For the "still employed" - how do you feel about your job

[wildcat]

Wow, a lot of positive responses . I voted for "wish I had a different career" but I think it could be combined with "just here to pay bills & save."

My 20s have been a weird time, even late 20s for that matter. Nothing really seems to interest me for that long and I always seem to be looking for greener pastures or at least the illusion of greener pastures. Maybe that is normal.

I don't know if it is the fact that I work for a large company and it is the system I dislike or just my job in general but it just doesn't seem to be a good fit. Kind of crappy existence and it is hard for me to imagine 20+ more wonderful years of this & a little pre-approved time off each year doesn't seem to be long enough. Glad I cheered everyone up

 

[dm]

Can I have your job when you're finished with it?

I had alot of years with 12 hour plus days before I got to this part. I finally went in and said something had to change. I was able to hire several more employee's to help out and they even get overtime. It also makes it easier now that I don't have to have the job. What are they going to do, fire me?

 

[RAE]

I'm with Dangermouse, Enuff2eat, and bubba - the job is okay, but at this point in my life (worked for the same agency 28 years), I don't want to be there anymore. Just too many other things I want to do, and you only get so many days on this earth. Would leave tomorrow, but have to stay until I'm 55 (3 more years) to get the immediate annuity and health care. So leaving early is not a realistic option.

RAE

 

[Andre1969]

I voted that I'm just here to pay the bills. I actually used to like my job, but now I think a combination of things are crashing down on me. First off, back in late 2001/2002 we had some major turnover in our office, and some pretty cool people were replaced with some, umm...ahh-souls. : They ran off a few other cool people who, unfortunately, were replaced with even bigger ahh-souls.

I probably should have left myself, but the people who really mattered like me and watch out for me, and that's the only thing that keeps me going some days. I think another factor though is that I'm just getting bored. I can do my job in my sleep. Heck, this week I have to pull together a 600+ page presentation, plus one of our monthly reviews, plus send our program director off to NASA headquarters with one presentation and then another to some other group the next day, and my coworkers have me more bugged out than the presentations. I've been doing the same thing now for almost 10 years, and I think I'm just bored. But at the same time, it's easy, the pay's not bad the commute is to die for, and I just don't have the ambition right now to move on.

The little voices in my head are telling me to quit, though. Somehow I need to reason with them that I'm not quite FI/RE yet! I think that's another thing that's getting to me though. While I'm not FI yet, I am at a point that, if I had to, I could survive for years without working, and I think that's giving me a somewhat ambivalent attitude about my job.

Oddly enough, I think one thing that put me in the position I'm in is when I ran the numbers and saw that it's quite possible that I could retire in about 9 years, which would put me at the ripe old age of 46. Sometimes when my job gets to me, I just want that day to get here. But I don't want to get into the habit of wishing my life away! Hell, as I get older, I find the time goes by fast enough as it is!

 

[4EAXFM]

If I'd had any viable job skills, or a trade, I would never have wound up in prisons.

Ok, show of hands... Who else thought retiredbop was an ex-con before reading any further?

I voted "I do like my occupation", but it's not a complete picture. I recently turned to the dark side and became a manager, which I have mixed feelings about. I'm doing well in my new position and enjoy my fatter paycheck, but I wonder how happy I'll be long term moving away from my engineering roots. What makes my job enjoyable are the people I work with. Really sharp bunch of easy going guys, and my boss is the greatest. He's actually a guy I can look up to and respect. Haven't been able to say that about most of my bosses. This "occupation" in a different setting could really blow.

 

[LiveWell]

I'm with Dangermouse, Enuff2eat, and bubba - the job is okay, but at this point in my life (worked for the same agency 28 years), I don't want to be there anymore. Just too many other things I want to do, and you only get so many days on this earth. Would leave tomorrow, but have to stay until I'm 55 (3 more years) to get the immediate annuity and health care. So leaving early is not a realistic option.

RAE

I'm in a somewhat similar position to you RAE in the sense that I only have 10 months to go and then I get a nice big payout (i.e. stock options). DH is in the same position and that big pay off is going to mean the difference between an ok ER and a great ER. Dang, these golden handcuffs rub me raw sometimes though.

