Anyone else hate their job?

I started a new career a year ago in Feb. Retired. New boss is a dick, he can go f&ck himself. Whatever happens, happens. Tomorrow's another day.

Seriously, a whole bunch of years ago, I had been in a job for 21 years. I truly liked what I did, and considered myself good at it. Company was sold, sales manager immediately bailed (figuring he was going to be canned anyhow), sales staff just sat there waiting for the phone to ring. One day, new corporate people came in to look over the books. They said we had 10 bodies more than we needed...get rid of them today. I was #8. Honestly, I was relieved. After the sale, all of management turned into assholes, trying to save their asses, not giving two sh&ts about quality or the customers. As I was clearing my desk out, my wife called. HR was standing behind me as I told her what happened, I told her it would be fine, there was no future in the sh&thole anyhow.

From that day forward, I had a whole new attitude towards working life: It's only a job, could be another one tomorrow and I could care less. I showed up, did my job, went home. No attachments, no worries. Within a few years I was making more money and cared less. I wasn't in the same industry, but didn't care.

I've ran into a couple of my former co-workers and have told them all that that company did me a huge favor. Made me look in the mirror and completely re-evaluate my life. They're less happy with the industry every year, yet afraid to make a change.

Tomorrow is another day.

 

I don't care for my career but I like my job I'm in now a fair bit.

I've been only working for 18 years now in my field but now in my fifth job I will say that I believe you definitely leave bosses, not jobs (for those who have worked longer than I've been alive, I'm sure that's a NO SHIT, SHERLOCK moment so just gimme a break...). I am very fortunate.

For context my field is a weird cross section of accounting, technology, data...? I'm not saving the world.

 

I retired in June, soon to be a year ago and have not missed working yet. I'm just glad that phase in my life is over. I was working 12 hour days for 20+ years and sometimes weekends. Did anyone appreciate all of that? Not really and i realize that now. All those years I did it for my career and what I thought was for my own benefit and maybe it was but in the end nothing that I did or accomplished really mattered. I was just paying the bills. Your lucky to find a job you can enjoy and make a decent wage and be glad when that happens but in the end when its over you'll realize that's all it ever was. Just a job that paid the bills.
I worked for some great people and companies and also some that weren't. I'm free now to do the things I want now so I can really enjoy what's left of this life and so far there has been no disappointments. Its a long road and just try to find something that will make you happy. For me it was the warehouse and trucking industries that kept me interested. No regrets, I accomplished what was intended and didn't let the door hit me in the ass on the way out.

 

Thanks for the well wishes. This company converts ( very poorly) mini vans into wheelchair accessible ( not the controls, just a way to get a wheel chair inside of the vehicle) They also convert Promasters into Ambulances, they seem to all have a 100% warranty claim rate on something that they've modified.

 

I see, it is healthcare related.

The warranty claim rate, meaning they are requesting repairs?

 

I drive commercial. $130K a year and up.

Most of my co-workers are some of the laziest bums I've ever seen. They won't do pre-trips or post-trips, take things to the shop to get them fixed and just leave it for someone else to deal with. Which is annoying and frustrating.

I'm grateful for my job. I love the work, the money, the schedule is nights but it doesn't bother me. Weekends off. Always extra work if I want it. But the morale is terrible and so is the teamwork.

I'm kind of stuck though. I can't go anywhere else and make the same money I am now. No one is hiring right now. So I just deal with it.

 

My job is pretty easy and I don't have a lot of assigned responsibilities the only downside the pay reflects that. No weekends and no overtime. I've worked harder for less and I've worked much harder for more. Once I leave for the day that's it no phone calls after hours or anything like that. I wouldn't mind some weekends part time in a wrecker to supplement the income, or sell Toyotas part time.

 

The dudes I know that like their job doing construction/painting all work for themselves. Really seems like the secret is to figure out how to be your own boss vs. somebody else marking your work up by 100% or more. In Santa Barbara/Montecito there is huge demand for quality work. Cabinets, painting, plaster, etc. contractors charge at least $100/hr. What the people are paying for is white glove service where the workers know to make everything perfect and not mess up the expensive floor and keep dust under control etc. All these guys own their own home in the area or Ventura where it is a little cheaper.

 

I retired after February. I have worked in the same industry for the past 21 years. The 2nd to last company I was at, I spent 8 years with and I sensed they were trying to force me out with BS write ups. I found a job with a competitor that increased my pay by 13% for the same amount of work. 4 months later, the previous company laid off 75 people. I would have been one of those people due to the write ups. So I read the room and got out before it happened. This latest company I went to was going OK, but I hated the bureaucracy. Before the start of the new year, my Boss decided he wanted to increase my territory, triple my goal, all without restructuring my pay plan. I called BS and retired two months later. My industry got less and less lucrative over the years and it just wasn't worth it anymore. I made most of my money on good investments to retire so the last company had no leverage over me. My Boss had asked which company I was leaving for. He was stunned when I told him I was retiring. I have Director level skills, management, sales analysis, and good industry contacts for my role (and was being paid as a Sr Sales Manager Tier). It was their loss. 4 months later I checked in with a former coworker. They had not yet hired my replacement and had another Sales Manager "take a leave of absence". So they are really struggling ATM. It's not going to put this company out of business, so that isn't the point. But they had developed a culture of losing that I was not accustomed to and no longer wanted to be part of.

