Anyone else hate their job?

That's kinda where I'm at, burnt out. 33 years of walking through the same doors is a long time. I'm 53 now and it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to start over again somewhere else. I feel trapped. I know lot's of other people have it worse, and I keep trying to think of the good points. The list seems to get shorter all the time though. We're a union shop, but unlike every one else that keeps getting huge wage increases we always loose more stuff every contract. We get screwed from both side. Now if you never show up for work the union will take care of you. Will still have a pension, that's the only thing left they haven't taken from us.

 

Do you mind sharing what the job was and where it was? At my old ford dealership, which pays flat rate, I had gotten to $28/hr after 4 years being mid level experience, one friend who was upper mid level got $34/hr after 8 years, the defacto shop foreman who can swap a 5.0 f150 engine in less then 8 hours without breaking a sweat made between $50-60/hr. The quicklube guys starting out got $10 per actual hour, they were expected to do the oil change, tire rotation, vehicle inspection in 30 minutes, if they took more then 40 minutes the service advisors would start bitching. From experience you can do that in 30 minutes if yoy hustle and there are no issues, but if someone has locking lug nuts and you can't find the key or they have added skid plates or the car has a lot that needs to get repaired your definatly going over 40 minutes.

 

I left a six figure job a year ago Oct 16th after almost 8 years there because I was personally victimized every morning when my alarm went off and couldn’t stand one more god damned second at the place. Dreaded going in. Typical multi-billion dollar corporation full of boot lickers who pinch a nickel til’ the buffalo poops. Skeleton crew of three of us running almost 200 miles of natural gas pipeline. One dude was ‘new’ (three years there) and the laziest person ive ever had to work with, including my time in the military which is saying a lot. Of the three, only two of us were EIC/measurement/corrosion qualified and the other dude took vaca every single holiday with zero notice or pushback from the manager who was 600 miles away and mentally absent 99% of the time. I spent the last two christmases at the canadian border troubleshooting shit that the ‘senior’ tech should’ve fixed months prior so it wouldnt malfunction (I ran Maine, he was supposed to run NH). Absolute nightmare to work with, good ol boy who wouldnt train because he was worried I’d sTeAl HiS jOb. I had to travel monthly across the US to train elsewhere and the more I got qualed on, the more hostile he was towards me. Left for a 50% pay cut to become an electrician at a resi/commercial place, some of my hours carried over. A year later almost making what I was prior. Happy as a pig in shit now. Journeyman license in 3 months, two more years to Master, and self employment after that. Will NEVER work for corporate again. Ever.

 

It is a bummer to read about some being unhappy. I've been there for sure but learned to attack it instead of let it attack me. We're a surprisingly versatile species if we push ourselves. Even at age 59 I was still able to learn fundamentally new complex stuff and ended up being asked to put off retirement at age 65.

We have to make our own happiness so my best advice that's worked well for me is look at skills where the whole world pays a living wage, figure out which of those we can do, then aim to beat means and medians. It served me really well over the younger me who thought we have to aim to make podium in a race. Coincidentally that sort of did get me on podium.

Beyond forcing my self at new skills to not be in a rut, it helped me a lot to learn about our brains at work. That really helps get beyond just core job skills and really cut stress. It helped me turn complex stuff from overwhelming to a game type challenge.

Good luck all. It stinks to have bad work. I had no luck at fixing difficult stuff like low staffing or complexity but for sure learned how to make the last 15 years in the work place better.

 

And get there without a college education. This was normal in 1989 when The Simpsons started

 

That's not too late at all. At the very least I would set up some keyword alerts on indeed. Just see what's out there.