 

[cb7010]

That is why I love this forum..so many similar stories..on the surface I have a great job..a somewhat technical commissioned sales job with lots of freedom and a successful track record..BUT...working for a large mega-company with all it's beaurocracy, decision by committee, and being forced to work with 25 year employees that should have been canned 24 years ago for incompetence grinds on you after a while. Love the money, love the freedom, love doing the business deals..but, abhor the BS..so, for now, I keep trudging along socking money away..but, someday within the next few years it will be a great relief to leave mega-corp behind and focus on my next adventure..

 

[Sandy]

My job is not bad but I wouldn't be there if I wasn't getting paid. "

That says it for me - great people, generally understanding and not stressful but there is a level of BS that goes with any j*b as well as the sense that I could better spend my time doing what I want to do. Also, the pay is adequate but not great

That said, I am looking for a new opportunity that pays more. I figure that with a timeframe in mind, a bit more will ensure my plans, I will have year or so honeymoon period that comes with a new position, and then with a short horizon should be able to put up with most stuff, knowing it is time limited. If I thought I had another 15+ years of w*rk, the strategy would probably be different.

 

[SteveR]

After 33 years in pharmaceutical quality management and fighting management for resources and other departments because they want to take short cuts, I am worn out. Years of 11+ hour days, limited vacation time, eating a brown bag lunch at my desk takes a toll on your body, mind and soul. I fell hollow and exhausted.

I did the math recently and realized that over 25% of the time I have been with my current employer was spend doing at least two full time Director level jobs at the same time with little or no additional compensation. Any people wonder why I am ready to retire. :

We want to do some volunteer work (again) so we will see if we can combine RVing and volunteer activities that fall into what we are able to do. Neither of us is going to be doing any heavy lifting or hammer swinging but there are other things we can do...we just have to find them...........but first we rest and melt away the job stress, catch up on lost sleep and get healthy.

 

[REWahoo]

I fell hollow and exhausted.

Sometimes the truth is in the typo...

 

[SteveR]

Sometimes the truth is in the typo...

Good observation!

 

[jdmorton]

Work Experience: For the "still employed" - how do you feel about your job

Whenever I participate in these polls related work dissatisfaction, I wonder about the various work-related experiences that one might have. For example, your age may (or may not) affect how you vote. Here are some experiences that I think tend to affect how one might vote:

1. Age - Usually the older one is, the more varied the individual's work experience is. Obviously, there are exceptions, but I would think the more years in the work force, the more one will either find work enjoyable, you find ways to make it tolerable until you retire, or you know it will never get any better and you opt out.

2. Number of employers - As with age, I would think the general rule would be those who have had multiple employers probably have a better understanding of the working conditions in their field/career, and tend to vote with that in mind. I'm on my 6th employer, and I've worked in just about all of the various types of employment you can get involved in as an engineer - government, private consulting, industry.

3. Laid off - For me, this was a real eye-opener early in my career. I was laid off during the engineer purge in the early 1980s. I had a little less than 5 years total experience out of college and suddenly without a job - with a wife and two young kids. This really hit home - the need to make sure you are prepared for the unexpected, and to not look at your employment as some sort of right that can't be taken away (short of you really screwing up). That taught me employment is nothing personal; it didn't matter how good of a job you did or how well they liked you as a person - when they didn't need you, you were let go. That means I don't take it personally either, and if something better comes along, then I'll say my goodbyes, leave on a good note, and be out the door with no regrets.

I'm sure there are other factors and extenuating circumstances as well - as some of the above posts have noted - as to how and why people voted as they did.

 

[Meadbh]

Re: Work Experience: For the "still employed" - how do you feel about your job

employment is nothing personal; it didn't matter how good of a job you did or how well they liked you as a person - when they didn't need you, you were let go. That means I don't take it personally either, and if something better comes along, then I'll say my goodbyes, leave on a good note, and be out the door with no regrets.

Thank you jdm, I'll remember that!

 

[Southpaw]

My job is as good as a job will ever get for me. I make 6 figures and don't work terribly hard for it. Of course, I'd rather not work at all. Sadly, no one will pay me to do what I truly love: sit around and take it easy.

 

[eric]

Guess I'm the only one. I recently read a book called "Apathy and and other Small Victories" by Paul Neilan. Funniest book I've read in a very long time.

Anyhow, there's a paragraph in the book that pretty much sums up how I feel.

