Don't stop painting the mural? Sure thing boss. For the last three years I have worked as a

muralist for a mural company. It's hard work but also rewarding. Also I love the beautification

of public spaces. I had a good boss. He was a skilled painter who worked alongside us on the

projects in addition to providing us with plenty of financial incentives and encouragement.

Unfortunately, he retired last year and gave full control of the business to his partner.

It immediately became a dumpster fire. The business partner had controlled the

administration side of the company. He was not a painter and didn't understand the work it took.

He would overbook clients and overpromise on completion dates. He never offered us incentives

and would only berate us for not getting jobs done quick enough. We tried to tell him that the

old boss has always encouraged us to make our time and deliver the best murals as the company's

reputation rested on the quality of work. We also tried to explain as artists we wanted to be proud

of the work that we put out there. He brushed it off with your paid to finish jobs just get it done.

This was incredibly demoralizing and after two months of churning out rushed work,

we were burnt out. One of our four muralists quit. The final straw came three months later.

Our company won a huge bid to paint the side of a five story tall building using my design.

I told the boss that it would take us five weeks to complete. However, a week before the project

was due to start, he told us that we only had three weeks. We protested, citing that we're down

one muralist, their safety issues, weather changes, and the complexity of the design.

He, of course, told us that the contract has been signed and brushed off our concerns. He did,

however, offer us financial incentives for overtime work this time. And knowing that there was

nothing we could do, we accepted it. I simplified the design and we planned to stay late.

The weather got bad as predicted. There were a few days of rain where we barely got any work done.

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