salary as I was doing for this exploitative POS company. It was a good learning experience, but I am ready to go on my own.

P.S.: As much as it sound, I don't feel like a victim as I put myself on that situation and didn't quit before. I am writing this as a note to remind myself what I am leaving behind and why I need to move forward; sort of a self-therapy note. I've read the previous posts and empathize with fellow fastlaners as most many of the FTEs/FTMs here are truly moving.

 

[Nhervel 1]

Mon FTE fût en deux étapes
L'année dernière, j'ai FTE la religion où les gens prient et se laissent guider par des prophètes en espérant être riche demain sans rien faire

Mais deuxième FTE fût il ya quelque mois

 

[harlansjobs]

Nhervel 1​

Mon FTE fût en deux étapes
L'année dernière, j'ai FTE la religion où les gens prient et se laissent guider par des prophètes en espérant être riche demain sans rien faire

Mais deuxième FTE fût il ya quelque mois

I took the liberty to try to use Google Translate and it came out like this-

My FTE was in two stages
Last year I FTE the religion where people pray and be guided by prophets hoping to be rich tomorrow without doing anything

But second FTE was a few months ago.

 

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[DutchEnglishman]

My FTE is one waiting that was building up.
A little backstory, I joined the company 2 years ago during COVID.

1. The first part of the FTE is the owner, who will scream at employees at random. Don’t click on a widget quick enough? SCREAM. Forgot to put a dot on the i? SCREAM. Made a small error in the design, which he would review? SCREAM.
He literally makes you feel humble, for mistakes you didn’t even commit.

2. While working from Home, there were a lot of lacking processes to make working remote and cooperation as DevOps work. I decided to kick against every faulty process and make the company better.
You know what that got me after a half year of overtime to fix it (normal hours couldn’t be used to do this). A raise of €100,- which I could get to €150,- by the mercy of their goodness.

3. Some weeks ago I learned that a leaving consultant with much less experience only earned €100,- less than me.

4. During the same interview I was promised a position as Operations Manager Ops. I should do some extra tasks, like checking the consultants and instructing them to make sure I was ready for the job. Fastforward to 3 weeks back, just before I go on holliday I’m told this will be it and when I return the job is mine.
I get back, they plan a meeting and we start speaking. The only thing they mention is additional tasks, no promotion, no paycheck increase, nothing about me.

At that point it struck me, no matter how hard I tried or how much I cared.. SCRIPTED life will only get you so far..

Since that day I have studied Coding relentlessly, made a 10/5/1 plan to map out my goals, started discussing my idea with potential customers, quit playing games and stopped caring what others think.

 

[Anon101637]

My FTE happened when I lost two student job and it was at this moment that I stopped caring about how much money I make since the slavery system is a rigged chess game ruled by owner and founder of the business that can kick you out any time they want. Basically the first time was on a restaurant the manager was horrible at managing schedules and rarely called me for doing the job and after the late summer he just stopped calling me and I found something really strange and I wasn't sure if I would keep the job and one morning he called me so I can go to the workplace and I opened my phone hours later and realised I forgot to enter but it wasn't my fault since the manager couldn't schedule well my work days it was 100 % manager fault. Second time I worked on a grocery store I was putting chicken and sometimes even tho the quality wasn't perfect I still put them since it was better for environment instead of wasting food who probably was at a good quality and was enough to taste good but the manager realised it and I made this mistake multiple times and that deserved me to lose the job it was kind off 50 % 50 % so it's kind of my fault on this one I agree but it proves that company don't care about environment and instead maximise profit. But even tho I would have done my job well I didn't get enough hours to motivate me to push at the job and the job was boring, repetitive low satisfaction no control over my workplace and this is the moment I got enough of jobs now I don't have one I want to have one so I can start a business and that I would finally get the control back.

 

[Andrew 1177]

My life has had some twists and turns. From writing gay porn descriptions in my bathrobe to working for one of my country’s most senior politicians. I’ve had a few FTM’s but my FTE came a few weeks ago as I walked out of my building lobby after another day in the office.

But first a bit about me.

There are lots of stories on here about people born into disadvantage who ground their way up from nothing inch by inch, while I admire these people immensely, I’m not one of them.

Mine is a story of the easy, comfortable life, the middle road. I burn hot and brilliant, but never do I grind and glow consistently enough to change my life. Things also seem to come easy to me in their own way and that in some ways that has been my curse.

I was born into a lower middle class family of second generation immigrants, money was tight for my parents sometimes but they always found a way to give us a stable and normal life. They are good people, loving parents, I have great brothers and sisters. We are ordinary in every way.

