Let's talk about our crappy jobs.

[McG]

Sorry to hear. I am a volunteer reading tutor, working on site at an elementary school with students kindergarten-3rd grade in a one on situation. I see 16 kids, three times a week (double up on Friday). I work from 7:30am-4:00pm although 7:30am-9:00am and 2:30pm-4:00pm are planning periods as school isn't in session. I absolutely love my job, it's the best one I've ever had. Every day is a different experience, and working with children who live in a poor area and come from broken homes, as well as students with special needs has been an eye opening experience for me.

The trade off is since I'm a volunteer I only receive a living allowance, so I'm making about $5.33 an hour (less if I do community service, which is "optional") so I'm a tad on the broke side. But I'm a simple man with few needs, and while I'd like a little extra spending cash to go see some concerts or travel to a bigger nearby city (I'm in between Orlando and Tampa) I really can't complain about my work situation.

[Raincloak]

Some days my jobs (multiple) are crappy. Sometimes they're entertaining. Many days they're just a job: go to work, push the paper, come home and relax. I'm a paralegal who works for solo attorneys, so my bosses are eccentric and the pay is so-so, but I don't have to put up with snobby suits. The nice thing about not being in charge is, you're not on the hook when things go wrong. Unless you have one of those rotten bosses who blames the underlings for problems, but fortunately I do not work for that kind.

I've been there and done that with the crappy retail jobs, the crappy food service jobs, and the crappy sales jobs. I've found office skills command a fairly steady and much more livable wage. So now I'm a white collar. It's not so bad.

One thing I've learned about jobs, though: you mostly get what you're willing to put up with.

[Nik]

I don't have a crappy job, but I do a crappy job of landing work. Does that count? I'm way overqualified for fast food level crappy, and totally lack the charisma to land the things I'm qualified for. Being successful at working for myself is part of my Level 50 though, so I'll continue working at it.

[Anthony K.]

I am a security guard for the US Department of the Army, so my job is EXTREMELY easy.

I am the guy that, if you have ever been on a military installation, checks your ID and sometimes does a full vehicle inspection. I work 13 hour shifts, 7-9 times per pay period (so basically 7-9 out of every 14 days). I get paid fairly well ($14/hr, $21/hr OT), I get 18 PAID leave days per year, 12 PAID sick days per year, cheaper health insurance (my family plan is roughly $240 per month..if I paid OUTSIDE of the DoA it would be roughly $1400 for same coverage), I work at night and it is SUPER easy.

There are only two things I dislike about the job: it is mind numbingly boring (just the same thing, ever day) and so many people complain about the same damn thing (hours too long, which they knew when they signed their contract and the weird hours, which are either 4 to 5 or 5 to 6, depending on which gate you work). When I realize those are my only complaints, I know I have it good, compared even just 6 months ago. At that point I was waiting tables at night/on weekends and being a pest control technician during the day (neither paid that great, I worked too much, saw my family too little and hated one job while hating 70% of the people I worked with at the other).

[rtalencar]

I am a full-time ASM for Radioshack here in Saint Louis. I was scheduled to work 4-9 this evening so I didn't go to bed until late last night. Well lo and behold, my manager's wife called me at 7:45 letting me know my manager (who, though I love him and he is good at his job, makes significantly more money than I do) wasn't coming in today and that I had to open the store (which meant, I had to be ready for work in a half hour.) Now, I don't know about you, but you know those zombies in The Walking Dead that came out of the well in season two? That's what I look like in the morning. A half hour is not enough time to wash off the ugly.

Anyway, I text my part-timer and asked if she could close tonight so I wouldn't have to work open to close. Her response? "Can't. I have stuff to do."

As if I don't.

So now, I am stuck working 8:30 am - 9:00 pm for 8.70 an hour.

Long story short, I want you to bitch about your job with me so I:

a) Feel better about it all because there's other nerds out there who hate their job, or

See how bad others have it and learn to stop complaining.

Quick disclaimer, I do love my job. I've been doing it for years and I have no intention of leaving. I just wish I was compensated for effort, and not just for presence.

Can't really complain as I like my job a lot and am fortunate enough to have a pretty decent salary.

However I did have to come in this morning at 0345 to run a test shot with the client. I am le tired.

Edit to add: I'm an implementation specialist for the finance industry. I install, configure, and maintain trading platforms for banks and hedge funds.

[Rivanariko]

I work in Residential Treatment with Psychiatric high risk teenage girls.

The last thing you would call my job is boring.

