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The silver lining to jobs like that is after a year or two, you're the single, solitary person in the world that can keep the machine running as expected. Performance reviews become a breeze after that.

"We've been looking at your performance these last few months, and it seems you've stopped taking on new responsibilities..."

"The machine is running."

"Yes but..."

"I have other offers."

"Never mind, carry on. Here's your raise."

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Oh, it's great when it works out like that, but this place wasn't worth staying with long term. I should clarify; I was a grease monkey/operator, not tech support. You would never break 15usd/hr even as a foreman.

The slogan was literally "Run it till it dies". The machine next to me was even older, and had a crash/down time of 1-2 hours every 9 hour day. Not kidding. The floor offices still used terminal computers in 2014-ish. The one in my depart finally crapped out (screen flicker due to the flyback cracking a solder joint). Easy fix, I didn't say anything hoping they'd buy a damn desktop like a normal company. Nope, they special ordered a new/refurb terminal for god knows how much money (I think it was a televideo 9xx or something).

I could go on, but you get the idea.

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