 

Great advice and background everyone! It's always 1 of 3 things (Pay, People, Work itself). I've always had a job like many of you. I literally have only had 5 jobs total in my life (Paper boy, US Marine, Floor Sander (short stint), Diplomatic Security, and now my present job). I always just looked at the people and job and not the money. I always figured that all would be fair and I would start at the bottom and succeed based on my input (positive attitude). Long term goal was always retirement even when I was still a teen. Left the home at 17 and never returned, paid for my own education, helped mom pay for the rest of her mortgage, and give her my cars instead of trading in. I say this because you took that job/career and if you're not happy don't stress/frustrate/anger yourself there....get out! Make that big change and take a chance. So many above in this thread who succeeded did exactly that. You make the change you want, not the gov't, not the company, not anyone else....you do!
I am sickened and saddened to hear you not happy and struggling. I really am. Please, take that leap and take a chance to get yourself free from that nonsense and move towards a better life.
As for the younger generations I will say I interview maybe 20-30 people annually for hire including dozens more of college students for internships and I also travel to all the military bases and industry partners and talk to people up and down the chain. I can honestly tell you that our future is bright. I am so impressed by these young Civilians, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines. They are way smarter than I was at their age and have open minds on improving, adapting and change. You're never too young or too old to change!

 

Ear plugs work wonders.

 

Oh, you went to Bathurst Hieghts, too?

 

My job was pretty much all of the above but I recently aged out and retired. Hopefully you guys will get to do the same someday and enjoy getting up and doing as you like.

If work was easy they would call it fun instead of work.

 

I've had a lot of jobs I hated and a few that I liked. The rub there was always that every time I found one I liked it came with a major downside that ruined other aspects of my life. My first job I ever liked required me to live in Phoenix, Arizona, and I couldn't do it more than two years, the place just sucked the life out of me. But it was the first time I'd ever enjoyed a job and been willing to go above and beyond to see the place succeed. But I've never been afraid to drop something for a maybe... because staying around just hoping things will be better or being afraid of change will keep you in your hell.

So I left AZ jobless and moved back to the PNW, took the first machining job I could find as a stopgap (thought it would be interesting) and it was perhaps the worst job I've ever had, but I wasn't miserable because I was in a better place, where there was stuff to do and I had friends here. There's always something to make a bad situation better but sometimes you have to put in extra work to find it. Took another job after that, doing work I liked (IT Systems Admin) with decent folks, but damn if the pay just wasn't up to snuff (education in Idaho isn't well funded if you can believe that). But I made it work for nearly four years, couldn't save any money really because I wasn't making enough but things were okay.

The unfortunate reality of the modern workforce and HR processes means that if you aren't applying consistently for jobs (think two or three a day minimum if you're actively looking) you'll never find one above entry level, it really is a brutal numbers game. But after two years of consistently applying for jobs I finally found one that was willing to give me an "in" above entry level (which I'd been working above for years). It's just really tough right now to get hired as a professional, places want to staff with the cheaper newbies and entry level positions because they can pay them less and most places looking specifically for professionals often cannot afford them either in work hours or pay (startups, small-businesses).

This is the first job I've ever had where I've felt I could learn to like it more. I came into a role that had been left vacant for months because frankly none of the people already in the organization wanted to take the assignment and hiring seemed to have petered out because of the location. So it was a left right punch of "you'll have to figure everything about your position out yourself because the old guy is gone and he left nothing for notation" and "you're in the confines of an institution with limited access to resources outside at times". But with that came excellent autonomy, freedom to do the job however you want/need. I left a okay, but not good paying job that was easy with people I liked to come to a good paying job that was basically a huge question mark... like seriously I asked a lot of questions in the interview and they didn't have answers for me because no one from the organization came to this location ever. So I got a mini tour of the place and was asked a simple question, do you think you'd be interested in working here... and here I am. Some days confused, some days very busy, but the job turned out to be interesting, the people are fun, and the freedom is excellent.

My whole point with my rambling story is that doing a job you hate isn't a life sentence, in fact it is the best time to be actively searching for a job you could like. But sometimes you just have to change things, what kind of job you're searching for, locations (both of the job or yourself). Just be willing to hear the whole situation out. I applied for this job not knowing anything about it really, I knew the field well but the job itself was a total mystery, even the hiring staff wasn't totally sure about it. But if you told me while I was at my last job that my best chance of upping my salary was to take a job inside a prison... I'd have laughed at you. I'm on my last year of my 20s, and been working sub 50k/yr jobs since I left college, I've had the millennial experience thus far for sure... promotions that never come, locked out of higher paying gigs because of a lack of experience despite doing some of the jobs already or passing tests for the positions. The only thing left to us now is the ability to ignore the "lifer" mentality that our parents and older friends may have... be willing to change jobs, be willing to learn, be willing to get out of your comfort zone, and be willing to stay motivated in the job hunt. That last one is important especially with the rise of AI hiring tools for HR departments, automatic rejection before your resume or CV hits human eyes is a real thing and it is ruthless for the dumbest reasons. Don't let rejection or radio silence deter you, you can find something you do like for work.

