s/o How you feel about a job

[Night Elf]

Have you ever had a job that you hated? In all my years of working, I only had one that annoyed me to no end. I worked in a university in several departments, but the Math department was the worst! The faculty was just mean and treated the clerical work like idiots. I got out of there and went to the Math Education department and everyone, faculty and grad students, were super great.

[AlmiraGulch]

I have. It was the best work I've ever done, in the worst, most unhealthy environment. I finally quit, and was later diagnosed with PTSD.

[Mama Geek]

For 1 1/2 years, one person who worked for the customer that I had to work with made my life miserable. Also I worked beside a guy who was terrified that they were going to lay everyone off or fire them any day. It was great money, and we had a great time after work, but the job really took a toll on me.

[LaxMom]

I have. It was the best work I've ever done, in the worst, most unhealthy environment. I finally quit, and was later diagnosed with PTSD.

 

I had a job like that, at a company we now refer to as "Hell, Inc." Before i quit/was fired, my doctor put me on Xanax because I was randomly breaking out in hives and hyperventilating on the way to work.

 

Then, she put me on medical leave and, when I went in to hand in my note (and my notice; I had accepted another position) they fired me. My husband said "congratulations!" when I called and told him.

 

I can't watch the Office. I don't find it even remotely funny and it makes me incredibly tense.

[Chris in VA]

Not really.

I don't particularly LIKE doing what I'm doing, but it's necessary and it's easy.

 

I hate the feeling of doing a job but really wanting to be somewhere else. It's very anxiety-provoking for me.

 

I cried every day on the way to work--literally--the year dd was in ps for the first time and I went back to preschool teaching. It wasn't so much the job as the family stress (ds' issues) and the letting go of dd (first time in school).

 

I did have a preschool teaching job that soured badly at the end. I was accused of things that were untrue, and no one would come out and talk to me about it. That atmosphere of tension was super-unhealthy and very difficult, but I still loved teaching.

[FaithManor]

OH YES! I worked for one year for a small music publishing company in which some of the employees were related to their managers. I had NO idea or wouldn't have taken the job. So, the net result was that those of us that weren't family worked two or three persons' jobs for not great pay while the rest did at most, one hr. of work per day and smoozed with the bosses.

 

I quit when I became pregnant with dd because I felt the stress was so bad it might cause me to miscarry and our insurance was through dh's job.

 

I decided to start my own music studio which worked out great and I also accompanied for a local community theater group and that job, while again, not stellar pay, was a LOT of fun and the people were wonderful to work with so I became a very happy person. :001_smile:

 

Faith

[Carrie12345]

I've never held any very impressive positions, lol. I've had plenty of crummy jobs, but the worst was when I was about 19 with no vehicle, so I took a job at a local deli. They broke every labor law that existed. I worked 10 hour shifts with no breaks. If my feet ever stood still, even with no customers, I'd get snapped at. If a customer flirted with me, I'd get snapped at. Shifts were changed with little notice, and often resulted in working an 11pm closing followed by a 4:30am opening. (And it took me a half hour to walk home, and another to walk back.)

 

It was hell. It was also a right of passage for most teens and young adults in our town!

[I talk to the trees]

Oh, yes. Right after dh and I were married, I worked for the DMV. I made it six months. I'd have made it longer, but I just couldn't handle 1) the astonishingly high number of people who didn't practice basic hygiene and 2) the general crankiness of the patrons. Any time I have to go to a DMV now, I suck on breath mints, and put on my sunniest smile. I've been on the other side of that counter, and it stinks! (Literally, sometimes!)

[Mynyel]

Yes had my fair share of them.

 

The worst though is call center work. Ugh. The pressure they put on those people is unreal. One toe out of line and it is all over.

 

Hate it. Which is why I am working at Walmart, which has its own issues. At least I don't have to watch my every word.

 

Although my assistant manager could learn a few things about how to treat people. :)

[DawnM]

I worked in the same district for almost 17 years. I did move around within that district a few times for a variety of reasons. The first two schools I worked in were great. They were very inner-city but the faculty was like family and I loved it. Then I took a job at another school as a counselor in a federal grant specialized program. I was so naive and thought it would be like the other places I had worked.

 

The boss was HORRIBLE. We all shared a tiny office. She was mean, rude, condescending, and lied.

 

I was so beaten down by the time I left after 2 years.

 

Thankfully, the next school was much like the first two and I left the district on a really positive note and with my sanity and self esteem in tact.

 

Dawn

[elegantlion]

Yes, I worked in insurance underwriting for almost 5 years. We had a big office building, I worked on the 5th floor. I would look out and see people out during the day and wonder what they were doing. Dh was in construction and he was always out and about.

 

The phones rang constantly, the insurance agents hated us because we'd reject policies. I'd fight with them, then my supervisor would fight with them, and then our manager would fight with them and then give them an exception.

 

It drove me crazy to try and put people into little categorical boxes. There is no individual in insurance. :D

 

The people were great, though. I had cancer while I worked there, so I had good insurance, but then I would get sick at least once a month after my treatment because I dealt with almost everyone in that department.

 

We did get computers for the first time and they taught us how to use Microsoft Office, so those skills have been useful. I maxed out my position because I didn't have a degree and there was no way I could see myself doing that same thing for five more years.

[Wheres Toto]

Yes, I've had a few.