Overall I like my job most days, but it is incredibly stressful and has definitely taken a toll on me lately. I'm leaving it in January, which is bittersweet. I genuinely care about my residents and it bothers me that I'm not going to know what happens to them after I leave. Some of them have been with us for over a year and feel more like family than anything else.

On the good days it's an incredibly fun job because I basically hang out with a bunch of really fun people all day. Help them with homework, listen to them when their upset, resolve conflicts between them, play video games, go to the zoo, ride horses, go fishing, etc. I hold them accountable for their actions and expect them to follow the rules and display good behavior, but I'm not a jerk about it, so I'm fairly "popular", or so I'm told.

On the bad days I get to pull them back in their windows after trying to jump out, cut cords from around their necks, avoid chairs being thrown at me, try to avoid being punched, kicked, scratched or bitten while physically restraining someone, and generally listen to a litany of verbal abuse. Thankfully, those days aren't incredibly common right now, none of my girls are overly aggressive most of the time.

Pay is decent, hours suck, and my stress levels are through the roof, but it's nice to know that what I do is making a huge difference in people's lives.

[katpower]

I don't understand how you Americans can afford to live O.O We have poverty problems over here - but we also have unemployment and disability allowances, a higher minimum wage, and subsidised health care. I want to cry every time I read about your wages, your working conditions, your health care prices... You poor things!

[Kristen]

I work 13 hour shifts

What! Security on our base recently switched to 8 hour shifts from 12. I couldn't imagine that many hours on the gate.

I respect what you guys do though, I guess all I can do is not be that jerk that doesn't have my ID ready or forgot to turn off the headlights.

[Laureleye]

I'm on call 24/7. If I don't do what my boss says, I could go to jail. If I show up for a shift late, I have to stay for an extra 2 hours every day for a week or two. I don't get paid for those extra hours. Once a week, someone I don't know comes into my room while I'm not there and checks that I'm keeping it clean. I work 3 rotating shifts: 6am-2pm, 2-10pm, and 10pm-6am. Next year, I'll go to a 9 month school that's equivalent to junior and senior year at a university. After that, I'll be assigned to a ship where I'll spend 9-10 months a year at sea, working 12 hours on, 12 off, 7 days a week. My personal space will be 3 feet wide by 6 feet long by 18 inches high, enclosed by nothing but a thin blue curtain. My current paycheck is roughly equivalent to minimum wage in California.

All that known, I still chose to do this. I have a pretty sweet job. Sometimes the work grinds me down, but I feel over-appreciated at times. Considering both the insanely high satisfaction I have with my work and all the garbage I have to deal with (literally and figuratively) I realize that it all evens out.

Sure, your boss might be a jerk, dealing with customers sucks (I did it for 10 years), and working for crap pay also sucks. But you can do whatever you want in your off time, you can wear whatever you want, cut your hair however you want, eat whatever you want, sleep wherever you want, and you don't have to salute your boss. Rewards vs. cost, it all evens out. I wouldn't trade you though!

Sounds like Engine Room on a Sub to me. And you're right - if you're doing that job for the money, you're in the wrong business. (Salutes)

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I don't understand how you Americans can afford to live O.O We have poverty problems over here - but we also have unemployment and disability allowances, a higher minimum wage, and subsidised health care. I want to cry every time I read about your wages, your working conditions, your health care prices... You poor things!

We console ourselves with the fact that only two types of spiders here can kill us. We have unemployment, disablity insurance etc, etc, we manage to get by (still the largest economy in the world for a few weeks till China overtakes us). Cost of living is lower here too, which helps.

[spezzy]

yeah. my job freaking SUCKS.

...oh, wait.

[Maledictus]

We console ourselves with the fact that only two types of spiders here can kill us. We have unemployment, disablity insurance etc, etc, we manage to get by (still the largest economy in the world for a few weeks till China overtakes us). Cost of living is lower here too, which helps.

First time I had to fill up in the states I thought there'd been a mistake and tried to give the woman behind the counter extra cash.

My job sucks a bit but it pays well and at least I have one.

[katpower]

We console ourselves with the fact that only two types of spiders here can kill us. We have unemployment, disablity insurance etc, etc, we manage to get by (still the largest economy in the world for a few weeks till China overtakes us). Cost of living is lower here too, which helps.

Deadly animals make us STRONG!!! (if they don't kill us first...)

eta I was going to be all "the critters aren't as bad as y'all make out" - then I remembered that I've been bitten by spiders twice, had a cat survive snakebite, my brother had a jellyfish wrap itself around his torso - even my horse bites me on a regular basis!