I am 52. I feel I have much more to offer and prove to myself. I am exploring a career change. I am just simply bored of my previous industry. But I would also explore opportunities in my previous field if the offer is lucrative. Or I can simply stay put and never work again.

 

100%

 

Heck no, boats are rad. $120k for six months of work, no commute, free food, always seeing and doing cool stuff. Any day on the water beats a day in the office. If you hate your job I feel bad for you, son! I made $600 and the day ain't done!

 

I could never do one of those fishing charter boat gigs or a cargo boat or a cruise ship job. People always disappear on the ocean never to be found again. Plus, sea sickness, pirates hijacking and all the illnesses that float around on cruise ships.

Yes I hate my current job. I also hate looking for a new one. Can't say that I've ever really enjoyed any of them. I wish I could travel full time and live off passive income.

 

I like my job - the people suck at times. I'm a level 2 IT guy with almost 20 years in.

The good:
-Being able to make coffee
-Physically undemanding and no weather elements
-Being able to have some fun with good coworkers

The bad:
-Managers always trying to use their veto pen on everything
-Users who don't respond to tickets or put in tickets
-Level 3 or other teams who refuse to do their jobs and send tickets back down
-People who ignore pings but get mad when you ignore their's
-People who refuse to use Teams, Email or any form of communication whatsofuckingever
-The drive in - now 5x a week

I can't wait to retire or get inspired to commit suicide in Redwood National Park ha.

 

Absolutely LOVE my job.
I've managed to Forest Gump my way into being a Project Manager (20+ years) specializing in Critical Infrastructure Projects in the Energy / Electrical Utility space. I'm too old for naked skydiving, so driving multi-million dollar projects to upgrade the grid and keep the lights on is my adrenaline rush. I love coming to work, making the seemingly impossible happen, and then going home without anyone in my state knowing that I kept their AC running today. There is a quiet solitude and sense of internal accomplishment in that.

Do I have challenges? Yes. Some are good though. The bad ones are present at everyone's job and fortunately I have a lot less of the than I used to. Business has changed since the 1990's. It's way less toxic than it used to be. I'm not sure when or why business shifted. Pretty sure the human malware virus accelerated some changes. Maybe it was getting the boomers to retire finally? Who knows?

 

Are you kidding me? I always thought that was one of the perks!

Same - Wife and I are in the process of launching a Travel Agency as our retirement job. The hope is to milk it along for the next 10 or 15 years until we retire and then work 15 to 20 hours a week while we travel. Not looking to corner the market in the industry, just make a little fun money and travel cheap.

 

I have worked for the Govt (military) and 10 different company's at 6 locations in my 39 year working career. Have been doing the same work that the military trained me in and i am just so tired of it. Post Covid it has just turned into such a nightmare. I deal with subcontractors/vendors a lot and we are truly living in ideocracy. It never ceased to amaze me how inventive people are at F**king up. I am so sick of dealing with problem after problem after problem. the vast majority of my coworkers are good to work with but management is less than desirable. Employee turnover is high to the point I don't even try and get to know the new people even if they are in my dept. i just want to retire but health care costs/benefits are golden handcuffs. Lucky my wife and i are healthy but it doesn't take much of a health issue to wife out a lifetime of saving and investing so we cant go without. Wife has a good paying job but not great working conditions and there is no way i can retire and ask her to keep working. If i only had a time machine, I would do some things differently in my career/life.

 

I feel your pain, after a while, seeing the same issues come up over and over, you become suicidal. My current boss is so hands off, it's pure laziness. Just doesn't want to deal with anything. My last boss was a micromanager.

I can't win.

 

I don't know of many people that just absolutely love their job. Those handful of people that do, they seem to find their entire identity in their career. Whether thats a good or bad thing, I guess that only matters to them. Me however, I find 0% of my identity in my job. That doesn't mean I don't do it with excellence or take it seriously - I just find value in every other part of life if that makes sense. It makes work repetitive and not so exciting, but it also gives the freedom to not 'bring work home.' When I'm off the clock, I'm off. I do go above and beyond at work, and that makes it hard when comparison sets in, and those who do the bare minimum (or less) are compensated/rewarded more. I imagine if I looked for my identity in my job (where I'm always easily replaceable), I'd feel those same feelings, but more exemplified. That sounds miserable, because companies exist to sell a product/service, and rake in max profit. They do not have me in mind. I'm just a tool to accomplish their mission. So while I take pride in what I do, I humble myself to acknowledge that I am only a tool to accomplish my companies mission - I'm not owed anything more than that. My perspective is 100% accountable for determining my happiness in my career. You may read that I think I'm belittling myself or selling myself short potentially, but its the complete opposite. I know my worth, and understand that very few companies care to know it. I choose not to exhaust myself searching for others' acceptance of it, and focus my energy on places/people I value more. Its not always easy to have a "good" perspective. Shit happens. But when you're feeling in the dumps about your job - take a minute to zoom out. Feelings are temporary.

 

In a similar vein, my wife is very upset because she doesn't feel like her co-workers are her friends. I, on the other hand, realize we're all just trading time for money in the same place and nothing more.