 

I worked for a membership organization in a job that involved cold calling financial executives (CFO's, VP's of finance) and trying to get them to join or getting the ones who were already members to turn in their paper work. I HATE talking on the phone. The rest of the job was doing mass mailings - so stuffing envelopes for hours a day. Add in a b**** of a boss, rumors of lay-offs and crappy pay - I quit after less than a year.

 

I had another job for less than 2 months. I was hired as an admin for a water treatment company. Real small office - 1 office manager and 2 admins. The manager and sales people/technicians were out on the road most of the time. Somewhere between when I was hired and when I started, the office manager resigned and they decided to put me in that position. I was young, unqualified, there was no one to train me on anything involving the office or the company, and the boss used to yell at me for not getting things done. The only person in the office with me was another admin who resented that I was put into the office manager position. I don't bother putting that one on my resume.

 

I also worked for a few weeks at a preschool when ds was around a year old. They had me in the toddler room so I was with him. The room was not baby proofed adequately - no latch on the refrigerator, my son was able to open the "baby proof" latch on a below sink cabinet containing cleaning chemicals, things were not cleaned well, when ds got sick (wonder why?) I was told just bring him anyway since they needed me there. I found out that a lot of the kids were employees children and came sick all the time. After talking to the administrator about the inadequate child proofing and nothing being done, I ended up reporting the place and they were shut down.

[The Girls' Mom]

Yes! Actually a couple of them, although I didn't stay long.

 

The worst was working as a secretary for a small family owned business. The dad and two sons worked there, and I was pretty much the only one there that wasn't family. I was also the only woman. The two brothers didn't get along well, and were always in a tiff over something. They would constantly give me opposing things to do. Then the dad wanted me to be his personal secretary too (like making his proctologist appointments for him :glare: ) There was zero organization in that office. I left after about 3 weeks.

[Tap]

One that sticks out was working for a software company with about 10 workers including the owners (a man and woman who were married to other people but clearly having an affair). I was hired to replace the wife of one of the programmers. They wanted to keep the programmer, and fire his wife. Their strategy (they actually told me this after I was hired) was to promote her to marketing where they knew she would fail, and then they could fire her for that failure. :confused: Instead she did great and was still with the company at least 5 years later when I ran into her. The other thing about the job, was that the owner's sister worked there and was making billing mistakes. They didn't want to confront her (she was very emotional), so they let her train me wrong, only to turn around and tell me to forget everything she told me, and then they correctly trained me. ???? They also stupidly, had her checking my work...... she would tell them I was making too many mistakes, because I was doing it the 'wrong way' (which was actually the right way) and then she would correct my work (from being right...to being wrong). Then the owner would secretly go back and change it to the correct way again. LOLLOLOLOL

 

 

I was so happy to leave that neurotic company. I vowed to never work for a small company again.

Edited September 7, 2012 by Tap, tap, tap

[dbmamaz]

Its funny, i cant remember being as miserable as I was at my last job. I think it was doubly-hard because i had LOVED that job for years. I loved the work, i loved the people, i loved my boss

 

But then i left to have a baby, and my boss asked me to come back and do a short project - which was good timing as my husband's green card had gotten delayed and he was laid off.

 

But when I went back, i no longer reported to the boss I loved. I ended up reporting to my replacement who reported to a newly hired middle manager who thought my replacement was perfect in every way. He wasnt.

 

I was working harder than anyone else, trying hard to save failing projects, being pulled in 18 directions, but most of the work I was doing in the end was for IT, not for my department. My boss had no clue what i was doing and his boss was afraid of me because i was so much smarter than they were and I had such good raport with HIS boss.

 

I was trying and trying to get in to IT, but they refused to even consider it - they said I was overqualified to be an analyst and underqualified to be a programmer. Which made no sense. Their top programmer assured me they could find me a position, because he recognized my abilites. And my old boss said he'd tried to pull for me, but got nowhere, and really didnt want to pay for me while i was giving 90% of my time to IT.

 

but in the end, while I was told i'd gotten the highest annual review in the department, I was also told point-blank that my 'team lead' was going to have his review artificially changed to be higher, so that he could still be eligible for a raise. He was already making probably 50% more than I was and I was doing almost all of his work, he still, after 4 years there, did not understand the business or the technology. But they were worried about his morale. What about my morale?

 

I couldnt take it any more. luckily dh approved me to stay home with our youngest for his last year before kindergarten and . . .well . . i'm still home

[amyable]

:banghead:I've had a few that were a bad fit for me but may have been good for someone else -- my least favorite was the summer in college I worked as a receptionist for a court reporting equipment company. I was only hired to file and do general office work, but then their receptionist quit (now I know why!) and they asked me to take her job too for more pay. First of all, I *hate* phones, so that plays into this, but the day consisted mostly of clients calling to ream *me* out because the techs weren't going on their assignments to fix the machines in a timely manner, and the techs telling me to make up excuses for them that the clients never ever believed. The people there were great (other than not wanting to do their work, lol), it was getting yelled at on the phone constantly that did me in. Yes, I'm just a special snowflake in that department. :lol:

 

A close second was working in Barnes and Noble during the Christmas season. I was going through some strange medical stuff at the time which didn't help, but basically I worked the cafe most of the time during the busy times where people were really, really rude. Not being able to hear because the band was playing loudly on weekend nights didn't help. So I guess I just don't do well in general with being yelled at when I'm not really doing anything wrong. :glare:

Edited September 7, 2012 by amyable