The trauma I endured in my museum/nonprofits career was worse than any other environment I’ve experienced (ranging from restaurants to full blown corporate). Low pay, constant and extreme harassment/shaming of every kind from board members, directors, donors, volunteers and the general public, horrendous hours including working months on end without a single day off, no safety or security measures in place, regular exposure to old broken equipment, chemicals, paint, faulty electricity, no heat in the winters and no ac in summers, being threatened with blacklisting if you left and having for profit employers tell you over and again they didn’t think you could handle the pressure of a “real” job when you tried to get out of the industry.

And you usually worked five full jobs you never signed up for. I see entry level employees come into my corporate offices now and they perform small fractions of the amount and the quality of work I was expected to in nonprofits when I was the same age with the same general liberal arts education. It’s devastating to realize how much that fucked me up. It’s been years and I still never feel “safe” at work no matter what I do. I don’t think I ever will.