I graduated high school. Got better scores than I deserved but had no idea what to do with my life. I took a gap year which turned into three. I tried everything, from working in factories, to retail, to apprenticeships — you name it. I partied, I F*cked around, I had many and varied adventures. Knowing I had the seemingly endless road of my life ahead of me, meant that I could enjoy whatever my current dalliance was free of guilt.

My first F*ck this moment

My first FTM was while I was working as a bricklayer’s apprentice. It was a cold and windy day. My hands were cracked from mixing cement and lime, my ankle blisters chafed, my muscles ached with constant use. It was starting to rain, and the dirt, spilled cement and worksite rubbish had turned the mixing area into a slick mud pit. From the other side of the construction site I could hear my boss yelling “more mud”. I rolled the 100kg wheelbarrow up the narrow plank from the front yard onto the house foundation, it caught the edge and slipped, caking my lower half in wet cement. Already, I could feel the lump of a bruise forming on my bleeding shin. “The F*ck is going on” yelled my boss from somewhere inside the skeleton of the half-finished house.

It was then I heard a door slam from the finished house next door. Out walked a good looking man in a suit and tie, he pressed the car remote and hopped into a brand new Holden Calais (nice Australian car back in the day). He reversed expertly out of the driveway looked at me for a second and then accelerated out of my field of view. Then and there it hit me. I was smart, personable, loved to read and learn. What the F*ck was I mixing mud and copping physical pain for when I could use my brain to make a living.

F*ck this shit.

I quit the next day. My boss (a mostly decent and great bloke) was shocked. But so it goes.

My second F*ck this moment

I went to University. I studied, I partied, I drank in every drop of the experience. I worked part-time as a grocery hand at one of our country’s biggest grocery chains. It was good money and honest work — I met a vibrant patchwork of humanity.

I finished my undergraduate degree. I didn’t want to do public relations after realising how scummy and soul-destroying both can be so I decided to do a three year arts course, because hey, I still had time. I did the course for a year. More study, more partying, more memories. More of the feeling that I had my best years ahead of me, the road of my life still curled off into the shimmer.

At the end of my first year, I decided to switch to a postgraduate law degree. On paper it matched my personality and abilities, so into the maelstrom I went.

Law school was full of more of the same. Hard work, hard partying, a stipend from the government to study. I nearly quit a few times but persevered. Finally I graduated. I thought I was going to the Bar to practice law. I was offered an associateship with a Supreme Court judge, but true to form when on the precipice of achieving my dream I saw a shiny object and took a job as a manager in a State court for double the salary and half the work.

It was an outstanding job, I didn’t deserve it. The pay was excellent, I managed a team of 7 lovely secretaries who coddled me. 6 months into my job one of my girls retired. She’d been with the court for 40 years. Fifteen of us, bureaucrats, colleagues, a handful of judges, squeezed into the lunchroom one Friday and cut a pavlova cake with her name on it. A few drinks were had, a banal speech was given, the old girl received a broach from the CEO of the Court. This tepid gathering of half-assed smiles and conversation, shuffling feet and repeated watch checks was the culmination of her life’s work. I went back to my desk with my slice of cake, a little buzzed from the drinks and looked out of my window into the other office building. I had my first panic attack. This would be my life. I would live and die in offices just like this, before I knew it it would be my day to leave, a life half lived, a life of regret and once I got to my farewell drinks there would be no second chances to relive it.

F*ck this shit.

I started searching.

My third F*ck this moment

Somehow I found the Millionaire Fastlane book, I read it and re-read it. It planted a seed. I started to water it. I planned my exit for six months and then I left the Court to be a freelance copywriter. I walked out of the department on my last day, slightly buzzed from my own farewell, feeling invincible and free. I had done it, I had cut the cord and was moving toward the fastlane.

I quit with $2000 in my pocket and $21,000 of credit card debt. I thought with my back against the wall I’d make the magic happen. And in some respects I did. I supported myself copywriting for a living. I even managed to travel a little. Looking back I was very immature and while the Millionaire Fastlane planted a seed that lives to this day, I misinterpreted the message by not having a proper plan.

Work was interesting but always sporadic, I did it all, wrote everything you can imagine and then some. I worked for everyone from big corporates, to startups to heartbreakingly delusional self-help gurus. The only regular work I had was writing video descriptions for gay and tranny porn. $10USD an hour and as much of it as I wanted — but at what cost. Hearing gut deep groan of a man on a sex swing having his taint reamed by a Brazilian tranny is not a sound that quickly fades and is forgotten. But hey, at least I didn’t have to wake up at 9AM and catch a train like all those other ‘slowlane’ morons.

So the day of my third F*ck this moment arrives.

11AM, in my bathrobe, girlfriend at work. Open up the 100,000 row spreadsheet to keep writing my porn descriptions. Headphones in. Another day of freedom. Descriptions are being written. $10 USD an hour baby, and as much work as I can do. F*ck yeah, the on-ramp to the fastlane.

