‘If this building blew up in flames it would still be a far second to the least hectic day at my old job’: Ex-marketing employee resigns and gets a ‘simple office job’ to get away from stress

Author image for Olivia Arocena
Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor
Sep 2, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

We're only starting to see the real-life effects of AI usage in our workplaces and our psychology

The thing is, we're right in the middle of a profound change, so I don't think we can expect everything to be settled and working soon. We still have many things to adjust and change.

At first, companies were super excited about everything AI-related. So they let go of half of their staff and were surprised when a literal machine couldn't perform the tasks of a human being with a fully capable brain that can understand nuance and (hopefully) not full-on hallucinate when answering questions.

In this fast-changing landscape, human beings have become tired of constantly adapting and adjusting to an environment that, in most cases, is only about selling a product or some B2B thing that nobody outside a very specific business will ever see.

For some people, all this 'progress' and virtuality can bring a sense of doom. To me, the best thing you can do, no matter your circumstances, is to be honest about your desires and your limits.

You're allowed to change at any age, and maybe a job that doesn't require so much stress can be more fulfilling than a virtuos, top-of-the-class career in tech. Who told us we have to live like that? What's it all for? Isn't it better to just be happy and stress-free?

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  • Is all this stress worth it in the end?

    Cheezburger Image 10660814848
    via Vitaly Gariev

    The burned-out employee

    Actor performance of story events

  • I got fired twice and had to change careers due to AI

    I've been working in PR and marketing in Serbia (Eastern Europe) for 7 years. It was never a walk in the park - people in this part of the world always viewed this line of work as pointless, believing that a
    via whymsikka
  • monkey could write a good PR article. I was always underpaid and underappreciated but my work at the end of the day had purpose.
    via whymsikka
  • And then OpenAl hit the industry. Got fired once, with minimal explanation, just "restructuring ". Okay. Found another job, was hopeful about my future. But very soon the song
    via whymsikka
  • they sang changed. From "we can't wait to grow our team" to "you can do this on your own, create PR and marketing strategy on your own, design using ChatGPT and Canva,
    via whymsikka
  • organize all events, manage our socials completely" while dealing with heavy micromanagement that was so bad from the get- go that I had to wait for
    via whymsikka
  • weeks to have the approval to order pens with branding (total cost 20€). I didn't get to chance to prove myself - I wasn't micromanaged due to
    via whymsikka
  • incompetence - it was just their MO when it comes to marketing. Not to mention I was berated for not using ChatGPT to write my
    via whymsikka
  • emails and then berated for my emails sounding too Al. I was berated for not using Al to write PR articles, then berated for my PR sounding too safe and too Al. I was berated
    via whymsikka
  • for not creating a marketing strategy for under a month, because ,,with Al that should be easy now". I couldn't send my strategy proposal in cause the higher ups
    via whymsikka
  • never presented any business goals I could strategize on. I still can't. believe what I went through. Every single time I was asking for help or saying I
    via whymsikka
  • can't achieve it all I would be told,,How? You have ChatGPT. You just don't know how to use it" and got fired 6 months later for ,,not meeting expectations ". I was headhunted by companies expecting me to take up even more work,
    via whymsikka

  • We need to learn how to use it

    AI
    via Igor Omilaev

    This minuscule thing thas running our work life

    Licensed media provided as editorial context

  • managing international marketing processes completely on my own - without a designer, copywriter or an event specialist. Meaning 20- hour work days, no sick days and no vacations - cause marketing
    via whymsikka
  • processes are constant and require focus - that is why there must be teams working on them, not individuals covering 7 different positions with only Al at their disposal. The past year I was forced
    via whymsikka
  • to use it so much that it started seeping into my personal life. I started opening to it about the workplace ab elwas suffering, I couldn't write personal emails without it, I lost the ability to do research anything - I was
    via whymsikka
  • so burned out I talked to it day and night. A couple of days after I was fired I uninstalled both ChatGPT and Canva from my personal phone. It took me two weeks to stop treating it like a personal
    via whymsikka
  • assistant, running to my computer to ask for anything. I started cooking without it - I only used it. for creating CVs, optimizing the wording so that Als used in HR would pick my CV. And I got the job the second I stopped
    via whymsikka
  • doing that too and was hired by a company that doesn't use Al for CV screening. Left marketing completely, now I work a simple office job, coordinating logistics for a local company.Less
    via whymsikka
  • pay, no stress. People around me act like dealing with a stranded vehicle across the continent filled with company goods is stressful. No, it is not. Not after what I went through. If this building blew up in flames it would still be a far
    via whymsikka
  • second to the least hectic day at my old job, where a single LinkedIn post took 3-4 workdays of agony to get approved. My hair stopped falling out. I started listening to music again. Stopped binging
    via whymsikka
  • and started working out again. Started seeing my friends again. Regained the ability to write messages and emails without Al. Started writing again. I am free.
    via whymsikka

  • Happy and stress-free

    Cheezburger Image 10660815104
    via Jason Goodman

    The employee at his new job

    Image for illustrative purposes



     

  • I fully support this new era of moving away from high-stress work environments and coming back to simpler jobs where you might make less money but enjoy a stress-free life without all the drama. Stress can make you sick, and the extra money you’d make would probably go toward your health. Shouldn’t we all consider changing our lives like this?

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workplace-stories toxic-workplace work workplace toxic-work-environment
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