The "I Hate My Job" Thread

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Boris13c
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wab wrote:So - there was a point to this, but I think I lost it at the Silent Hill reference.

those fucking nurses creeped me out the most

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Xee
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wab wrote:I ask her to hold on a sec. I think to myself, this isn't the way it's supposed to be. I'm supposed to be a highly sought after college graduate. I mean, that's what all the brochures from all those job fairs said I would be!

So, I swallowed my pride and figured the 16k was more than the 0k I was making and sheepishly accepted the offer.
I get emails every now and then from my school describing new job/internship opportunities. The other day I got one talking about a summer internship for the IRS. Here's the highlights of the drop description:
  • Students are expected to work 20- 40 hours per week
  • A student volunteer is not a Federal employee for any purpose
    other than certain laws including disclosure laws
  • Volunteers do not accrue leave or qualify for any other
    employee benefits.
  • These opportunities don’t have potential for conversion to
    permanent work
  • This internship is unpaid
Wow! You mean I get to do 40 hours of week and get absolutely nothing out of it? Granted, some people may love this for the experience but I guess, even at 30 years-old, I still have the mindset you had, wab. I'm not willing to relegate myself to those kind of "opportunities" until I've exhausted every other.
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DaDitka
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Boris13c wrote:the biggest failure of the United States in relation to having a solid career based workforce was the elimination of apprenticeship programs (not to be confused with this intern bullshit)

people who signed up would be taught a trade ... an actual useful career vocation ... the pay was lousy as an apprentice but a certified apprentice could then become a much sought commodity and have a nice long career

2 of my uncles went this route, 1 an electrician and 1 a plumber ... I used them for my sources for a term paper on the subject back in high school ... and even then there were few if any apprentice opportunities available, so none would have been open to me even if I wanted to pursue it

this lack of career oriented training and programs to have a foundation of an actual useful job force is why our country is weak ... jackasses on Wall Street become billionaires but actually do nothing other than gain personal wealth, and those are the assholes people aspire to be ... not a legitimate tradesman

maybe I'm showing my age with this rant, but so be it

Nail.....head!

I'm in estimating/sales, but my fabrication workforce are union sheet metal workers.

We tell our kids their are dumb and/or a failure if they don't go to college and pay for a degree...so they do, and then they can't get a job.

Meanwhile, a young man joins the union and after a 4 year apprenticeship he's a union journeyman pocketing a nice $30 + an hour with pension and benefits.

Don't get me wrong, a college degree is great (and the route I hope my children choose)....I just hate that we discourage youth from pursuing a skilled trade. That we attempt to make them feel 'lesser' for choosing that path.

Yeah, I know the construction market is down, but so is everything else and with the over-saturation of the market with 25 - 30 year olds with 4 year degrees and little experience, employers are just seeing who will take the least for the job and underpaying many of them.
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Xee
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DaDitka wrote:We tell our kids their are dumb and/or a failure if they don't go to college and pay for a degree...so they do, and then they can't get a job.
I think a major issue is that students think that any bullshit degree will get them a job. They'll major in communications, music, art, etc. without any thought as to what they're going to do with them once they got out of school. If I wanted to do something I enjoyed with no real-world application, I would probably pick something similar. Instead, I picked accounting which, while not exactly a passion of mine, is something I don't mind which has good job security and allows me a very flexible career path.

Case in point, I knew a girl years ago in community college who was going for her degree in Evolutionary Biology. I remember asking her what she planned on doing with it afterwards (teach, research, etc) and she couldn't really give me an answer. I ran into her a couple years later and found out she was now going for her nursing degree because she couldn't find squat with her biology degree.

Lastly, I don't mean to disparage anyone who chooses any of the degrees I mentioned above. It's just that you got to have real expectations of what you can do with that degree. For example, I worked with a guy who wanted to be a marine biologist. He told me about a volunteer opportunity he took when he was younger for the helluva it that convinced him that's what he wanted to do. He then went on to talk at length about what he planned to do and also admitted that there wasn't really any money in it. Last I heard about him he had gotten accepted into a prestigious marine biology program and had moved to Florida to continue his studies.
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[quote="Xee"]
Lastly, I don't mean to disparage anyone who chooses any of the degrees I mentioned above. It's just that you got to have real expectations of what you can do with that degree./quote]


Ding - Ding - Ding!