“Oh my F*cking god, what the F*ck are you doing?”

I swing around towards the horrified voice, it’s my girlfriend, eyes wide, mouth agape in horror, handbag bouncing off the floor.

She hadn’t felt the best, had come home early. To that picture.

We talked, she cried, she asked lots of searching questions, one that’s I deserved, was I happy? Was I gay? Were there things I wasn’t telling her? I showed her the briefs, the emails and the spreadsheets and she believed me. But the look of disappoint in those big brown eyes broke something in me. I wasn’t the man that she deserved. I emailed my client and quit the next day.

F*ck this shit.

My fourth F*ck this moment

I managed to find a gold star client in my city. I went in to meet him, it was a real business, 10 people and counting, a unique industry, all the work I wanted and all of it remote. I started copywriting and pivoted to marketing and sales funnels. I took the business from $10,000 a month to $30,000+. I knew my worth, I constantly pushed for pay rises, I devised new and cunning profit sharing schemes, my hourly rate went up but the hours they’d sign off on went down — so I was no better off, I knew it but it was steady and enjoyable remote work so I couldn’t quit. I went to live in Asia for a year. There were no issues with that. I told my client we should create a retail brand as well. We did. I took it from $0 to $10,000 a month in a totally unserved market in 6ish months. I worked harder than I’ve ever worked before and I F*cking loved it. I negotiated a deal. 50% equity in the business for 1 year of sweat equity in the retail business and a salary in the B2B. Things were looking up.

Turns out once we worked together every day I realised my business partner was a total nutbag, suicidal, drug addicted and probably a sociopath. One day I was tired, strung out. I was living in a hostel nearby until my rental was ready. I’d spent another joyous night listening to the german backpackers on the top bunk squeak the springs and giggle and F*ck each other while I sneezed dust and tried to read by torchlight. My business partner was being a cunty, pissy a**hole to the team as usual. I could barely think straight, so tired and janky and strung out. It hit me that the business partner relationship is a very close second to a lover in its gravity and implications. I’d practically built the retail business myself, I wasn’t strapping this crazy F*cking bastard to my back for the next how long, 10 years? Why not start my own thing. Besides I’d come to the table too late, I’d never be an equal.

F*ck this shit.

My fifth F*ck this moment

I wrote a snarky email, we tore up the agreement. I kept freelancing for him but it was never gonna be the same.

I was deep in $35k of credit card debt by this time. At times I had done alright but I owed back taxes and over the years I’d hammered the card due to a bad relationship with money and sporadic work. One day after a $600 interest only repayment I levelled with my girlfriend. It all came out

I saw the disappointment in those big brown eyes.

F*ck this shit.

It was time to grow the F*ck up.

My F*ck this event

I worked my a$$ off at work. I re re re negotiated my pay to be making more than ever. We were going to live in America in a year. But before that I promised my girlfriend I’d pay off all my debt. I smashed back $10,000 in three months. I was on the righteous path.

Then COVID happened. The business lost 80% of its clients in a week. We were in freefall. Could I work full time for IOU’s and backpay? No. F*ck no I couldn’t. I left to take the free-flowing government handouts and the $20,000 of my superannuation we were allowed to tap.

Overnight I was debt free. Now I just needed to get a proper job. I did that, I got a job, a real job. A government job again. Vastly better than I deserved with no bright line career narrative and ‘renaissance man’ skills and experience, it was boring mindless work but I was grateful for the steady and generous paycheck.

My F*ck this event.

Things went well after I decided to grow up. I leveraged that job into another better one then talked my way into a job that was vastly better than them all, a job I don’t deserve with my grifter’s resume, but here we are. I feel lucky every day. Not many people get to do what I do with the people I do it with. My manager and mentor tells me from here my career is set on a very good trajectory, with my newfound resume pedigree and budding connections I could go far in government.

But after the heady novelty of seeing and being around people who’s names are in the papers every day wore off, I realised that all these names and titles I work for are just empty (often alcoholic) suits with more zeros in the bank and more hours sacrificed on the slowlane alter. Now that I’ve actually worked a steady job for two and a bit years. I’ve realised I can’t live like this for the next 30.

My F*ck this event happened recently when I was leaving work. I saw my reflection in the mirror of our lobby and I stopped to look at the man staring back and for the first time in my life I saw who and what I really was. Stripped of internal narrative, the lies I tell myself, my justifications and excuses, stripped of my relentless, pointless pivots and my shiny object syndrome. I saw the flake I’ve been, the failure. The guy who couldn’t commit to anything and burn and grind and work to buy his freedom.

