Full-color manga serialized in GIGAZINE “The part-time life of a brave man and a company slave”, a busy corporate hero who risks his life as a hero and works at a super black game company uses his work at his company to fight against monsters and enemies who infiltrate the company as spies. . In conjunction with such a “life of a hero and a company slave”, “Have you ever had an episode where you felt like a “company slave”?As a result of a survey of GIGAZINE readers, more than 1,000 painful and sad stories were collected, so we would like to present excerpts from people in creator-related professions such as manga, games, and designers.
The survey results compiled here are from several years ago, but we also conduct the latest version of the survey. Whether you answered the questionnaire at the time or are learning about the work or project for the first time, please feel free to share stories that make you laugh now, or stories that still don’t make you laugh.
Please tell me an episode in which you felt like a “company slave” | Survey form
You can read the trends in difficult company-related episodes and the tally by job type from the article below.
What are the results of a survey that asked GIGAZINE readers, “Have there been any episodes in which you felt like you were a “company slave”?” -GIGAZINE
The image below is a word cloud of company-related stories answered by creators such as designers, illustrators, and content producers. Words with larger letters and darker colors are more frequently used, with words such as “time”, “overtime”, and “all-nighter” standing out. Also, creator-type jobs seem to have a lot of pressure to complete their own tasks, whether they are freelance or work for a company, and the word “self” is also characteristic of them.
There were many comments that mentioned working hours, regardless of job type. The following are specific anecdotes regarding working hours from people who answered that they are in the creative profession.
・I couldn’t go home from work for several days and took a nap next to the machine while waiting for the rendering. I couldn’t even go home to change my clothes, so I bought some clothes at Uniqlo near my office and changed into them. I could see young people happily shopping at the select shops that I could see from my office window, and it was a different world than mine. (CG designer)
・There was a time when I came home too late, and I didn’t feel well until after 12:00 pm (Web designer)
・Work 24 hours a day (anime production)
・I was only able to go home once or twice a month, and I mostly slept at the office. However, I received a very low salary in cash with no legal benefits. (CM production)
・At the company I used to work for, I didn’t have a day off for a year, and I couldn’t go home and stayed up all night every day. I also remember receiving many phone calls from my boss on my cell phone and at work telling me, “I’m going to kill you if you fall asleep,” even on my days off and in the middle of the night, and I remember working every day for the sake of the company despite such an environment. (Web production)
by “The life of a brave and company slave” Desuma 5 “Contact from the boss and contract for outsourcing!”
– After recording at the company’s studio, I put the data on a USB memory whose deadline was the next day and took it home to edit, but when I got home I realized that the USB memory was damaged and I couldn’t retrieve the data. . It was already past 11:30 p.m., so I took the last train to work, which was an hour’s train ride away, to the company’s studio.I didn’t sleep there, edited the work, and sent it to my moody boss first thing in the morning before heading home again. However, on the way home, I got a phone call and was told, “No, please redo it.” Without telling me what to fix, I ended up having to redo the same edit, and ended up staying up all night editing. (others)
・The only thing you need to worry about when looking at the weather forecast is the minimum temperature. Since I can’t go outside during daylight hours, I live in a different season than the people around me. (Game Engineer)
・When I joined the company, I was given a futon for staying overnight and working overtime (other)
・Video production takes time and the deadline for delivery is short, so the normal work period was not enough, so I had to stay overnight and had almost no time to sleep. The worst part was when I was only getting 2 hours of sleep for 5 days and found out that after staying up all night for 3 days I would no longer feel sleepy. (Video production)
In creative work, it seems that there are many cases in which death marches such as overtime and overnight stays are unavoidable due to deadlines and client requests. Additionally, due to the nature of their creative work, there were multiple episodes in which they struggled with abstract instructions and corrections from their superiors and clients.
・I participated in the team to finish up a title that had fallen into disrepair with other teams, and I stayed up all night every day, but when I didn’t receive any gratitude from the company after it was over, I felt like I was a company slave. (Anime industry)
・When I hurriedly remade something according to my boss’s instructions, but was told it was lame and the client made me apologize. (designer)
by “Asahina wants to bully me anyway”
・At the request of the client, I shortened the delivery time and stayed at the company for a week.
・When our client, an apparel store, was launching an e-commerce site, we stayed in the store’s backyard for three days and continued to take product photos. (Web designer)
・Even if the correction is strange no matter how you look at it, if the client says so, we will correct it on the same day. Sometimes they make unreasonable changes, such as going back the next day or changing to a different layout or design. Even if you object, the sales person won’t talk to you and will just do what you say. (Advertisement designer)
by “The life of a brave and company slave” Desuma 5 “Contact from the boss and contract for outsourcing!”
In addition, since “The Life of a Brave Company Slave” is set at a black game company, we will also compile anecdotes from people in game-related occupations.
・This is a story from when I was in my 20s, when the work of directors and planners was not clearly separated. I dealt with clients, created specifications, and worked as a coder if I didn’t have enough hands.During the busy season, the number of people working on a project increases, and I don’t have time just to interact with clients and each department, so my work time is after 7pm. It was. When I was working on deadlines or other tasks that affected work in other departments, I went home around 5 a.m., took a bath and changed clothes, went to work, and took a nap until the start time. Sometimes it was for 1-2 weeks. One day, when my work had calmed down, I received a complaint from the management company about a certain team staying up all night, and an internal meeting was held. When I was there, I didn’t get yelled at, so I thought, “Maybe the system has changed?” and when I asked my senior, I was surprised to hear that “It’s been around for a long time.” My actions coincidentally slipped through a loophole in the confirmation system, and at the time I was carefree and thought I was lucky, but later I realized that I was naturally a company slave.
・While playing a game or watching a manga, I find myself thinking, “This story is great.”
“The life of a hero and a company slave” Desma 4.5 “I won’t care if the succubus who came to charm the hero ends up falling in love with him.”
・I worked overtime for about a month to create adult software unrelated to work for an acquaintance of the chairman.
・I was locked in a room smelling like cigarettes for over 5 hours for one meeting. If a meeting extends into the evening, we have to work from there, so everyone inevitably works overtime until midnight. Most of them slept in or stayed up all night. Even if I did that, I would always have to start all over again from scratch at the sound of a crane.
・I was in charge of advertising for a famous game title from a famous manufacturer, and since it was a large title, I had to prepare for the unveiling event, create slides for the event, create promotional materials to be shipped nationwide, and provide explanations for magazine advertisements. There was a lot of work to do, such as books and packaging, and I was nervous and under a lot of pressure every time I had to present to the famous director of the game. I stayed up all night for five days, taking the first train home, taking a bath, and then going straight to work. It was a job I was able to do because I was still young, but I felt like I was doing my best for the work rather than being a company slave.
We plan to continue introducing specific stories about company animals submitted by people in other occupations, as well as excerpts from new questionnaires, so please look forward to it. We are also looking forward to new company animal episodes, so please use the survey form below or post to X (old Twitter)!
Please tell me an episode in which you felt like a “company slave” | Survey form
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