I’m mid fourties, work has become such a slog of convincing myself to go in after parking in the parking lot. I hate my job now and I don’t think it’s just the job. Every job, every company is just people trying to get one over on you. Unless you have some unicorn of a job, they’re all the same dumb profit driven drive to just optimize everyone into layoffs.
You just bite the bullet everyday right? Because that is what being an adult is.
EDIT
Answer: don’t get lost in your head, we’re all trying to get by, find something that makes you happy.
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Not everyday, but those days definitely happen. It sucks, but I would do this as opposed to being homeless or destitute
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> Every job, every company is just people trying to get one over on you.
What does this even mean? What are they trying to get “over on me” exactly? I don’t get it.
That pretty much sums it up.
On a separate note, perhaps you shouldn’t watch Severance…
im a defense contractor in the space industry, but yeah there are some bad days even WITHOUT people trying to get over on you.
but i guess i agree with you, i get in my bmw, i get to my house, i eat my nice food and i sleep in my comfy big bed and its all whatever. I go on regular trips and im fortunate to have 5 weeks of PTO and plenty of schedule flex.
however, one big caveat is that im not a “live to work” kinda person. so im a bag chaser to do stuff i wanna do…outside of work. my fiance is the opposite, shes a high school teacher and thats a labor of love. she would probably resonate more fully with your perspective where a lot of bad days its just “i just need to go home”.
At least half of it
I’ve got a wife that goes to university loan free, kids that go to sports camps in the summer, have a car hobby, etc. I still have to push myself to go to work because it’s work. I don’t like it but I love that it provides these things for trading my time.
That’s called burnout.
I used to have those days a lot. Had them less often when I was able to finally get ahead a bit and try to build something for myself. I’ve mostly lost that something. Trying to get ahead again and rebuild it, but noticing I have a lot of ingrained habits and thoughts that make it difficult until I dig myself into a pretty deep hole where I’m forced to cut myself off from damned near all joy forna while.
I got past those days, now work is just like anything else I do. Something to fill my time that just so happens to pay the bills. Or would if I wasn’t so deep in depression that I could stop spending money on escapism.
You don’t bite the bullet. You find things outside of work that bring you joy and peace. That’s what I’m trying to get to again.
I look forward to start work every single day. Sometimes work is so exciting and rewarding that I stay late having fun. I do realize I am an outlier though.
This is partly why I got out of corporate and became a teacher. Don’t get me wrong, teaching is rough, and I definitely sacrificed earning potential. But I couldn’t take the soul sucking profit sucking leeching of corporate America anymore. Every job I had was trying to squeeze the last cent out of the customers while paying employees as little as possible.
Teaching is hard, doesn’t pay as well as it should, and there are still plenty of bad days. But at the end of the day, at least I feel a sense of accomplishment because I’m contributing to bettering the community instead of slaving away as a cog in the wheel of the corporate machine.
Having summers off is also nice. I haven’t been to work in almost 4 weeks and I have another 6 to go.
I enjoy what I do for a living, and I also spend my personal time after work researching and trading markets. But yeah, there are days where I wish I had more genuine human interactions and travel to more places worldwide rather than spend long hours looking at multiple computer screens. I have a friend who travels a lot and meets new people and I kind of envy his lifestyle.
I work in sports and luxury car sales.
Most days I go home wanting to deepthroat a shotgun. But then there are days where you make a couple sales and it basically covers the entire month and makes you forget.
I like my coworkers and the job itself is pretty engaging so I enjoy it to some extent. I won’t say it doesn’t have it’s annoying parts but I don’t think I have ever dreaded going to work. Well I primarily work from home so I haven’t dreaded going to my desk in my living room is probably a better description. I do sometimes dread driving into work because I hate traffic not because I hate being at the office.
The alternative is to find a way to break the matrix and start your own source of income.
It probably won’t work though, and good luck if you have dependents.
Two quotes to help you through the day:
“I’m just here so I don’t get fined” – Marshawn Lynch
“That’s my only real motivation is not to be hassled; that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.” – Peter Givens
I have very little bills to actually pay which allows me to have a unicorn job. Consider myself very fortunate but also acknowledge it’s not the life for everyone.
Sitting in my truck in the parking lot feeling absolutely the same way OP.