I saw a chubby man, fast approaching 40, laptop bag held pathetically at his side — the unassuming baby bureaucrat. All those hopes and blue sky dreams of getting free, all that potential, suffocated by the inability to transcend myself and conquer my innate laziness and short attention span. Now increasingly I’m becoming a slave to the slowlane, I’m being fed the sweet colostrum of a steadily growing paycheck, the growing respect of my friends and family and the comfortable middle-class life. Soon will come the house in some middle suburb, two children, dinner party friends and Europe for a few weeks every year.

There was a time in my life I thought I could do anything, be anyone. Craft any life and any dream I wanted. I’ve already walked the road that stretched before me in my early 20’s. Time has moved on. Windows of opportunity have slowly closed. You can’t start the next Google when you’ve got 6 months to live no matter how hard you grind and try. You can’t play in the NBA at 60 no matter how much you want it. I swore to my mum at 18 I’d buy her a beamer before her 50th birthday when I was a millionaire. That never happened.

There is an invisible deadline for every dream we have.

That night in the lobby, I realised that invisible deadline is fast approaching if I want to buy my freedom. I see it and I’m saying F*ck this shit.

That was my ‘F*ck this event’. I might die broke, I might die alone, but I won’t be that pathetic slowlane middle-roader in the mirror, it won’t be my story. I’m going to die free or die trying.

Thanks for reading if you got this far, hopefully I’ll see you all around.

 

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[Kirk84]

I got goosebumps reading your post @Andrew 1177

I’m going to die free or die trying.

Amen to this!

 

[maras2137]

I nearly dead twice on hospital after drugs oberdose. I think is enough hide and run from my past and i want to do a bussnes. At this days am thinking about montage GPS localizations systems in cars, dogs and bike's. Today i know it's bad idea. But i never get in this bussnes. Am now in real esteate's, it's giving me real happenes even without money.

 

[opticalillusion]

My FTE happened a few months ago. I was a big consumer of video games and would play for many hours everyday and along with that, I was always consuming useless "entertaining" YouTube videos. Eventually i stumbled across self-improvement thanks to the YouTube algorithm and started to realize that there was something more than getting a job. This solidified after I started reading TMF and now I'm here.

 

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[jhoover]

So this is an open call for everyone to share their "FTE" story, otherwise known as their "F*ck This Event."

A "F*ck this event" is an incident in your life that pushes you over the ledge of a SCRIPTED existence. It is a pejorative "I've had it!" or a "I can't live like this!" moment that screams it's time for you to change.

Interest moves to commitment. Thinking moves to action. Desire moves to obsession.

I described mine in both books -- getting stranded in a limousine on the side of the road in a blizzard.

What event in your life screamed to your

So this is an open call for everyone to share their "FTE" story, otherwise known as their "F*ck This Event."

A "F*ck this event" is an incident in your life that pushes you over the ledge of a SCRIPTED existence. It is a pejorative "I've had it!" or a "I can't live like this!" moment that screams it's time for you to change.

Interest moves to commitment. Thinking moves to action. Desire moves to obsession.

I described mine in both books -- getting stranded in a limousine on the side of the road in a blizzard.

What event in your life screamed to your soul, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"?

View attachment 14851

Get Unscripted on Amazon
UNSCRIPTED: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship by MJ DeMarco, international best-selling author of The Millionaire Fastlane

I worked as a manager of a movie theater. There are 2 moments that are the reasons I left that company. The first was a group of teenagers that came in and their sole objective (I perceived it this way at least) was to cause the most commotion in the building as possible. They did everything from put their hands in the way of the projector, to screaming while the movie was actively playing. We make the decision to remove them from the premises, and I drew the short straw (mainly because I was already helping a group of ushers clean a nearby screen). I walk into their movie, and I ask them politely to leave the theater. The first kid looks at me, and offers me a skittle. I refuse, and then he looks over at his friend and says "is it because he's black?" I respond no, and give them all of the reasons as to why. They finally get out of their seats, and then stop at the doorway of their screen and talk to my employees about how I was so mean to them, and how can they put up with such a horrible manager. I walk up, and the kid offers me another skittle, I again refuse and tell them to leave again. I then have to follow them out. They walk back in 15 minutes later and hang out in the lobby. I later that night had to kick out their friends for screen hopping, and yelling in theaters that they shouldn't have been in. The bigger one was watching one of my fellow managers get physically assaulted by a patron, because that particular patron talked through an entire movie (allegedly) and another patron was mad about it. A huge fight broke out after that, and I had to call the cops. One of the patrons threatened to pull out the handgun he had on him, because the other one was allegedly saying rude things about his wife. And BTW I was making $14 an hour for this.

Tl;dr having no power to actually do anything to handle any situation despite having the responsibility to handle those types of situations for what is today's standards minimum wage.