 

I would say no or at least no for my "rust belt" region. I really suffered as my auto industry, ag and commodities related employment areas also did. It was both of finishing college prior in that decade plus getting important tech certifications on top of that for me to turn things around. Even with so much better skills and maturity that time and onward needed one to be more competitive in general. When I got out of high school in the mid-70s life was just no way as competitive as it would soon become.

I didn't consider the all of it so bad because merit and skills meant so much more but it also meant a never get to rest aspect to keep a good career.

 

Glad Im not the only one thinking about this. (will report back with the hate I have towards my current job, currently at work )

 

Shit.. I wish I could just keep a job at this point. I've been laid off twice the last 2 years from 2 different jobs in one of the most expensive states to live in. So jumping off that water tower op doesn't sound like a bad idea.

 

I join your attitude on the future and young, plus taking that jump and risk for something better. I know it is scary but when I learned to do it with manageable or not biting off too much steps it was like an often even fun next version. If at retirement age I'm verson 4.x, I had to do that sometimes painful and always hard but rewarding 2.x and 3.x.

Just in my work a 1000 person enterprise recently acquired by a 19,000 person enterprise we have lots of first line workers and still hire teens. The 16 to 30 year olds are generally best ever in a long career. Most so defy a lot of negative stereotypes. That applies to our first line workers not always highly educated or trained and to the top among them.

For one of your points, our son in electrical engineering had a fantastic dept of military affairs internship this past summer and that sparked all sorts of other opportunities for him. I was amazed by the 3 interns in his team and opportunities they had.

 

They say people don't leave companies, they leave leaders, and in my case that has been true. My decision to leave my last few jobs hasn't been about the company, it was mostly about a change in leadership. Which sucks, because unless you are the person at the top, you really don't have much of a say and have to deal with whatever happens. In my current job, I like the leaders at the top on the business side, but leadership in my division has shifted and the culture isn't the same -- and doesn't really match the stated culture. But at this point in my career, I'm just looking toward retirement. I enjoy what I do for a living, but I'm not enjoying my current job much.

Get this. Senior leadership wanted to drive a culture change so they got some of us together to figure out what to do. We did focus groups across the org to gather input, and what we found was that how current leadership sees value and applies the reward structures is messed up and driving the wrong behavior. So basically the problem was them. They didn't want to hear that and basically decided to do nothing. One of my colleagues on the team decided to leave after that, and I don't blame her. Nine times out of 10, problems with a team can be traced directly to their leadership.

I'm in an odd position now. Close to retirement, family health issues requiring health insurance, and some golden handcuffs making it difficult to leave. Plus, I have no desire to try and start a new job somewhere else. For you folks that have several years left and not a lot to sacrifice if moving to a new job, I'd say do it if you are not happy. Reflect on your personal principles and don't compromise them for a job. The grass isn't always greener, but it tastes different for a while. When I've changed jobs I've always told my wife, I'm just trading one set of problems for another, but at least it's a new set of problems.

But don't jump off a water tower.

 

I'm 64, retired at 62. There was a lot that I enjoyed about my career, but it was never something that I'd get up in the morning and do if I wasn't getting paid. So by the time I finally said 'I don't don't want to do this shit anymore', I was able to slide into post career life. A couple of pieces of advice that I might give my younger self are:

• Expecting to love what you do to get paid can be a ball & chain. A career/job is a tool to make money.
• Prepare yourself to the highest degree possible, as early as possible. Time is your greatest advantage. You'll want to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that come, and have a good defense for when shit hits the fan (and it will!). Don't leave yourself unprepared.
• Don't expect to get rich on your paycheck. Learn to invest.

I'll finish with a metaphor. Being the owner of your life/job/career is kind of like owning a truck. You build it to get you where you want to go. If you expect to run the Rubicon in a stock 5 lug...you might be disappointed.