Why does your job suck?

[Eileen]

Vent here.



Mine sucks because I never really "clock out."
And it is my agenda versus the agendas of twenty five ninth graders.
And I am not very good at managing behavior without becoming negative.

 

[Night]

- I'm "on call".
- Corporate buzz-words
- Timetables, with revisable bottom lines
- Time commitments are often vague and unevenly applied

 

[Lateralus]

My lack of a job kicks ass.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I was hired to train and coach which I love...but they have me documenting material... I am so BORED with all the introverted detailed work. It is the exact opposite of what I enjoy ....

 

[dnivera]

People who aren't efficient, spend 20 minutes giving me a long, winding answer that could've been answered in 2, people who waste time, other people's incompetence and laziness in general. We're like cogs in a machine - just one bad one drags me down.

 

[miked277]

the work itself and the people are alright. it's the fact that i'm a) the only tech guy in the office which blows when i think about way back when i was in a actual tech company and how much fun that was. being my natural introverted self doesn't help much and that combined w/ me having zero irl contact w/ others like me is no fun. and b) the work i do is fairly meaningless. granted most stuff i could be doing would be meaningless in 100 years i'd still prefer working on something i'm passionate about and that has meaning, to me at least.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

12 hour days are typical.

Looking for a new job every 6-8 months is no way to plan for the future or feel good about splurging in the present.

 

[FDG]

It's never really certain that I will have work to do for, say, the next year (although it's always known if I will have in the next 2 months). However, it's okay as long as I am still a student.

 

[Not_Me]

It takes up 8 hours of my valuable time.

 

[Kasper]

They expect me to work. Bastards.

 

[Quinlan]

Repetitive, no security, too simple, no hope of advancement.

 

[kelric]

Certainly not all of it sucks. There are parts that I enjoy. But... the negatives are getting more prevalent:

1. Constantly being expected to "hurry up and wait". If someone else has an issue, I'm expected to drop everything and attend to it immediately. On the other hand, if I request something, or finish something that someone needs to review, I often go months getting the "oh, I'll get around to it", the "oh, I haven't looked at that yet", or "It isn't politically convenient for me to address this (paraphrased, of course)".

2. Ridiculous documentation requirements. There are times when I'm required to spend an hour writing up planning, procedural, testing, and various approval documentation for 30 seconds of work.

3. Getting caught in the middle between multiple agendas. Group A wants something, group B tells me "oh, no, do this other thing instead... but don't tell group A you're spending time on it, because we don't want them to think we're not paying attention to them".

4. Getting called in the middle of the night. This doesn't happen often, but in theory, I'm on call 24/7. Closely related is the "we don't want to inconvenience anyone, you'll have to come in on the weekend and do that" (unpaid, of course).

I could continue, but I really should be thinking of things that won't make me mad .

 

[Grayscale]

-meetings
-too much sitting
-office politics
-party subs are not provided for lunch
-meetings
-i have to work with stupid people a lot of times
-a large percentage of bonuses is based on things outside of my control

 

[Jae Rae]

My job doesn't suck, mostly I enjoy it a lot. But these things bug me:

1) I still have no key after 3 months of working there 3 days a week. At least I can't be called in an emergency.

2) Just got office email (and a new computer, so not complaining).

3) I got moved from center of the work area with good light to a corner area with less light; but I'm doing my own brand of feng shui and now I have a spiffy, private corner office. My son left his hi-tech desk lamp which I'm taking to work tomorrow.

4) We get 30 minutes for lunch which is ridiculous for downtown SF. I take my lunch and eat in most days; my coworkers handle it by going out early (11:30) or late.

5) I have a 35-45 minute commute each way. And when BART goes down, it's bad.

6) The office manager is overworked, so requests for equipment, supplies, etc. take a long time to be filled (see 1, 2 & 3 above) .


That should do it...

 

[Recoleta]

Hmmm, well as for my restaurant job, I truly despise it with every fiber of my being...so I'll just mention the 1 piece of silver lining: Wine-tasting class.

As for my Spanish-teaching job here's the downsides (although, overall I really enjoy my job):

-- My commute is about an hour each way if there is light traffic, if traffic is heavy, it's been about 2 hours (and where I live there is unfortunately scarce access to public transit).

-- Doesn't pay particularly well when you're a graduate teaching assistant. When I think about how many hours I spend working compared to what I'm actually paid, I'm making peanuts. But hey, at least my tuition was free this semester

-- Unmotivated students annoy me. I really get irritated when they don't come to class, make no effort on their assignments, and then complain to me that my class is too hard. Hmmm maybe things wouldn't be so hard if you just came to class and did your work?

 

[ajblaise]

My job is pretty much awesome, but what sucks is, because I have no schedule or hours, everything has to come from my personal motivation, and sometimes with no schedule to adhere to, rationalizing putting stuff off happens. But as a P, I much prefer this method.

 

[Grayscale]

-i have to work with stupid people a lot of times

im going to have to repeat this.

i have been at my job for almost 2 years, and rarely make any mistakes. however, in the last 3 months i have "suddenly" been having all of my work sent back to be "corrected". usually it's things along the severity of "i didnt like this font/color" or some meaningless bullshit. it's pretty fucking lame, i tell them "just do the goddamn work, if it doesnt work then talk to me". then, amazingly, it works! shazam, no unnecessary time spent on meaningless details.

i really hate to point out to these people that even though im 15-20 years younger than them i am still at a higher technical tier and more qualified to say what should be done.

oh, and this guy next to me who doesnt know how to control his voice. if i ever go postal, he's gonna be first!

 

[Metamorphosis]

I get very few hours and never know what kind of money I will make going in. I am supremely unsuited for serving people in any capacity.

 

[Xander]

-Evasive management
-Half arsed measures
-Low morale
-Working with a bunch of people who don't know what "heretic" means let alone be able to spell it
-Practically everyone is an S and so I stick out like a sore thumb
-I'm expected to excel at keeping back the landslide of *** raining down from on high
-Oh yeah.. the whole knee jerk reaction to everything ain't helping neither
-The nail in the coffin is little pay rise and no promotion in 8 years..
-What's really hacking me off though... I still like it enough to not really want to go elsewhere and that's really frickin irritating!

 

[edcoaching]

-Evasive management
-Half arsed measures
-Low morale
-Working with a bunch of people who don't know what "heretic" means let alone be able to spell it
-Practically everyone is an S and so I stick out like a sore thumb
-I'm expected to excel at keeping back the landslide of *** raining down from on high
-Oh yeah.. the whole knee jerk reaction to everything ain't helping neither
-The nail in the coffin is little pay rise and no promotion in 8 years..
-What's really hacking me off though... I still like it enough to not really want to go elsewhere and that's really frickin irritating!

Cool quote from McCaulley. She was one of the last great ladies...

Isn't it annoying when people get in the way of a perfectly good job?