 

[Lawtiti]

The biggest one I remember was right after the May, 2011 Joplin tornado.

I worked in the collections dept. at the hospital that didn't get wiped out.

For maybe 2 weeks after the disaster we only collected on accounts outside of the "red" zone.

Then we resumed all collections.

Massive hospital debts people already couldn't afford.

I had to call and let them know, despite not having a home or a car or half their family .. the hospital still wanted its money.

A few days later I quit and started selling lego portraits.

To be fair, I'm pretty sure I was born with the word "rebel" stamped on my forehead.

Wow, doesn't this goes to show that the hospitals are pretty focused on money now more than ever? I want to let you know that you're not a rebel, more like a realist and no bs type of person. Wish you well in life!

 

[Lawtiti]

I worked as a manager of a movie theater. There are 2 moments that are the reasons I left that company. The first was a group of teenagers that came in and their sole objective (I perceived it this way at least) was to cause the most commotion in the building as possible. They did everything from put their hands in the way of the projector, to screaming while the movie was actively playing. We make the decision to remove them from the premises, and I drew the short straw (mainly because I was already helping a group of ushers clean a nearby screen). I walk into their movie, and I ask them politely to leave the theater. The first kid looks at me, and offers me a skittle. I refuse, and then he looks over at his friend and says "is it because he's black?" I respond no, and give them all of the reasons as to why. They finally get out of their seats, and then stop at the doorway of their screen and talk to my employees about how I was so mean to them, and how can they put up with such a horrible manager. I walk up, and the kid offers me another skittle, I again refuse and tell them to leave again. I then have to follow them out. They walk back in 15 minutes later and hang out in the lobby. I later that night had to kick out their friends for screen hopping, and yelling in theaters that they shouldn't have been in. The bigger one was watching one of my fellow managers get physically assaulted by a patron, because that particular patron talked through an entire movie (allegedly) and another patron was mad about it. A huge fight broke out after that, and I had to call the cops. One of the patrons threatened to pull out the handgun he had on him, because the other one was allegedly saying rude things about his wife. And BTW I was making $14 an hour for this.

Tl;dr having no power to actually do anything to handle any situation despite having the responsibility to handle those types of situations for what is today's standards minimum wage.

Wow, this really quite bad for a minimum wage employee. Hopefully you'll won't have any kind of experiences like this ever again. Thank you for telling your FTE, this made me think again about most jobs and how most jobs are set to be just above minimum wage. Thank you.

 

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[Wombat]

My FTE occurred 3 years ago. I worked in an industry with only a few employers and a highly casualized workforce. Contracts were around 17 weeks long so there was always the stress of seeking the next contract and at the end of the year there was a 5 or 6 week gap when there was no work. The money was enough to live on, but with a young family to support I didn’t have much in savings.

My FTE was during the 6 week no contract gap when I accepted a new contract via my employer’s online portal. A few days before I was supposed to start work, I was locked out of their email system. I checked the portal and found all trace of my contract had vanished. I had no proof from my end. I confronted my manager. He wouldn’t meet my eyes and said that although my work had been allocated to someone else, it was a temporary hick-up and other work would soon be forthcoming.

He was a terrible liar, and I could see he’d been forced by his management into (illegally) revoking the contract and allocating it to a favorite of management. I considered legal action, but the legal system here requires you to pay your own costs for making a claim. Also the industry I work in is small, and word would get around, so I’d be kissing goodbye the chance of further contracts. I couldn’t go to another employer for that season as the new contracts had already begun. Having just gone through the 6 week employment gap, I was out of money.

My partner and I ended up having to use credit cards to buy groceries. Having my in-laws (kindly) offer to pay bills was humiliating and I vowed I would become my own boss. But at that moment I was in debt and had a family to support so I couldn’t take risks.

I went further into debt to train for certification in a much larger related industry, which I then got a permanent position in.

I’ve now reduced the risk to my family of learning to be an entrepreneur by saving 9 months income and arranging to move my (still permanent) position to part-time (3 days a week). It’s time for ‘game on’.

 

[Sara19]

When I understood the Matrix and realized we are all living a life meant to be for employees!

 

[andyhaus44]

I just had my FTE and am going all in with my 1/5/10 plan.

 

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[RicardoGrande]

I used to think my FTE was just an "FTM" because I didn't magically leave my job and ascend into the moneyed-entreprenurial heavens in some rapture-like event, never having to look at a talkative middle manager again after it happened- and felt like the worst was yet to come as an employee.

