Project from hell at work- AIBU to resign?

[FishyTree]

I have ended up being put on a horrendous project at work. It is actually being run by a related but different team (that I very deliberately did not apply to work in because of the working style and culture entailed in that area of work) so I have no idea why I’ve ended up on it.

It is awful- I’m being expected to complete tasks I’ve never done before with no instructions on ridiculous turn around times. I got an email at 8pm this evening asking why I hadn’t completed a task I hadn’t been asked to do and have just spent the evening working on it.

I am not sleeping or eating properly because of the stress of this project. I enjoy the rest of my role (the one I actually applied to do) but I can’t continue like this.

AIBU to resign?

Something I can relate to so it felt timely seeing this one today, another team had tried to assign me a particular piece of work I don't have capacity for (there's a long history there going back to 2018 but I won't get into the whole thing), my line manager and his line manager have both said no to that, the other team have tried to bypass them and send loads of it to me anyway. I don't think they'll be happy about the fact that instead of just doing it, I took it to my line manager, who took it to his, and said there has been no agreement for this to pass to me. Sounds like you handled it the best way in raising it with your own manager in the first instance.

As a self employed person threads like these make me think....Wow Salaried employees really are wusses aren't they?

You're on the project, get it done, learn from it and move on

@Finlesswonder I am far too much of a wuss to risk self employment, FWIW. And have no skills I could market, anyway

Some people need to keep their salaried job because they need the money, you know, for things like keeping a roof over their family's heads, or food on the table.

Some professions and jobs just cannot be done unless you have an employer. If you are experienced enough in such jobs, you can sometimes leave and become a self-employed consultant - or redundancy can force you down that route. Probably not viable in today's economic situation, though.

Yes well the extra money, plus the fact you can be let go with barely any notice, would make a contractor behave differently from a permie.

Actually OP I'm remembering an awful experience when I moved job a few years ago. DS was 10 so I wanted to progress and increase my hours, but still had to be careful as no family support. I was really clear at the interview asking about normal working hours and amount of travel and was assured it was standard 9-5 and travelling once a quarter.
Except I was put on a project that wasn't something I was trained in, involved traveling 2-3 days every week and was run by a different team in the organisation earning a heck of a lot more than me.
Being an idiot I soldiered on for a couple of months culminating in me getting bad feedback from the person in charge - and I've genuinely never had bad feedback before, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't me at fault there.
So you did the right thing flagging this to your manager.

You have not said no. This was your chance to set the boundaries.

Self employed carries the risks and rewards of running your own business.
As an employee there is sometimes zero advantage in being involved in projects as there is no long term career benefits.

I dont believe that you as a self employed person would accept a role for which you know are being under paid and over worked as a good career move for getting future quality work.

You work free hours? You do tasks without even being asked? You do tasks you have no clue how to do? (Not doubting that last part since I’ve seen plenty of consultants feign knowledge they don’t have and bill the client time for their learning and faffing about rather than admit the lack of experience.)

I’ve been both salaried and self-employed. Self-employed can carry some risk but also often comes with a freedom from a number of things including politics and deeper level of accountability. I took a salaried position to force myself to become part of a real team and to be more disciplined. It’s never easier to work in-house. It’s definitely less financially rewarding.

I don’t buy into the false us vs them mentality you seem to have Toward salaried employees, though I can certainly recall more jokes about consultants than I can about full-time employees.