I'm at a point in my life where working more than 40 hours a week for pennies on the dollar is no longer acceptable to me

Hello everyone,

Please allow me to expand a little. I am now a middle-aged worker who has always been told that, "If I work hard and show that I can do the work, I will be promoted and move on with my life." I've learned that this advice is (clearly, very seriously flawed), and that the last 26 years that I have bent over backwards has been (basically), for nothing. I have lost out on life and being able to enjoy it with friends, family, and just being able to live, breathe and enjoy the world around me.

Since I was a teenager, I was pushed into getting a job right away and the prospect of college had been deprioritized. Though looking at the labor market now, not going to college seems like a perk (considering employers aren't interested in education; at least, this is how it seems from what has been posted and articles submitted online).

My teenage years and twenties went to three companies. At these companies I did as I was told, didn't create any drama, I showed up, I did the job well, and always got skipped over for promotion. I continued to get bad shifts and having to work nights, weekends, and holidays. I feel as if I get no time to myself and can barely take care of myself due to lack of time. This is not meant to garner sympathy or pity (honestly). I have simply not been allowed to do what I need to do, whether it is personal or professional work.

More recently in the past decade, I was given the opportunity to pick up a degree. My thoughts would have you label me negative and toxic, which I understand, but, at this phase of my life, I feel that I absolutely have the right to be so bitter. I got a degree that allowed me to go into tech. I thought, I wanted to build and do incredible things with tech (you can probably guess what I found and had to endure). I got out of tech two months ago and into a dead-end job at a company that I had already worked for ten years, one decade ago.

The company culture and product have gotten incredibly worse. The company declared bankruptcy about 3 years ago and they lost A LOT of customers. The employees that are left are fighting each other for work to try and create job security for themselves and my shift has been absolutely erratic with zero work/life balance. My new manager, who happens to be a former coworker, has had me working 6 day weeks, 12 hours a day, and it is clear that the expectation is simply enslavement. Support the (crappy) products and work around the clock while the company stiffs you on holiday premiums and overtime. Labor law violations and no work/life balance seem to be the new employment trend under the current administration.

I know how this all must sound. I truly get it. I haven't even mentioned my medical issues with prevent me from working more than 8 hour days. I simply cannot do it anymore and when I attempt to speak in a manner to communicate either professionally or just to stand up for myself, I get screwed over every time. I just want a normal full time job. Ideally, (and I know how collapsed the labor market is), it would be a monday through friday job, with weekends and holidays off. I feel like this really shouldn't be that hard to get I look at all of the cars in rush hour traffic during the week and find myself thinking, "what do these people do for work that allows them to work during the week and have the weekend and holidays off?"

I know this is a lot to read, but I would really appreciate any advice or assistance in fixing my career and enabling my work/life balance.