Thing is- I realized while trying to troubleshoot why my sleep is so poor lately that I've literally been pulling 16+ hour days between my dayjob and making my freelancing work. Something had been a gun at my back helping me to force my way through almost two thousand cold calls and hundreds of nos and people belittling me or demeaning me as I hunted for people to help and fought off fear and doubt- and I've kept on it like a starving wolf on a morsel of meat. At the point where I've been unintentionally carrying so much out of sheer determination and spite for the people that told me it couldn't be done that I've accidentally given myself insomnia.

Situation isn't perfect and I need to de-stress, but if you asked me if I'd willingly carry this workload or do these things when I was in college and I'd probably laugh at you for suggesting something so terrible and so silly. I'm glad MJ was able to put something like an FTE into words and show that it really is possible to hit a breaking point and turn your life around.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I just had my FTE and am going all in with my 1/5/10 plan.

Details!!

 

[ZackerySprague]

FTE's:

1. Social Circle not supporting my new identity and dragging me back to my past self.

2. Almost having to file for bankruptcy due to my ignorance and not paying back my debts.

3. Civil Lawsuit filed due for a credit card I never paid back due to my bumpy few years between 2018 and 2020.

4. Losing my ex-girlfriend and the vision I had for us. Having no closure towards the end of the relationship.

5. Losing my previous car due to an accident last year back in November of 2022. $2k was left to be paid. I sadly had to buy a new car because the used car market was horrendous at my income level. I didn't want to take on the risk of repairing used cars around 100k miles for $10k if it broke down with the debt the situation I was in. I'm close to getting out and after everything is paid for. The new car is left. I do understand the choice I have made, but was not happy about doing it.

6. Living in fear for the past 4 years due to a traumatic event, I read a book about Failing Forward by John Maxwell. Realized I was living in fear and created a life around avoidance.

7. No support from immediate family for the past 3 years and feelings not being understood.

8. Dead-end career, for the past 3 years I have been pushing software to people's environment. I get paid well for what I did to today, but I would have to make close to 6 figures for the specialized skill just to replace my job. I wouldn't even qualify for most positions anymore.

9. Losing family and friends, realizing that your health is probably the most important factor in the world. I almost lost my godfather (I got baptized many years ago) by him having two surgeries and costing him almost over $1.8 million dollars in hospital bills. My friend's grandfather's lungs never recovered and said he's on borrowed time.

 

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[redcrimson]

I've had several of these in my life. I look at my paths as stepping stones and at each hop to a new stone, I had a FTE that led to the hop.

Then I look at the different paths I had that had their hops:

• Relationships
• Job/Career
• Business
• Health
• several other small areas like family/being social, etc

The ones that stood out the most that really made my blood boil came down to job/career and business.

In a nutshell, I was working a job to make someone else rich. I was a loyal employee before I "opened my mind" and I would work with dedication and earnest for the employers I worked for. Some of my FTEs while being employed ( summarizing them ):

• Working on the weekends, not getting paid. Happened a lot while an hourly employee. Ended up getting a settlement check for this though years later from the employer in a class action lawsuit. Looks like I wasn't the only one.
  
  
• Was asked at one of my jobs to get rid of my current freelance clients in order to work there, which I followed through with. I only had a few clients, which barely paid the bills for me so I thought it wasn't much of a loss to land this full-time job that would make me more per month. Got laid off 3 months later. Which was after getting this employer to top 3 positions in Google for 1,000s of major top keywords they still enjoy to this day. Couldn't get my old clients back because they found someone else to help them when I couldn't for those 3 months. Was without money for me and my family of 5 for next 9 months. Had to request unemployment which I was denied ( never could figure this out ), and had to get my kids on passport health plan and food stamps and look like a total loser to my wife.
  
  
• Passed over for Director level position even though I was promised it and next in line... AND after I hand built the department I was in by myself over 3 years from $10,000 in annual billings to over $5m. Instead, they brought someone in they did not know at all to be Director, who lied on their resume, who was working remotely ( but I was denied this benefit 4 times the last 3 years ) and then this new person ended up firing me based on a lie for something they said I did on my approved day off. This new person stayed on another year before they got canned. No one cared at the company though, and now this company is hitting the shitter.
  
  
• Promised equity in a new 2nd business as part of a negotiated lowered salary for a CMO role in a current business. New 2nd business was canceled within 6 months of me coming on by the owner, but he wouldn't raise my salary in the current business though to compensate for the broken promise and killed plans/expectations. He also wouldn't hire a CTO to handle tech issues which I then took on myself too just to get things rolling. Later on, I was laid off because the owner was too busy cheating on Ashley Madison and acting like a "gangsta with money" every month with new luxury cars, condos, and vacations that he ended up hurting the cash-flow of the business and ended up getting rid of 60% of his employees. I was basically cheated out of a lot of pay.
  
