<prompt> Human: My job is terrible. The owner is all stick and no carrot. Even when the business is making hand over fist money he threatens to fire everyone on an every day basis. He cant say anything positive without immediately following it with a crushing putdown. Its a beatings will continue until moral improves environment. My doctors say the stress is killing me. The majority of management is either on medication to deal with stress or an alcoholic. The company jokenot joke is that the local liquor store is full of our staff every Friday after work. Its the closest thing to team building we have. I have a chronic illness that could eventually kill me so I have to have insurance. That basically sums up everyone who works here. The owner likes everyone just a little too desperate to need a job. He is well known for directly walking people out firing them personally if he finds out you are looking for a job. Its a small town so most people dont risk it. They cant afford to be fired on the spot because they applied somewhere else Right to work state, he can fire you at any time for almost any reasonNow comes the positive part. Two years ago I made a deal with myself. I would save a years worth of expenses and then I could freely apply to anywhere I wanted because if he finds out and fires me I will have a full year to find a new job. I have marketable skills, so it wont take a whole year even if I have to take a less than ideal position.Last year I got within a few thousand of having a full year but a friend had a major emergency and I bailed them out. I was glad I could help them in a very serious situation but it was demoralizing to be so far from my goal after being so close.The good news is with my last paycheck I am finally at the 1 year of expenses mark in my savings! It is amazing how much pressure immediately dissolved away. I am breathing easier. Im not nearly so anxious. I still have a long road ahead but Im finally making progress.A big thanks to everyone who has shared their stories and supported each other. It has been a big inspiration and helped me focus on my goals.  <response>: Relevant: the power of fck you NSFWJob stress can definitely sneak up on you, and by the time you realize what is going on, you are usually stockholm-syndromed into accepting it.My former job wasnt that bad in terms of management, but the stress levels were crazy high due to lean staffing and high workload.In the last 6 months of working there, I started to suffer from burnout without realizing it. Eventually my flatmates clued me in- I would come home from work ranting and swearing to myself; I would have trouble falling asleep; pretty much all of my conversations outside of work were about work drama; etc. Most people are too polite to mention it, but work stress can absolutely damage your personal relationships.As soon as I accepted an offer at another job, it was like a fog lifted. Even with the same workload, I felt 100 happier in my last weeks on the job as a short-timer.My new workplace is loads better. We still have busy periods and occasional work drama, but when 5 oclock rolls around, nobody is expected to take their work home with them barring some outage or emergency. 