There are no 'bad' degrees, but there should be different expectations to go along with different degrees
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I got mine in Business management, figuring businesses were looking for people with that sort of degree.
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Xee wrote: I think a major issue is that students think that any bullshit degree will get them a job. They'll major in communications.
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My new client, adult, is a Hispanic male who is deaf and only understands written Spanish. Yea I love my job :frustrated:
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Otis Day wrote:My new client, adult, is a Hispanic male who is deaf and only understands written Spanish. Yea I love my job :frustrated:
Google translate helps me out a ton.

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Boris13c
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my dream job is to be Terry Tate

[video][/video]
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Boris13c
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what is it with managers and quad charts?

ok, I know the importance of having a good project plan and having tools to track the progress ... but those plans and tools need to be used in a useful manner to have any impact

case in point - getting purchase orders and some necessary contract bids in place since about mid January ... we are starting to get bids and we have estimated shipping dates on the equipment ... this morning was a meeting on all of this

apparently a manager put a team together to come up with a project plan and quad chart sometime last month (maybe earlier?) ... these are people from a different group than the one I work with and was the first time I met a couple of them .... so we were told to simply sit and watch the presentations and hold all questions until the presentation was completed

while watching the presentation, I felt like I was living in a Dilbert comic strip

there were dates for completion of equipment installation that show on the chart to be 2 months earlier than the date we have been given for receipt of the equipment ... there were dates for testing and spin-ups that are before the date established for the vendor being hired for that is required to even begin work ... and on and on it went ... so of course, when the show was over, and Ms Perky Breasts asked "any questions?", she was not prepared for the onslaught but I do give her credit for being the only part of the presentation that was useful (sexist comment yes, but she is a knockout) ... but the big negative was the fact her team was working in a vacuum, creating a plan and making up dates based on some pie in the sky projections from their group leader, who never at any time spoke with or even e-mailed anyone in regards to the equipment or required vendor support

so then part 2 of the show begins as the various manager types start arguing with each other ... we worker bees were then dismissed as they stayed

wouldn't be worth mentioning except this has happened before in the past ... multiple times ... one instance even getting a manager fired, though his official announcement of departure was a "hiatus to spend more time with family" ... so you would think at some point a bit of common sense would be liberally applied to these sorts of projects

alas, it is not to be

so they have a nice set of charts and slides, colorfully put together, but mostly useless since not 1 date or projection is correct ... and low and behold the people assembling it all were hired on a 90 day consultant contract so the presentation could be more professional than the actual usable PowerPoint presentations we generally assemble on our own for this purpose

I have a feeling there is going to be another manager on a hiatus soon mainly because the big bosses were part of the meeting this morning ... and the ones dismissing the worker bees while keeping their managers in place as we closed the doors when we left

days like these are just those kind of days where you sit back and wait to see how many clowns exit the clown car this time
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Boris - I've lived that for 20-25 years, on IT projects. I know you know this -but whoever presented that plan without validating it with experts in advance is just inexperienced, or inept.

Regardless... since management certainly wants the project to go forward, someone is going to need to communicate a realistic plan (ideally with options)... "here's what you can get on the SCHEDULE you want (and why)"... and "here's the schedule we need, to deliver WHAT you want (and why, plus assumptions)"... and "here are the RESOURCES we need to give you what you want, when you want (if it is even feasible - usually isn't)".

The way I've learned to operate is to make management make a formal choice to scale back their expectations - and document their decisions for CYA. In my experience, most middle managers are willing to manage expectations upwards if they are well-armed with detail. If your boss isn't willing to speak the truth upwards, run like hell! lol
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Otis Day
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This thread always seems to get bumped when I am having a shitty week. Is it karma or coincidence.

I have to get the hell away from my job or I may go postal (you heard it here, you are all now witnesses).