  
• Was laid off due to VC money coming into company and VCs wanted no remote employees. I just helped this company earn $38m that year from $400,000 the year before though. While leaving the company, they asked me to turn over my FB account ( my personal one ) because attached to it was highly successful ad campaigns I created on my own spare time that was sending leads to them. I didn't turn it over and I was their #1 lead generator. They wanted the account instead of paying me for it afterward even though they also just laid me off for a BS reason ( no more remote employees ). They wanted to lay me off, take away my only source of income, ( my personal FB ad account ) and not compensate me for it.
  
  
• Was promised a years worth of salary was ready for me at a new startup before I came on board. Left the current position I was at to join this new company to find out they lied and ran out of money in month 4. They were so busy buying t-shirts, swag, cell phones and other BS, they didn't make any sales and had to let me go.
  
  
• Promised 7 hour work days, paid for health/dental/401k benefits, and negotiated extra's ( cell phone, internet expenses ). Ended up working 9-12 hours days. Never got a dime for health or any benefit at all and never seen a penny for internet or cell phone expenses. Company was strict about filling out your timecard daily to make sure you put in 7 hours at least. Cared more about this then the fact they piled people with so much work that they worked 12 hours days instead of focusing on their benefit of "35 hour work week". They looked at your timecard during the day, they knew you already clocked 7 hours by 1pm but didn't care and still piled you on with more work due by end of that day. When brought up, was told "sometimes you have to put in extra to get stuff done". What's the purpose of a 7 hour work day then as a benefit? They were so strict about this timecard BS that I stressed out about it and when I hit 7 hours, I stopped putting in more time just so I could focus on quality work. Many times I was so stressed I just got to 7 and anything over 7 I would bank for the next day so I wouldn't have to stress about it and had a little buffer so I could focus on just work.
  
  
• After working 1 position for 24 months ( that 12 people now do as indiv jobs - I visited the company a few years later ), I asked for a raise from $26,000 a year to $30,000 on my 2 year anniversary. Was told, " we don't have the budget". I quit and went to work at another company where I did less work and was paid the $30k I wanted. 4 months later the old company calls me up wanting me back offering me even less work and $32,000. Where'd the money come up in just 4 months? Hmmmmm. I actually ended up going back to work for this company and negotiated remote work too "when the numbers looked good". Well, I took their sister company from 0 sales to $1m in less than 12 months once I came back on, and on my yearly ( now 3rd year total ) asked for my remote work benefit. Was told I could "maybe" get 1 day to work from home per week. I quit that week because it was known I wanted to work full time ( all 5 days ) from home when I came back.
  
  
• Boss intermingles in my company email inbox ( which I am fine with, it's his company ) and jumps into convos I am having with clients routinely via email and I never know when this happens because I am not CC'd on it or it comes in after hours and is missing sections in the reply'd email. This happens daily, several times a day. Even though he is "trying" to help, it's basically micro-management and it confuses me, the client, and causes a ton of productivity loss to recoup and try to figure out what has been done and promised to the client and start back at zero again to resume work that is now added to my plate. In the end, it was a cluster F*ck daily and tons of stress to sort through. This process routinely delayed projects by more than a week several times and caused errors in peoples ad accounts where he jumped in, misunderstood, and made changes in their account that I had to later undo and fix only after the client complained about it. In this role, I was the "only PPC guy" managing over 50 PPC clients weekly.
  
  
• Being told I need to do work that employee B, C, and D can't do or can't handle even though it's their assigned job role and function. Even though I technically know how to do it, it's not my job function and this is happening all the time daily. An example of this would be me being hired to manage multiple PPC campaigns at an agency. For some reason I am now told I have to write the copy for the website and also do the social media and SEO work. Employees B, C, and D can't do it for X reason or can't handle it ( even though that is what they were hired for ), but now I am suppose to. I don't get paid their salaries though in combination with mine and I am also not allowed more hours to get the work done. I don't mind to help out in a time of need or crunch, but this is daily ongoing for months and isn't just 1 or 2 projects, but like multiple spread over 90 clients, EVERY SINGLE DAY for months on end.
  
  
• Laid off from a startup because I wouldn't move to San Francisco so the company could be close to investors. Helped this company go from basically 0 sales to their first 50k customers and 500k in sales. This success helped them later get into Y Combinator and get funding from a Shark Tank investor. All wasn't lost, I did have some equity and was able to cash out on that, but being told you are getting let go because you don't live in X place even though the company was pretty much all remote was tough.
  