[shortstuff]

Deadly animals make us STRONG!!! (if they don't kill us first...)

eta I was going to be all "the critters aren't as bad as y'all make out" - then I remembered that I've been bitten by spiders twice, had a cat survive snakebite, my brother had a jellyfish wrap itself around his torso - even my horse bites me on a regular basis!

I saw a picture on Facebook of the animals in Australia that can't kill you, it was blank beside the words that said what it was a photo of

[leadchipmunk]

I saw a picture on Facebook of the animals in Australia that can't kill you, it was blank beside the words that said what it was a photo of

Bob Ross is probably the greatest painter. See below:

[TheRedWriter]

Okay so after first day (well, night) of working here; it was stressful and quite fun. I'm glad it isn't crappy... yet. The pay is okay as well, $18 (€14, £11) per hour since I work in the middle of the night.

Awesome on both accounts: Not sucking (yet) and the pay is a far sight better then most people on this list (and most folks in general!).

[Tocho]

Awesome on both accounts: Not sucking (yet) and the pay is a far sight better then most people on this list (and most folks in general!).

Indeed! That's what happens when you have trade unions. But then again they are the work of the communist devil so I can see why some people wouldn't want a basic trade union.

[TheRedWriter]

I work for *****, (must be unnamed here), a major electronics company that you either love or hate. I have been here for seven years, and my job duties are a hybrid of telephone tech support and crime scene investigation; a customer calls in with an issue with "X" product, and I am charged with 1.) finding the complete root source of their issue, and then 2.) resolving it. I am also required to take more notes on the experience then an actual officer of the law, so that in the event another customer experiences this issue, we can use the data I gathered to resolve their issue as well, thus saving ***** money in the long run and improving the experience of our customers.

I am in part responsible for creating this job, and I used to be proud of that. The work my small group does saves ***** tens of millions of dollars each year. We are one of the only tech support divisions that isn't a monetary black hole; we actually pay for ourselves over and over. However, management has shifted in the past two years, bringing us to a very real, "Office Space" mentality. I have five managers, and besides them, another five, "Senior" members who have managerial power, so in essence, ten freaking people I have to answer to at any time if they come poking their noses my way. Most of those managers (apologies to those above who identified themselves as managers!) are worthless, with only a few doing more then a few hours of work each week. Next, call it what you will, but I still have to put myself into, "Customer mode", where I have to be empathetic to customers, ignore their horribly mean and insulting tone and words, and make sure that when they hang up they leave a happy and satisfied customer. Also, this isn't a job where you can go into, "Auto-pilot"; E.g, where you can perform the task in a way that doesn't require any thought. Because I am responsible for figuring out why a product did what it did, or why in the world a customer thought their product wouldn't break if they dropped it, or why they thought it would sprout wings and fly. Dynamic questioning is evident on each and every call, no exceptions, and if the ten managers above catch you not performing at this peak-of-excellence level, your standing in the group is lessened (you'll get a terrible schedule, you'll get written up, etc).

Once upon a time, I loved my job and worked damn hard at it. After seven years of this, I am burned out mentally and emotionally. I dread coming into work each and every day, even after almost two weeks off for my recent honeymoon. I am well compensated monetarily for my time and energy, and I have always been grateful for this. However, I am emotionally jaded a great deal of the time, and mentally exhausted the majority of the time.

[Tocho]

Doesn't sound like too much fun, TheRedWriter. I hope it improves somehow! And iThink iKnow what company you work for

[sumdawgtwigg]

Lol, thanks for posting this. I've been rolling this idea around in my head, but didn't know how to ask it - just wanted to hear how other people deal with a rough job.

I've been unemployed/underemployed in minimum wage jobs for over a year. It's been a time where I couldn't even figure out what to do next, which was very scary - to not have inspiration and motivation. I moved a couple yaers ago and lucked out with work and a place to stay, but gosh darn it has my broke down over-and-over-and-over and in very expensive ways. So I've been having some hard growing pains as an adult! I thought it was going to be AWESOME to be making $12-$15/d, plus tips, compared to minimum wage (which should only be given to high schoolers!), oh my gosh, it's still hard to cover the basic bills, and not even getting into student loans. And I'm in massage therapy at a spa, so if it's slow and I have no appt that day, they tell me not to come in. A whole day of no work, so no pay. I've been feeling like I've made some bad life choices in my education, but how was I to know?

Plus side - it's given me some time to find some new hobbies and know that I can survive on very, very little. That's a pretty great skill. It's also been a time for me to work on my fitness, so then when things do turn around for me, I'll be strong and fabulous!

