what is it about your job that you want to RE?

[snowbird]

I work for a large aerospace company on the east cost and the problems I have are:

1. As noted earlier, management changes at the top bring there own philosophy trying to make things better only to leave as things are getting worse.

2. I'm a 32 yr Mfg. Engineer and most of the new ME's want to come here, get the company name on there resume and then leave, requiring me to train new ME's over and over again.

3. The equipment we have is >20 years old and being made to do a cost benefit analysis every time you want to replace said equipment. They really want to outsource the work nowadays so that the don't have to deal with the in-house problems (maintenance and hourly workforce).

342 more days. Seems like an eternity.

 

[lets-retire]

Mikey--Actually a local police officer, the federal gov't finally realized that we are a mobil society and the badguys move also. They passed a law allowing active and reitred officer's with 15 years to carry conceled anywhere. We like to joke that our city is the crown jewel of the toilet. Everything around us is dope dealers, thieves, and other lowlifes. We keep the city clean, but it makes us one of the most hated groups of people in the area. As far as being shot at I'd prefer that, it's a straight forward fight and my vest, while not perfect, lowers my vital areas to a small target. It's the ambushes I hate, knives will go through my vest, a fist still breaks the nose and a baseball bat still breaks ribs.

A poor decision in stressfull situation could see all of my retirement savings go up in smoke and the postponement of retirement until I'm too old to enjoy it.

JG--I AM 9-1-1.

 

[azanon]

"What is it about your job that you want to RE?"

For me, nothing. Its actually a wonderful job. But being only 33 living in the 21st century, I realize that today jobs come and go on almost a yearly basis. Though i'm a federal employee, even we are not immune from jobs being lost (which come in the form of RIFs).

So if i lose this great job, say, 5-10 years from now, i'm going to be all the more happier if I proactively saved and planned for what could happen rather than just saving mildly and hoping for the best.

As good as this job is though, it still would not beat being able to do exactly what i wanted to. When I reach the day i can safely retire without putting either me or those I love in undue strain, I will retire.

 

[the tucson kid]

two more for the list:

Project meeting where EVERYTHING is discussed and NOTHING is decided.

Indoctrination meetings where management teaches the grunts how to be politically correct. Being lectured by a management weasel on Corporate Ethics is like getting marriage counciling from Bill Clinton.

 

[Jane]

What I like about my job:
1. I like what I do (engineer) and I like most people I work with (other engineers).
2. I like my boss, who will get along well with you if he thinks you are smart. If you are not smart, he may seem like a patronizing, controlling person (because he is afraid you will screw things up). Fortunately, he thinks I am pretty smart cookie so we got along well. My boss treats me fairly and gives me challenging work which is more important to me than the money.
3. I got a base salary for 40 hours/week and anything more than that is overtime pay (1.5X during weekdays, and 2X in the weekends). They want me to come in the weekend? Fine, but they gotta pay me double.
4. I like that my job comes with benefits: 5% employer's matching for my retirement savings, life insurance, disability insurance, and health insurance.

What I don't like:
1. One or two managers here who are just clueless (I am not going to re-iterate because I am afraid I will get suck into some long, heated rant). They are not my direct boss but sometimes I will have to answer to them on certain aspects of the projects I work on.
2. Some corporate policies which seems to be a waste of money. Our upper execs cry out year after year about cutting cost, save money and yet they blatantly come up with some policies that waste money. One example is that they keep wanting to change softwares we use and standard procedures we have to follow every 2-3 years, and then they wonder why productivity is down etc. Well duh, people need time to learn the new softwares and standards, and as soon as they are comfortable with the new stuff, it changed again on them.

All in all though, I consider my workplace pretty agreeable. It helps that we live on 1 salary eventhough we are 2-income family, and we have savings, and the only debt we have is our mortgage. It helps to "cope with work" because it gives me the "I don't have to take crap from you" attitude since I am not afraid that I won't be able to pay bills if I lose my job.

Jane

 

[windedhare]

1,2,3,5,7,8,10 plus 3 more:


A) 24/7 projects --> ridiculous expections
B) Dealing with Bullies
C) Mandated travel to undesirable locales

 

[eridanus1]

A) 24/7 projects --> ridiculous expections

Once, at a very large company you've heard of, I had a project fix due NOW, so me and a cow-orker worked on it literally all night. Friday morning comes around and we send the patch out to the person on-site. Friday morning also happens to be the quarterly corporate meeting, which I never attended anyway, but I was leaving the building at the same time as the meeting ended. My boss' new boss, just transferred from elsewhere, sees me and asks what I'm doing. In no mood for much of anything, I tell him I'm leaving, without elaboration - the work was done, I did more then my hours, and my boss knew what was up. He didn't like my "flippant" answer and was still telling me how to act towards him as I walked to the parking garage.

Someone above him gave me a bonus for that piece of work but it was the beginning of the end. The corporate tendrils were beginning to strangle the startup goose that laid the golden eggs.

 

[Eyerishgold]

Found this thread in the archives of page 41. Thought I'd bring it back to the front.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Thanks for bringing this thread back Eyerishgold, it was active before my time here.

As I sit at an open window alternatating between gazing out the window, reading RE forums, catching up on backlog due to two week vacation, taking care of personal business, running around to three desks doing skeleton-crew work, chatting with favorite clients while letting others go into the voicemail, taking long breaks out in the sunshine, and planning to cut out early, now, what was it I don't like about my job:

Meetings with the bookkeeper/personnel/boss' wife: long discussions followed by going with the simplest solution--what I would have done without a meeting. Don't think she's yet recovered from the time I pointed out that the new system she wanted to use is inappropriate for our business as it creates invoices lacking info. we are required by law to produce on every statement. No doubt, she wants to work even less than I do.

