A job that slowly kills you:

[Nutella 0]

Guys, advice, please,

I work for this finance company. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday I go and work 10 hour shifts. The thing is:

1. I hate all of my coworkers (save about 3). They're conniving. They reported a girl anonymously to HR for wearing flip-flops on casual weekend. Always at each others back looking for a chance to screw each other over.

2. The dealings of the company are rather shady.

3. It literally is slowly killing me inside. It's depressing, drab, and boring.

4. As shallow as this is: everyone there is paunchy and depressing.. I can't be around that.

5. 90% of the dealers I have to deal with (contracts) are complete asshats and I'm helping them.

Issue:

Since I am trilingual, they decided that they would pay me quite well. I am making more than.. a lot of adults (and this is just my temp. college job).

What would you guys do? I've been sticking with it because it pays so well, but every time I go to work I feel like puking for the entire shift. I know that work is supposed to suck, but this is on an entirely different level.

[RadioGaGa 162]

How temp. is the job? Is it in your related field of study? If not...I'd say stick it out...bank the cash, and once you're done school move on to bigger and better.

If this field of work is already getting to you, and you are considering it as a full time career...you may want to re-think that.

[Nutella 0]

How temp. is the job? Is it in your related field of study? If not...I'd say stick it out...bank the cash, and once you're done school move on to bigger and better.

If this field of work is already getting to you, and you are considering it as a full time career...you may want to re-think that.

Oh, no, very temporary. I'm studying to become a professor (of German).

I only work at this finance company because it pays well. Not for anything like 'career advancement'. I'd quit after the four years. :P

[_HSB_b345t 0]

I was in a similar situation several years ago. The job itself (sans the clientele, co-workers) was tolerable. The pay was well above and beyond what I needed to live on. However, my boss should not have been in any position of authority (she verbally repremanded me for getting hurt on the job -- we sued and settled for a substantial sum), my co-workers would not be employed anywhere else for any appreciable amount of time (a fairly regular practice was to come to work intoxicated) and the hours were killer (anywhere from 2 to upwards of 18 hours). After some time, I began to scrutinize my situation and concluded that the income did not outweigh the negative aspects. I quit.

You need to do the same, do pros (salary, etc) outweigh the cons (your co-workers, the nature of the business, etc)? No one is ever entirely happy with their employment. Only thing that matters is, can you put up with everything to get through each paycheck? You seem able enough to gain employment elsewhere so are you able to walk away?

Only one who can answer that is you.

[Nutella 0]

Damn good reply, friend.

Thanks!

[fatwabbit 93]

4 years.. thats a long time to wait my friend, especially when one is not motivated to work.

Is that the culture of the office? you could try to change the way people work. It would take a Long time, but the benefits are good. I spent the last year trying to get people here to work better with each other. I've had to organise meetings where people were literally pointing the finger at each other. But together with the project lead, I managed to convince both parties that even though ties were strained, it was for the benefit of all. From that point on, they started to work things out, and have gotten better communication and more things done.

[Chadd 916]

I've only ever taken one job solely for the money and it was the worst mistake that I ever made.

[TBLfan 25]

If you look and work hard enough you can find a job that makes you money. It's not that easy to find a job that you love... The trick is to find a job that meets both needs.

I currently have a job that pays roughly 50% more than my previous job. My previous job had about twice the managers and quite a few people I didn't like. My current job has a lot of great guys and girls to work with and I find that I'm much happier when I leave work. To me, that's worth as much if not more than the extra money.

[chk hrd 164]

a job is not worth dieing for and that is what a job like that will do. It will kill you from the inside in a slow painful death like a cancer. Being trilingual you have alot of jobs to choose from...why not become an interpreter.

You are to young to hate a job so much. Plus you are a prime candidate to get caught in the job trap...the money is good so you live to a higher standard and don't want to or can afford to give it up.

I would look at cutting back on personal expenses and find a job you like even if it pays less. You will be alot happier and healthier in the long run.

Last thing...if your job is shady what is it say about you. In life the only thing you have is your integrety. If you can look in the mirror and don't see an honest man than you have lost the one thing that you can't afford to loose. A reputation, either bad or good, will follow you in your life.

[Aussie Joe 0]

I think everyone has been in your situation dude and working in finance you just have to expect shifty no good behavior as well as idiot workers. We just fired a whole bunch of useless people here at my work and the workplace is such a joy now to be in.

It might be time to take a pay cut and raus!

[big ben 0]

Not many people like their job but I understand, personally I'd stick it out for the money and not let it get to you. The moment you walk out the door enjoy life and leave the rest at work.

[fatwabbit 93]

am in an office that is pretty relaxed, and we sometimes play practical jokes on each other as well. It also helps that my boss lives on the other side of the country, so I rarely see him (think a total of 10 days for the whole of 2007).

anyway, just been 'given' a new scope for next year, and its something I've already said I didnt want. Have yet to sit down with the boss to discuss the outlines, but we'll see where this takes us.