I have however given notice to my soul sucking job and luckily am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
I used to enjoy my job but over time I found I was giving more and more of myself with nothing in return and I slowly started to become depressed. I’m realizing this is burnout, because I have always been somebody who doesn’t mind or even likes working, until the last couple years when I just couldn’t stay on top of my work no matter how hard I tried or how many hours I put it.
Life shouldn’t be so depressing 24/7, maybe consider looking for a new job or changing career paths. I’m hopeful I can get back to the ambitious person I once was when I leave this job behind.
As a person who took a lot of time off in his thirties. The brutal truth is that even when you have the freedom, all your friends don’t. I spent a lot of time at the beach, snowboarding, etc. but I did it mostly alone. The routine of work and having fun with the boys at work is what life boils down to. Being a workaholic in your 40s is just what you do because your friends have businesses and kids.
It is what it is! I grind for the family not myself
i actually like my job and i like being here. took me 30+ years to find this job. my only complaint is i could use more money but who couldn’t.
Keep on keeping on 💪
I am in my early 50s and dread coming into the office most days. It isn’t necessarily the work, it’s the politics and crappy management that make people want to give less than the minimum every day. I need money, so I don’t have a choice. I have been looking for something else that is a better situation. I feel I would be much happier elsewhere because I have been just fine at other jobs in my career.
Sometimes it is the environment that is killing your motivation.
A lot. Not because I hate the job or even what I have to do at my job. It’s because those annoyances really get your gear grinding sometimes. People, processes or products.
They say do a job you love but that’s not quite right imo. I’d say the key is to find a job you’re good at that you don’t hate.
I work in tech doing web/software development. My brain just doesn’t work that way. I’m always thinking about projects or bugs or concrete things that need to be fixed. If I have something to accomplish in a day, I get obsessed with getting it done and designing the features well.
It’s hard in tech to just “do the job” because it can take a lot of creativity and timelines can get wacky. If I can leave work knowing I got something done the way I wanted to, it’s a good day.
I’m working on updating a website right now that has been structured poorly; I’m honestly looking forward to fixing the previous developer’s work for the rest of the day. I like getting tech stuff in better shape and structured better.
I honestly feel like the worst advice someone can give or get in their 20s is to say work to live, don’t live to work. Well, then you’re suddenly in your mid 40s and forced to confront this situation.
Nah, i actually like my job lol. Obviously i don’t enjoy every task, every site and every kind of weather equally (outside all day year around) so it does have its ups and downs but all in all i’m happy with what i do for a living. It’s not much but it’s honest work, as the meme goes
Too much real life.
I don’t do my job because it’s fun. I do it because owning a home is fun, eating rib eye is fun, blasting the AC in the summer time is fun. Having all the streaming services is fun.
At one point I found myself just wishing for the day to end so I could just go home and sleep – then wake up and do it again.
I did that for probably 2 years
“fourties” lol
Not much, I’ve purposely jumped around my industry to keep things fresh over the years. I’ve definitely had jobs where it was more common but these days im generally at peace with what I do.
Ill for sure have moments that I say fuck this shit bit its more about the task at hand and not that I have to go to work in general.
About all of it. The golden handcuff pension and actual effort to wage ratio being very low makes it doable. Getting forced to two days two nights four off from four by three off will make it difficult.
I actually really like my job. I definitely dont want to be here as long as i am and enjoy my holidays but overall i enjoy what i do. There are days where i really need to convince myself to do the work and all that but i recognize that is usually more connected to my mental state than the job itself.
“Oh, you hate your job? Why didn’t you say so? There’s a support group for that. It’s called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.” – Drew Carey
Not much. That’s already deeply ingrained in me. Just work and leave.
Stop living to work and start working to live.
It’s as simple as that. Do something on the weekend that you enjoy. You don’t need work to fulfil you, but you need something.
> Every job, every company is just people trying to get one over on you
Trying to get the maximum value out of you – just like you are trying to get the maximum value out of your employer. That’s what all economic transactions are.
None I enjoy my employment. Although sometimes I fantasize about my AC at home while I’m sweating in the outdoor heat haha
29m, have a wife and daughter. All I can say is same.
I work 7 days a week. 5/7 days are from 7 AM to 10 PM. 2/7 days are from 7 AM to 4 PM.
So, every day. I’m 41.