Basically I want to RE because I've "been there, done that," love long long vacations, and wish to, as they say, pursue other interests.

So how to I get her to present me with an exit package without becoming an inept employee?

 

[HatePayingTaxes]

I try to look at a job as an opportunity to learn. Learning is not only developing your professional skills but also can be applied to people situation. For example, if you're having trouble dealing with co-workers, try to analyze what the problem is and find a solution Maybe it's a personality adjustment you have to make or maybe you have to figure out a way to deal with the difficult co-worker. Either way, I think it'll teach you about yourself and how people are and can be applied to outside of work.

I also believe that key to happiness (whether it's job, relationship, etc) is to have low expectation. I work hard but, if I don't get that next promotion or that raise, it doesn't really bother me because I'm not expecting it. If they give it to me great, if not, who cares. As long as I'm learning and growing professionally/personally, I'm happy. I live frugally so I make more than enough income to get by and save for retirement. So all this combined really gives me a sense of freedom that this job isn't all that bad. Actually, life in general is pretty good.

 

[maddythebeagle]

Yeah, interesting thread....I probably wouldnt mind continuing to work if I found the right long-term situation (but I have found that is hard to find and when it gets good, it is fleeting...I would say in my current job no more than 50% of the time has been plagued with problems bad enough that if I was FI by now, I would have left...

 

[Gumby]

I have no particular aversion to my j*b. It simply takes up so much of my time that I'm not able to do all the other things I want to do. That's why I want to retire.

 

[Southpaw]

Good answer, Gumby. The fact that I have to go there and do stuff when I'd rather be doing something else is reason enough to want to RE.

 

[Andre1969]

I think the biggest reason I want to FIRE is simply that I want to just go at my own pace, and not have to answer to anybody. I don't want to be tied down to any j-word.

Now, that being said, here are the two things I hate the most about my current job...

1) Immediate cow-irkers. Whiny, self-centered, world-revolves-around-me drama queens that are also pretty adept at back stabbing.

2) Ineffective management that refuses to do anything about #1, and tends to be inconsistent in their direction. For example, a couple years ago I complained about one of my cow-irkers, who was just driving me crazy in every respect. Petty, jealous, backstabbing, blame-shiftin, self-centered, you name it. My manager says..."Well, is she doing these things to you or are you just PERCEIVING that she's doing these things to you?

Then, about 2 months ago, one of these people complained to management saying I was creating a hostile working environment. Basically, somebody left a mess in my workspace while I was on vacation, and I commented to that effect, stating that if I had done something like that to anybody else I'd never hear the end of it. I was accused of saying some four-letter words. Most likely "Damn", "Hell", and "Piss"-ed. Well that's baby-$hI+ compared to most of what goes on in our office. Well, THAT VERY AFTERNOON I get called in to meet with my supervisor and one of the big bosses with my company. I get the lecture about how I created a hostile working environment, and whether I think I did or not, it's how the other person PERCEIVES it.

So evidently, if somebody PERCEIVES that I did something naughty, I get crucified. If I PERCEIVE that somebody else did something naughty, I have to deal with it.

I'm thinking about putting my company on probation. Tell them that they have 30 days to correct this problem, or I put in my notice. Now in my company I'm just a little spittle in the cesspool of life, but deemed essential by the government people we support. More than likely, if I walk, the gov't would have the heads of my supervisors and they'll beg to get me back, under my terms.

Of course, there's always the chance that they won't. In that case, FIREcalc gives my current portfolio a 16.4% chance of success if I retire right now, at the ripe old age of 37. Should I pull the plug?

 

[W2R]

I think the biggest reason I want to FIRE is simply that I want to just go at my own pace, and not have to answer to anybody. I don't want to be tied down to any j-word.

Now, that being said, here are the two things I hate the most about my current job...

1) Immediate cow-irkers. Whiny, self-centered, world-revolves-around-me drama queens that are also pretty adept at back stabbing.

2) Ineffective management that refuses to do anything about #1, and tends to be inconsistent in their direction. For example, a couple years ago I complained about one of my cow-irkers, who was just driving me crazy in every respect. Petty, jealous, backstabbing, blame-shiftin, self-centered, you name it. My manager says..."Well, is she doing these things to you or are you just PERCEIVING that she's doing these things to you?

Then, about 2 months ago, one of these people complained to management saying I was creating a hostile working environment. Basically, somebody left a mess in my workspace while I was on vacation, and I commented to that effect, stating that if I had done something like that to anybody else I'd never hear the end of it. I was accused of saying some four-letter words. Most likely "Damn", "Hell", and "Piss"-ed. Well that's baby-$hI+ compared to most of what goes on in our office. Well, THAT VERY AFTERNOON I get called in to meet with my supervisor and one of the big bosses with my company. I get the lecture about how I created a hostile working environment, and whether I think I did or not, it's how the other person PERCEIVES it.

So evidently, if somebody PERCEIVES that I did something naughty, I get crucified. If I PERCEIVE that somebody else did something naughty, I have to deal with it.

I'm thinking about putting my company on probation. Tell them that they have 30 days to correct this problem, or I put in my notice. Now in my company I'm just a little spittle in the cesspool of life, but deemed essential by the government people we support. More than likely, if I walk, the gov't would have the heads of my supervisors and they'll beg to get me back, under my terms.

Of course, there's always the chance that they won't. In that case, FIREcalc gives my current portfolio a 16.4% chance of success if I retire right now, at the ripe old age of 37. Should I pull the plug?

My sympathies for putting up with a ROTTEN work environment. In answer to your question, I don't think you should even think about pulling the plug until AFTER you have lined up a better job. Then, if you still feel like it, go for it.