This sounds so much like me that it's scary! I've gone through this so many times and am doing it as we speak.

[Namednoname]

Lol, thanks for posting this. I've been rolling this idea around in my head, but didn't know how to ask it - just wanted to hear how other people deal with a rough job.

I've been unemployed/underemployed in minimum wage jobs for over a year. It's been a time where I couldn't even figure out what to do next, which was very scary - to not have inspiration and motivation. I moved a couple yaers ago and lucked out with work and a place to stay, but gosh darn it has my broke down over-and-over-and-over and in very expensive ways. So I've been having some hard growing pains as an adult! I thought it was going to be AWESOME to be making $12-$15/d, plus tips, compared to minimum wage (which should only be given to high schoolers!), oh my gosh, it's still hard to cover the basic bills, and not even getting into student loans. And I'm in massage therapy at a spa, so if it's slow and I have no appt that day, they tell me not to come in. A whole day of no work, so no pay. I've been feeling like I've made some bad life choices in my education, but how was I to know?

Plus side - it's given me some time to find some new hobbies and know that I can survive on very, very little. That's a pretty great skill. It's also been a time for me to work on my fitness, so then when things do turn around for me, I'll be strong and fabulous!

I feel your pain with the jobs.

Until recently (Literally yesterday), I've been on jobseekers for 6 months. And before that I only worked a week or so every now and again, usually for £50 a day, regardless of what hours. Sometimes I would work 36 hours in 3 days, get paid £150 for it. During this entire period (And last few years tbh) without money, without a social life and with WAY too much time, and nothing to do in this time. I've been going insane. Constantly ruminating about shit and generally making myself miserable. No motivation, No inspiration, nada.

But thankfully as of late, I've started to turn things around. I found a job working nights at a warehouse, 30hrs per week. 9.50ph wed-fri in 11 hour shifts (1 hour unpaid break). Then I get saturday-Tuesday off which is pretty cool. So far I've only done a day of training, sitting in front of a computer all day watching safety crap, which was mindnumbingly boring. But I start my first proper shift tomorrow night, so fingers crossed, it won't be too bad!

[obax]

I'm currently a part-time wage slave for a large chain drugstore. Much of my job involves cleaning up other peoples messes (coworkers and customers alike) and making sure the other wages slaves I work with don't dick around too much (I'm a shift supervisor of sorts). I detest the former very much (people need to clean up their own shite, I'm not your mother!) and feel indifferent about the latter (I don't have to work too hard to motivate the people I work with because I have worked hard at earning their respect and showing them that I understand the hardships of the job (to much work, not enough people to do it), and showing them I'm prepared to work just as hard as I'm asking them to). I don't hate this job because I have zero emotional investment in it, but it is most definitely not the job for me (my manager started talking about the possibility of me taking management courses in the future and making of a career of it almost right away, and I politely said thanks but no thanks)

My future career goal is too be a police officer in the City of Toronto, my current job is a means to this end (ie. I gotta pay my bills somehow, and the cops don't hire unemployed people).

I can't complain, partly because of the zero emotional investment thing, and partly because the only things I have to complain about are, in the whole big scheme of things, of absolutely no importance and not worth getting worked up over (I came from a job where, if I screwed up, something could die. It's hard for me to get upset over an item being crooked on the shelf or someone's cash being off by a buck or two). I will say there is one person who works there who I simply cannot like no matter how hard I try (which has gone from actually trying to not trying at all in the space of a month) and she irritates me on a regular but temporary basis. When this happens, I put my brain into active zen mode, which is where I take a deep breath and remind myself that none of this matters. I've been told that when I'm in this mode I have an exceedingly calm expression on my face, but a few people who know me a bit better know this actually means I'm thoroughly irritated.

[TheRedWriter]

Doesn't sound like too much fun, TheRedWriter. I hope it improves somehow! And iThink iKnow what company you work for

Thanks for the kindness, Tocho. Some days are better then others, some are worse, but at the end of it all I put a lot of effort into retaining the perception of, "I could be unemployed" when I consider the difficulties I undergo. My goal now is to simply go anywhere within the bounds of the company to start recuperating, even if I take a pay hit. Love the company, can't stand the position.

As for who writes my checks, iCan neither confirm or deny what company I am employed by.

[andygates]

Careful, they'll bump you up into Management, and that's death for nerds.

[TheRedWriter]

Careful, they'll bump you up into Management, and that's death for nerds.

Does that mean that I would die, or my nerd-dom would perish? Or both?