My new job is unbearable, should I quit?

@CheerBear

Thanks a lot for the response.

How could I possibly continue working at a job where my palms tremble before making every call, and the focus of the job itself is to make calls and speak to strangers?

My consultant from the employment provider is quite supportive, but I am not sure if it is their policy to blacklist people who quit jobs provided by them.

I think it all comes down to this - Am I willing to risk extreme stress, possible self harm and losing my sanity to continue in the job, or just quit even if I am blacklisted and risk a long period of joblessness and finanacial stress. It appears like a lose-lose situation for me.

It does sound like a tough situation all round @aficionado, have you been able to chat to your GP or counsellor about what you are going through? They may have strategies in place to help what you are going through right now and they may be able to provide some written documentation for your employment provider.

hi @aficionado

How long before they can get you another job?

@CheerBear

Thank you. I will speak to my provider about it, and will see how it goes.

@Ali11

I have an appointment with my psychologist later today, and I will be discussing this. Hopefully she can help me ouit with that letter you are suggesting.

@BryanaCamp

Not really sure, it could take a while. This job, I got it in 2 weeks. But now I will have to be more specific about what I can and can't do, so it could take a bit longer.

I'm glad you have an appointment with your psychologist @aficionado and some support at the forum.

If they can get you a new job in 2 weeks I can see why you'd want to leave your job asap to stop the stress. I'm very sensitive to stress & am not really able to adjust to it & continue in a stressful environment, the only way to regain my mental health is to stop the stress (leave the situation). I recently had a very toxic colleague at my volunteer job - I've had 6 weeks off and only now feel better. I guess everyone is different in their capacity to cope with stress, you may be stronger than me & have some coping strategies.

On the other hand, I understand why you want to protect your reputation & future employment. I've been unemployed for 7 years (due to MI) and have been trying all this year to get a job. It's proving to be really hard. So I totally get that you don't want to be in an unemployment situation like mine. I agree with Cheerbear it'll be good to ask your provider about blacklisting.

Sorry you're suffering which such intense work stress. You're doing well in a very tough situation & I think things will improve for you as you're a hard worker & have some good supports in place.

From memory, you were studying? I hope that you've enjoyed semester 1 and it's been intellectually stimulating & inspiring. Hang in there.

@BryanaCamp

Thanks for your response, it means a lot!

I just spoke to my psychologist, and she says that I should just accept that this job isn't for me, and find something else. She also said that a job like this (where talking to strangers over the phone is a huge part of the job) may not be ideal for someone like me, who has always had problems with social skills in general. She gave me the example of how it wouldn't be wise for someone who doesn't know how to swim, to dive directly into the deep end of the pool and try to learn. Instead, he should first learn at the shallow end. Similarly, she said it isn't that I am not capable of doing these jobs, but I need to improve my social skills significantly before I am ready for such jobs. She also told me that disability employment providers are supposed to find me another job if I can't handle a current job, and that isn't really grounds for blacklisting me.

I hope you don't have to deal with this nasty colleague too often. I completely understand how bad it can get.

I do have some coping mechanisms as you said, but I have always been a bit slow. If someone says something, I need like half a second to process that information before responding. But in this job, it is necessary to be able to respond instantly to people. I can't think so fast.

You remembered right, I am a student! I am done with my first term (my university follows the trimester system), and my second term is starting on Monday, the 3rd of June. Things are going pretty well on that front. I didn't really make friends or get social in Term 1, because I was so busy looking for a job. I am going to change that in Term 2, and try to interact more with my fellow students.