Anyone else hate their job?

Its a unique balance, thats for sure. On one hand, my coworkers are not my friends. On the other hand, if I don't want my work days to be miserable, we need to get along pretty well. I find sarcasm is a pretty useful tool to get along with most people. Most find what you say funny and think you're friendly. Some are just incapable of picking up on it, and we avoid those people.

 

I worked industrial maintenance.

People like me were only appliances to the company owners:

As long I did my job they would "keep" me.
If I became unreliable they would just get a new one.

I was very reliable right up to the day I retired - then they discovered getting a replacement is easy -- getting the right replacement is much more difficult.

 

Funny how that works.

My current employer didn't tell me about a few things during the interview process. My direct manager failed to show up for my interview. The big one they didnt' tell me about was an on call rotation. I got an apology Teams call for that from HR.

On call is usually a big deal breaker for me and like to know it up front.

I am looking.

 

I was 19 and a shift manager in retail clothes sales. Not my aspiration but what I could get in the thick of a recession.

I met a fellow through mutual friends who was a manager of 2 local restaurants owned by his family. He was abrasive and arrogant in many ways but I learned a lot from him about managing and what you mentioned is huge. One of the first things he said about the subject was "you're there to do a job, not be someone's friend..be you a coworker or that person's manager. Be polite and professional, but if you're managing don't socialize outside of work, and for God's sake don't ever date someone from work"

 

I've got a 70 year old Florida employee in my office today.

She's asking me how to pin stuff for her in Windows. "Can you show me where my calendars went?"

Someone kill me.

I'm not saying the corporate world is a young man or woman's game but.......

 

I almost think retail should be mandatory for everyone. It really teaches you how your fellow man really acts. It gives you a good appreciation for good service. Every time I go through a drive thru I always feel for the employees b/c I know they feel under appreciated. I'm not saying they deserve ridiculous compensation, but I do understand what they are dealing with. People can be crappy to these folks.

I think working in a factory in my 20s also shaped my appreciation for these people as well.

 

It amazes me the number of youngins that dont get this. My prior job, which may or may not have been mentioned had a newly hired colleague. She mentioned a few times how she couldn't feel comfortable unless everyone at work were friends on personal time too. I disagreed. I don't have to like you, and I certainly don't have to be friends. And in fact, I greatly dislike more than one of my coworkers on a deep personal level. However, they won't ever know that. Part of my job is being cordial enough to contribute towards a safe and comfortable working environment, just like what I expect out of everyone else. Don't mistake that for friendship.

As far as bosses go, it goes double. I'm the boss that makes sure you have every resource to do your job. I am not the fun boss. I'm the boss that knows when you need empathy and extra help, or when you need a motivational push and the occasional ass chewing. We can be cool, but we ain't friends.

 

I spent around 39 years at a elec/gas utility. Enjoyed my work [not always the boss] the vast majority of the time until the last year when the asinine spending of the last CEO [who of course left for another utility when the S started to HTF] really began to cause issues. The best I can say of that is that a whole lot of useless management that cost a lot of money were terminated, ''encouraged'' to leave, or basically told to ''retire.'' And none of the ones over me in one of the fields I worked in were kept, 100% were terminated in mass and basically blacklisted. [they really did deserve it too, their management was egregious] I had other skills so I stayed on doing that, but the second I had the chance to retire, I did.

No regrets.

Been a year now, haven't touched a dime of my retirement egg funds, I still toss money into savings monthly, and can finally, after decades of on call disrupting my sleep and destroying my sleep patterns, sleep and actually go deep enough to dream, something that I really didn't do for one heck of a long time because I got so used to waiting for the ring of a phone at any time.

 

Totally relate, I did fast food prior to that job for a year. After the retail job I was a building cleaner through college..nuff said. Those jobs reinforced the fact that when I have a problem or issue I am especially polite in bringing it up and more patient than the average bear. That and if I pick something up in a store that I don't end up buying, put it back where I found it.

It might be that that person worked at a small place where that was the norm, perhaps? Just a thought..either way yes the real world isn't always that way.

I had a lady in the retail job I had to train first as a salesperson and then when she was promoted to my level, and we got on well always. Wound up being friends outside and still keep up occasionally 30 yrs later. She was the rare person who understood the different dynamics. I am the type of manager that just wants the work to get done correctly and in a timely manner, in return you get autonomy and trust from me..I more recently was on the Board of 2 nonprofits and managed hundreds if not over a thousand people. That's how I did it and I had far more success than struggles.

