u/Late-Season4825

I work in accounting in accounts payable, and a while ago we moved to a different ERP system. We've been working on it for about 18 months, but most of the department is in their late forties/sixties and they're not very quick with new software. I'm younger and generally better at tech-related things.

A big part of my work is dealing with vendor payments for a rebate program, and then I use part of that money to pay customers. I also have to keep an organized record of the invoices we've paid. Up until now, the process was very manual and would usually take me about 3-4 business days, and sometimes more if things were messy.

I found a way within the system that lets me finish the whole thing in about 12 minutes.

Should I tell my manager? Or is this one of those things I'm supposed to quietly keep to myself?

For a long time, I was the person trying to prove myself by overdoing it at the office - the first one at my desk, the last one to pack up, replying to Slack messages at 11pm, and somehow finding myself carrying everyone else's problems and fires. I asked four times about getting promoted or moving a step forward, and every time I got the same line about, "We see a lot of potential in you, but we need the timing to be right."

About six weeks ago, I got fed up after being passed over again in favor of someone who had been there maybe a third of the time I had, but who went to basketball games with the director. I decided I was done burning myself out for this place. I started working strict hours from 8:30 to 5:30, turning off work notifications as soon as I left, and saying "no" to random urgent requests that had nothing to do with my job.

Then the weirdest thing happened. My manager pulled me aside a few days ago and gave me an 18% raise "for showing stronger prioritization and better execution." He literally said I seemed "more focused" and that the quality of my work had noticeably improved.

I'm still kind of shocked. All the things I thought would move me forward - staying late, being available all the time, taking on extra work - apparently made me look less efficient. As soon as I stopped acting like the whole department's safety net, I became someone they wanted to reward? Corporate logic is bizarre.

TLDR: After years of overworking and getting nowhere, I set real boundaries, worked fewer hours, and somehow my manager decided I was performing better and gave me a raise.

Honestly, I can't stand the idea of having a job. I'm reliable and I work hard because I need the paycheck to live, but I feel like it's an endless cycle of boredom and repetition, and that my mind is slowly being worn down. I find myself looking at the clock, waiting for the shift to end so I can feel human again.

I hate being stuck in a place I never wanted to be in, doing work I don't care about, surrounded by people I wouldn't choose to spend time with if I had any real choice.

All the time, I wish there were another way I could live. Like having a place to live, a car, food, and basic stability... But without spending most of my life trapped in this routine.