[Nutella 0]

Thank you, guys.

I'll look into other jobs. However, if nothing is "nice" I'll probably just stick it out and suck it up (although I still don't like how f@#&! shady it is).

[Fire0nIce228 1]

I feel you too man. I work at a hotel and I like the people I work with, its just the owners dont want to spend a cent to fix the place up/keep it nice. In the six months I've been here its gone downhill so much compared to what it was. Sometimes I feel like I'm robbing someone when they pay 100 bucks to stay in a room that i know isn't 100 bucks nice.

Every morning I have to listen to tons of people complain about their rooms and the stay in general and give all sorts of refunds and adjustments and it gets old real quick. Only thing is I make decent money and I know what to expect on my paychecks each month which is a real good thing for me.

Best thing I find is to leave work at work. I go home take off the shirt and tie and just try to relax and not think about it. Sometimes I feel the owners are shady cause they're so money hungry, but I just think that that judgement will be on them and not on me, as I try to do what I can to make the place run smoother or get things fixed, I'm tryin my best.

If I was you I'd stay, since the money is so good and it doesn't affect your major or anything. To keep my conscience clean I'd just do my duties as honestly and professionally as possible. Worse comes to worse only talk business with your co-workers and if they start any office gossip crap just make up an excuse like you gotta take a dump and walk away.

[chk hrd 164]

It would be interesting to see what each responding person's age is. I am getting the feeling that the younger people say stick it out while the older people say time for a change.

Are the shady dealings borderline illegal? If so, and the line is crossed where does that leave you? If you already know it's shady you have no plausable deniability and could get caught in the mess.

[oggy_3 0]

Myself I refuse to work at a place where i dont get along with my co-workers, ill be at the same job until im out of university because i like every single person i work with. Sure i get into arguements but it happens. I'd say quit if it is "killing you slowly".

[Jarick 5]

24 here, cube monkey myself.

Unless you REALLY need the money, I'd be shopping for another job. Life's too short to be miserable at work for 40+ hours a week.

Hell, even complacency sucks. It's harder to get the motivation to send out resumes and schedule interviews when the people are nice and the pay is okay but the work is below you.

[flymonty3 0]

I owned my own company for almost 3 years, made great money doing what I did but i found that my work became who I was, not what i did. I was working 18-20 hours/day at it, and thriving, but i made many, many sacrifices (personal, athletic and academic) for that sucess. Also like you, alot of my competition, and clients were shady as hell, and it was making it hard to do honest work because of the competition. About 8 months ago i couldnt take it anymore and sold it to a larger company, finished my education, and took a new job a month ago. I make about 1/8 of my previous salary (still enough to live on) but I can assure you my lifestyle is 200% better...

[Hockey Fan 51 0]

My thought is always this:

If you wake up in the morning and more often than not regret that you have to go to work, then look for something else. Either that or find reasons to not dread going to work.

Life is too short to waste more than a third of your time depressed, bored or wishing you were somewhere else.

[number21 3]

i say keep your eyes and ears open for something else. Maybe network within your hockey league or something.

i am in a odd spot. i am in the right job at the wrong company. I like basically what I do, but i have little interest in the company's products/industry. I also do not like my bosses as people, I give them respect as an employee, but i have 0 respect for them as people. Also I have a lousy commute from Chicago to the burbs.

I am looking at other jobs daily. My biggest problem is in April 08 I am fully vested for my 401k, and that's a substantial bump in my 401k's saving. So I am planning on sticking it out at least until april. There are other factors in how long i will stay, but the 401k is the main motivation right now.

So really weigh your options, but keep at the job while you do that. But it is proably best to move on if you feel this strongly against the job.

by the way i'm 28

[ktang 34]

41 here.

If you were older and had to save money for your kids to go to college, alimony, paying off debts, etc. then you would have to stick it out. But, you're young and hopefully don't have all those other burdens, so you should get a more satisfying means of putting yourself through school.

Do you want to live to work, or work to live? It sounds like you work to live, and if so that job of yours will kill you (work stress will harden your arteries, raise your bad cholesterol, etc.) and steal your soul.

[#44wannabe 4]

17 here, full time recuitment consultant 11+ hours per day and some underhand dealings. But i work with a great bunch guys and it pays great (circa $36k usd + commision). I love it!

[BK 0]

From the title I thought this thread was about radiohead. Speaking of which, I just downloaded their new album and am 3 tracks deep into it.. Good stuff.

[Doctor Hook 0]

Wait...it's just a temp job? Stick it out (you said you're making nice coin) until you're done with school, then go work for a real company.

I'm a firm believer that the right job finds you, it may take a few jobs, sacrifice, footwork, and/or more school to find it.

[brent 1]

Get out, it's really easy to get trapped in a place like that. (I should know, I'm still at my 'part time college' job and I'm 24).