  
• Another agency I was at, they routinely could not pay me on time. They expected me to always meet deadlines and would be rather harsh if I wasn't on time with the deadline. I'm OK with that, but then they would never meet their payroll. I would wait a week or 2 on the check and was told, "it was sent" but it was ALWAYS late without fail. One time I waited 4 full weeks and the check didn't come. When I asked about it I was told, "oh we havent been paid yet by X,Y,Z client, so we can't process payroll". Hmmmm, ok. Could you have at least told your employees this before it happened? I had to contact you to find out about your failure to meet your obligations? I was then told they didn't know when they could process payment but I was "first on the list" to be paid. These people would also take lots of time ( 4-5 days ) to answer a simple email or voice mail which would delay my projects causing me to be late on them, which they would in turn be harsh to me about.. lol
  
  
• Another agency, would only pay me via Paypal. Seriously.
  I was told all of that normal " we're a family here", "we love our co-workers and will do anything for them", and "anything you need, we are all here for you" BS that companies try to tell you about culture and family work environment. I was told, upon first hire, if this ended up an issue for me ( because of fees ), they would work out another solution. I took the role thinking in 3-4 weeks I would bring it up as an issue. And I did bring it up... every month for a full year as Paypal was taking thousands of dollars in fees ( for the year, total ) on the pay I was getting. Was told every time nothing they could do as their "bank" doesn't do ACH wires. I gave up asking after 12 months of pleading, and 30 days AFTER I GAVE UP we hire a new person who has an issue with Paypal payments too. All of a sudden we start getting ACH wires because of the new hire, but I was out thousands of dollars in fee's from the last 12 months which never got recouped. I checked the bank info the money was sent from with Paypal, against the ACH info I was now getting and the info was the EXACT same bank.
  
  
• Was working with an agency for 9 months doing plain PPC management and day to day as their Director. I came up with an idea to target customers no one else was doing online ( I researched it for months to make sure this was new ). As a new way to target customers, I came up with multiple use cases and tested it out on my own dime too. When confident, I approached the agency and pitched the idea as a partnership between me and them to start a new company doing this lucrative method exclusively . They agreed. I was to do the work in the new biz ( while still being employed in the old biz ), and they were to sell the product to their customer base. I was going to be 51% owner of the new venture. INSTEAD, they told the idea to another agency who ran with it and 3 weeks later I'm invited to a new call out of the blue with our "new partners" who would be selling it, and "us" would be working it ( meaning me by myself while my employer still retained 49% of the new company and did nothing ). I immediately went Bezerk as this was theft of my idea and method and had tons of phone calls back and forth with everyone. The other "new agency" decided to drop out and run it all on their own, by themselves, and is now the market leader for this new marketing I invented on my own as my employer told them how to do everything. I quit the company I was at after this and they blamed me for costing them "lost revenue" in the deal.
  
  
• I'm hired into a new role of PPC management for an agency to handle clients that they are picking up. My boss, for some odd reason, confuses information and doesn't bill our clients for 6 months because he thought someone in another department was doing that. When found out, it is decided to cut my position ( no longer needed ) and ditch trying to "have clients" as an income stream. My boss and the people in the other department keep their jobs for another 3 years though while I get let go. WTF?
  
  
• This next one might be a bit controversial, but I think it highlights the "bad deal" you get out of working for someone else as a w2 or even a 1099. I get why companies do this and how, but its still a bad deal for you in the end. Essentially, several companies I have worked for.. I brought with me certain copywriting and advertising techniques I've learned over the years. Think things like swipe files, ad formatting, use of certain images, certain emoji's, audiences, tricks/etc.. This is all fine and dandy while employed and getting a paycheck, but when you get laid off or let go and you find out that 9 months later the company is still using those assets you brought to the table ( that they never had prior or knew about ), it stings a bit to know they are still profiting from your work and ideas and using them today, while you might be still job hunting and trying to put food on your table. Right now today, I still see ad angles for at least 2 companies that were close to bankruptcy the day I signed on to them.. using my swipe file copy on the ads too.. that are making a ton of money on years later after they laid me off. However, I was left scrambling at the last minute and had to rebuild up for months after they let me go. Bad deal...

Needless to say, I haven't been employed as a w-2 for a while now. People think it's a "safe" bet and it has never been that in my experience.

.

Wow man, thank you for posting that.
Do you regret going through all of that BS, or would you say going thru that made better in the sense that it made you tougher mentally and more financially wiser?

 

[REV5028]

The two biggest FTE events I've had in my life were:

1) I was 11 or 12 and I realized how miserable, self-centered, and ignorant my family was. My friends started pulling away from me, and actually bluntly told me I was a drag and that they didn't want me to go trick-or-treating with them. It made me realize I was projecting the negativity in my home life onto others. I declared to be the opposite of my family, to do better and be better. I must have made a quick and significant change because my friends ended up re-inviting me to Halloween.

2) Going through a long and painful PhD experience only to be hired as a postdoc and earn less than my peers starting at the same company straight out of their Master's. This was a few months ago, so here I am.