"And everyone drank too much coffee too, at the wrong times and for the wrong reasons. They drank it in the morning when they came in every morning to get going, and then again in the afternoon to keep going. They ran on caffeine fumes all day and never got anywhere. Then they went home spent and empty and crashed in front of the TV every night and slept the few hours they had for themselves. Everyone's awake for the wrong part of their lives. And by the weekend they're too exhausted from all the frantic, useless activity to even care, and its only two f#%^ing days off anyway. Nobody has the time or the energy to do what they really want, or to even figure out what that is."

 

[tikitoast]

Good thread--I have mixed feelings about this, and I think about these things more often as I get older.

I'm at a company that owns a cluster of radio stations. I've been doing voice work, commercials, on-air, and just about everything else you can do in this place other than deliver the mail, for seven years. I love most aspects of the job, and radio is definitely the most fun thing I've ever done for cash...but it's never been very much cash. I think my colleagues respect me, but I've never gotten a raise, my mentor/manager was let go last year, nobody knows who I am or cares anymore, and I'm in permanent part-time hell (no bennies). As the suits tirelessly explain, they'd like to reward me according to what I deserve, but their hands are tied. "It's not you, it's the budget," or lack thereof apparently.

On the other hand, when recognition occasionally comes, it feels really, really good. The program director of our youth/hip-hop station has been asking about me, apparently. "Who is that? I hear her on our commercials all the time. She's really good. Why do I never see her?"

A co-worker said I should go over and introduce myself (this PD works in another building). I'm considering doing that, although schmoozing has never been my strong suit. (Something to do with my permanent nonentity status? I dunno.) It made me feel warm and fuzzy that this important guy is noticing my work, strictly on its own merits. Now he's requesting that I voice more stuff for his station. It doesn't mean more money for me--I'm paid hourly at a miserable wage with no extra for commercials, until I can find an agent. But it just made it seem all worth it, suddenly, to have someone notice that I do all right at my job. It probably won't affect my status. They still have no budget. But getting that praise meant the world to me.

The rewards for this gig are not monetary, just emotional. But when they come, I realize I could never be happy working at the tool and die. Or even going back to computer support (better paying, but I hated it). It's about balance I guess...

As a side note, I just landed another part-time radio gig which commits me to about the same number of hours, but at double the pay rate. We're hoping to take the whole paycheck for this second gig and stash it away....we should be able to live on my husband's salary and my first part-time gig alone. (Not less, you ask? Hey, a girl needs a handbag every now and then. )

Wish me luck!

 

[bright eyed]

I like my job.
I love the people I work with.
I love what we do (our mission).

I don't like working on a computer for 9 hours a day.
I'd rather have a job that does the SAME THING around other humans so I can interact more with people.

at the same time, I am very blessed to work from home, have flexibility to pick up kids from school and not suffer a commute so I try to keep perspective...

But will be talking soon about expanding ops for me to get out of the cave once in a while to do outreach in my area...

 

[Celany]

sometimes I love my job - other times I despise my job (right now, I'm more in the despise camp).

when I actually get to do what I'm *supposed* to do (vs. all the emails, politicking, meetings, explaining the same thing to idiot people over & over & over), I really enjoy it. It can be tiring, but a lot of the time, it leaves me feeling really good.

but then the BS quotient rises (like right now), and I start feeling like I'm *really* underpaid, instead of just slightly underpaid, then I remind myself that I want to get out of this field in a few years & do something else. And that reminds me that I've really got to get my buns moving, and figure out what that "something else" is.

 

[Deetso]

Did anyone realize they make you work everyday. Today I brought in more money to my firm than I will make this month. I'm not sure Im cut out for this working for other people. Sometimes I dont really even like working for my clients. I see the deals they are doing and think- I can do that! I am definitly in the "wish i had another career"

I prounounce here on this forum- i will not be an associate lawyer for very long. I dont even know if I will be a lawyer for very long. I think owning my own coffee shop and turning my parents property into a vineyard sounds much more appealing.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I remember a worker survey that they did here at Megacorp a few years back. One of the conclusions from the survey that stuck with me was that the longer you'd been working at MegaCorp the lower your job satisfaction was.

The new hires start out all idealistic and enthusiastic and then are beaten down over the years. Finally you leave MegaCorp a critical/burnout/cynic.

Now if that isn't an inducement for FIRE then I don't know what is.