 

Same same.

Funny I worked at Osco / CVS for 10 years before joining the NAVY. We had some real fun experiences while I did that job on the east side of Milwaukee - well to do neighborhood, mixed urban residential area.

You'd see every walk of life. It was like real life Clerks. Everything from people filling a shopping cart and asking for 10 cartons of cigarettes at the register and then trying to write a floater (check) - to rich people treating you like trash to rich people treating you like gold. I had a wealthy lezzie couple invite me to their house for Christmas eve. They were so awesome. Then I had a guy hold up the pharmacy for Oxy. He ran out, I chased him, winter night, fresh snow, lightly over the icy sidewalks, I'm chasing to see his getaway car, I get the plate, shockingly, the plate matched up and the cops went to this kids house in the suburbs 30 miles away and got the Oxy back.

I worked at Hardees for ONE night in HS. I called Menards the next day, basically begging to accept me after interviewing to which they did. What a godsend. Also worked at Holiday Inn which was hilarious. As a houseman, collecting the linens. Me and my buddy absolutely tore that place up having fun.

 

excellent point. i made a very deliberate decision to base everything including identity as you describe on school->work in my 20's as kind of a 'be here now' zen thing. for me it was a good call as i had no idea what to do otherwise. the downside is you lose what most people do during your 20's - 40's. the upside may be that you carved a new path and found what you enjoy doing. risk and reward seem to be highly coupled and it seems that now is always a good time to try at least some risk and stay out of the comfort zone. no judgement at all, just throwing views into the wild net here.

 

My last 2 orgs, I definitely had times where I loved my job. My last org, I had an amazing set of teammates - PDX, Minneapolis, Arlington, me in Raleigh, we had a lot of fun during our calls. We had a watercooler chat that our boss wasn't in, I keep in touch with 2 of those guys still.

The job before that, I got some good opp to travel. Got to travel to an office in Northern California, visit NAPA for the first time, visit Santa Cruz, spend my nights in LA photographing the skaters at the skate park on the beach, and work and earn a living.

Does anyone love 100% of their job? I think so, but that is rare. I think it's much easier to be 98% content. Job hopping is not fun. And it seems the more you chase the perfect job the harder it is to find.

 

Great reply.

We can find happiness in our jobs...just have to get past the hinderances.

I'm at my 10th job since retiring from active duty Air Force in 2011.

My career field is the Logistics Arena (Supply) and friends have said, "at least your career is marketable!" lol

I'm very content working at my current job...and the staff are people I can get along with.

 

Amen brother, thank you for serving.

 

Management makes or breaks a job. People don't quit a business, they quit management or a manager. If a manager can't keep employees, the problem lies with the manager, not the employees under him.

 

"You don't get paid to like your job, you get paid to do your job."

Words from my grandpa to me when I was a 13 year old bag boy. The 51 year old me still thinks it's some of the best advice I've gotten. I like my job and profession but some days suck. When they do I just repeat grandpa's words of wisdom in my head. lol

 

Most of the time yes, I know I quit a bad manager in retail. I was good enough to be looked at as the assistant manager when it opened up on and off for a year, but never good enough to get the title and extras. I later learned the manager was campaigning for a better raise in her pay based on "saving you money not having an assistant manager" to the main office. I cut back to part time and 2 months later quit. 3 months later the main office closed that particular store.

Exactly. Much wisdom.

 

Its really sad that many out there never had anyone in their life growing up to share these little nuggets of wisdom. It seems so simple, so unimportant, and probably just a passing phrase in a conversation that he didn't intend to have a lasting effect. But its those simple lessons you learn very early in life that shape your outlook and perspective on the rest of your life. Thanks for sharing, I'll definitely be adding that one to the back of the mind for the right time!

 

I quit college and went to work in a circuit board factory. My grandfather said to me - "Your boss might not be watching you but your coworker will be."

He couldn't have been more right, it literally trickled down to that in that specific job.

He also told me how he had urinated blood while working in the CCCs. From that day on I always thought, if he can do that and keep working, everything I do should be easy as shit when it comes to working.

 

And said nuggs are so universal..then, now, and beyond