Deep in the back of my mind, bar ownership is creeping in. Small neighborhood bar closed and is being sold fairly cheap.

Alls I need is $$$$$$$.
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Boris13c
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IE wrote:Boris - I've lived that for 20-25 years, on IT projects. I know you know this -but whoever presented that plan without validating it with experts in advance is just inexperienced, or inept.

I vote on inept as this scenario has been repeated across multiple projects over the years ... but only 1 person actually was held accountable and crushed as a result ... there is a "do-over" meeting scheduled for next week on this, but with the same people running it ... maybe this time they will be required to sit and listen before puking out another failed-from-the-start plan?

seems to be a factory somewhere with the Dilbert-esque pointy haired bosses being cranked out to become managers and CIO's ... and once they infiltrate your organization, they never leave
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Good luck. Yeah, you're right - those types are good at three things... saying what management wants to hear, avoiding accountability, and finding a goat.
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Recently a few things have irked me at my job.

Few weeks ago I had to deal with a man using his feces like lotion. It was everywhere. However because he is, not harming himself or others it is, near impossible to get him real help. He will never be normal, but darn it sucks that we can't infringe on his "civil liberties" and get him real help without jumping through hoops.

Tonight I had to deal with a man who raped his son, screaming at me naked about how bad of a person I am. Of course you laugh it off but really? Why does this stuff happen.
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Don't have a clue why it happens but I know it takes special people to work with society's problems.
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Damn, I can't believe it has been a year since my last post in this thread. Bar ownership fell thru for many reasons. Still dealing with fucking criminals. Burnt out and it is affecting job performance big time. And I really don't give a shit. Since there is a hiring freeze no way they fire me (even though performance not that bad, yet).
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i like my job. i'm not the only one i hope.
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Boris13c
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RustyTrombone wrote:i like my job. i'm not the only one i hope.

I liked mine better when it was primarily tech work in the communications lab ... me, computers, tools and test equipment .... peaceful

this whole project management part is a nightmare primarily because we don't get to develop our own projects ... we are given things created by a special group of management butt remoras ... and rarely do these plans make sense

they do have pretty graphics in their slideshows ... but even those are a 50% fail as they have nothing to do with the actual tasks
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I like my job now, dealing with the mental health population has been refreshing compared to your everyday common asshole.

My attitude toward stupid/incompetent people is just the worst since I started working as a pharmacist.
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Boris13c
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G08 wrote:I like my job now, dealing with the mental health population
I believe I work with some folks who could use the services of an organization like yours, but they are in denial of their issues
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My job has sucked lately...and all I've been doing is working. It's been crap since the beginning of the year.
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How about, I love my job, but I hate my boss?

I guess I don't hate him, I just hate pansies that can't deal with conflict except to sweep shit under the rug or pass it off on others.
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G08
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southdakbearfan wrote:How about, I love my job, but I hate my boss?

I guess I don't hate him, I just hate pansies that can't deal with conflict except to sweep shit under the rug or pass it off on others.
Is he new? Confrontation in those situations as a manager can be difficult, especially with pompous individuals that push back (not saying that's you). It's definitely a skill that takes time to learn; I couldn't do in my mid-to-late 20's what I'm doing in my early 30's in that regard.
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G08 wrote:
southdakbearfan wrote:How about, I love my job, but I hate my boss?

I guess I don't hate him, I just hate pansies that can't deal with conflict except to sweep shit under the rug or pass it off on others.
Is he new? Confrontation in those situations as a manager can be difficult, especially with pompous individuals that push back (not saying that's you). It's definitely a skill that takes time to learn; I couldn't do in my mid-to-late 20's what I'm doing in my early 30's in that regard.
New, no, he has 30 years in and is "retired" but hasn't left the building.

So he pushes all the confrontation under the rug, or lets me deal with it. The good part is we have good people and they can see it so they appreciate me more.
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My boss is a jerk. He makes me work 10-12 hour days when I get busy.

'course, I'm self employed and work a seasonal business.
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12 hour shifts with no lunch/dinner or breaks... God I don't miss those fucking days
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