Job satisfaction vs nice people

coochycoo_2

I know what you mean!

I was in a job that was specialised and a couple of miles away from home, really convenient for family commitments and the pay as good.

However the staff there were constantly trying to score with the boss at my expense and the boss loved the attention from staff who were creeping and so was not interested in my viewpoint. I became the outcast as a result because I stuck to my principles and did not kowtow to their ridiculous behaviour. It was a small office, only a handful of people so that made things very difficult. The job I loved became the job I detested and the enjoyment was sucked out of it. The situation made me ill and I became depresed - I know this now but was in refusal mode at that time.

Moral of the story - Avoid the stress. I convinced myself my specialism could not be utilised elsewhere - wrong again!

I realised I had transferable skills and these skills can be used in most jobs that pay the same if not better. Sure I have to travel a bit further but its not the end of the world the compensations for this are immeasurable - the people I work with now are absolutley fabulous, my new job is very different from my last and is a new specialism, has even more variety and my brian is thriving on the new challenge so its a win win win situation.:j :j :j


Leave the bitterness and bile behind they are so not worth it and when they learn you are doing well thats the final kick in the teeth they deserve! :T

Tuesday

I had a super job managing a charity business. I loved the job, loved the people I worked with, but the volunteers who managed the place were just plain nasty. They didn't have a clue how to run a business or even how to speak to people in a civil way. They constantly went on about how they were volunteers and demanded that all the employees should do extra work for nothing. This included giving me work to do at weekends and refusing to pay my expenses for work related travel. In the end, I walked away and now work as a temp doing a less than exciting job for about half my previous salary. We've had to cut down our lifestyle, but I now work with lovely people who are nice to me and to each other. Yes, I miss the money but am so glad I got out. There are some things that money can't buy and this is one of them. I no longer dread going to work.

m.r.davies

I want to rant about how i agree and how i feel the same but there is enough of that already

What I am doing is working on my exit strategy, for you it might mean re training, starting your own business, travelling futher for more money

you need to weigh up what you can manage, for most it will be retraining
It may take a few months, or a few years, just make sure you have a plan!

Queen.Bess

I know exactly how you feel, although with me it's the other way round. Love the people I work with, love the fact that work is only a mile from home, love the fact that we have flexible working, ie. we can come in when we want and leave when we want (within reason of course!). Plus the fact the money's good for what I do, but I just don't like the work! Customers have complained about our service, we get no support from HQ and my desk looks like a paper mountain!

I too would ideally like to move into another field of work (environmental/wildlife area), but the cons of leaving my current job far outway the pros of getting a new one, not least all aspects relating to our debt (no travel, nice wage).

Only you can decide what plan of action to take and m.r.davies makes a good point, so I wish you well.

bargainbetty

If anyone is really suffering from stress (not grumpiness, I mean real stress) then bear in mind that companies and individual managers now have a legal duty of care under HSE regulations. This is not a guideline, it's legally required, and failure to at least investigate significant problems that are causing people health problems can be classed as willful negligence and renders the employer subject to a fine or prosecution.

Demand that the situation is addressed. You have the right to a healthy working environment.

Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. I had a car accident that could have killed me three months back, and left me needing physio and on painkillers. Last month, my boss gave me a telling-off for not being seen around the office too much, and spending too much time at my desk. He also complained that I was being short with people (one complainant had turned up drunk and screamed at me, but I wasn't allowed to mention that.) My response that I was still in pain and couldn't always walk about was greeted with 'That's not the point.'

My stress is such that I am sitting here waiting to go to the doctors to sort out my blood pressure which is now sky-high.

I am looking rather actively for another job, but I won't be going quietly!

You have to fight these things, if you still have the stomach for it. Think how great the job could be if that was sorted, and try to imagine the other person position. Maybe they are unhappy too, and by getting it dealt with, you could be helping everyone.

Good luck.

potbelly

I had exactly the same problem. The job was really interesting, international travel, good salary, varied work but the management put so many obstacles in the way, I just got frustrated and felt I wasn't achieving anything.
Answer: I quit and now I am a self employed carpenter, slowly building a customer base whom I consider to be friends as well. There is nothing better than praise for a job well done.
It is easy to say, and I appreciate there are a mulitude of factors to consider but job satisfaction has GOT to be the highest consideration.
There are lots of options out there, don't convince yourself otherwise.
Good luck for the future.

wherediditallgo

What's important to you about your job depends on why you're doing it. It's always been very important to me to like the people I work with - job satisfaction wasn't such an issue because I did a lot of things outside work that kept me busy & fulfilled my needs. With being forced to reflect on my life (past, present & future) thanks to lots of major illness, I've come to the conclusion that as long as I can get through the day in a reasonably civil fashion with the people in my immediate vicinity at work then the job itself doesn't really matter to me. I'm a "work in progress" as far as becoming a millionaire is concerned , but I've realised that my priority is to build some financial security for myself. My job isn't boring but it isn't where I want to spend the rest of my days either, so as long as the job pays for what it needs to, I'll just focus on my plans & get on with the day.

What you could do to help you is type up a list of 5 or 10 things that doing the job will help you to achieve, then put it into a screensaver or just as a text file on your desktop. Whenever the job or people are getting on your nerves, it will remind you of why you're there. A lot of people work somewhere because they can't do anything else, but if you remember that the job is helping you to achieve what you want further down the road, it will make the pain of the occasional bad day more bearable. Also, talk to other staff - you might find that some of them feel just as fed up as you do sometimes. Maybe organising a works night out amongst those in your office every couple of months (or making new friends amongst people in other departments) will make the irritating ones easier to deal with. I've found that sometimes the people who irritate you at work will relax/open up away from the office, & then when you're back at work you get on better with them. I used to think one of my colleagues was an absolute oddball & avoided being around him as much as possible. I only started to get on with him when he came out for dinner one night with a group of us & showed us he can be a bit of a party animal once he gets going. We're never going to be the best of friends, but we do get on a lot better now than we did. It takes a bit of effort on everyone's part to make a work atmosphere good to be in, but only one person to sour it.

rog2

I had a GREAT job, for 16 years. I represented a French Company, in the UK, and brought the business from nothing to an annual turnover in excess of £1m. I covered the whole of the British Isles, including Ireland, and I considered the majority of my customers as friends.
Initially, everything went well - the French Company appeared to be more than satisfied with the business that I was generating, and I enjoyed my regular business trips to Paris.
However, after about eight years, their attitude changed totally - there was a recession in Europe and they were dependent on the export business, which, quite understandably, they were keen to expand.
In true Gallic fashion, they 'flooded' the UK with their representatives, who otherwise had little else to do, and I had to take them around to customers - both existing and potential. When we got new business, each of these 'reps' treated it as their own, and would literally bypass me and try to deal direct.
The net result of this was to create total confusion, with customers unsure of who they should be dealing with, offers being made without my knowledge and reps turning up, at my office totally unannounced and each with their own 'personal agenda' to which they expected me to adhere.
After about a year of this, the UK business started to go down, rather than up - but this was considered, by the head office, as being my fault.
My instincts told me to 'get out' but I still had to 'put bread on the table' and I tolerated this situation for a further five years, until, at an exhibition in Germany, I was approached, by an Italian Company whom I had known for 20 years. They made me an offer, which was probably less than I had been earning with the French Company, but by this time I had had enough, and I took it.
They were, and still are, extremely nice people. My commissions were paid on time and without question. Their products are far superior to those that I had previously sold, and the engineers that they send for installation are really helpfull, friendly and love to come to the UK.
Last year, through no fault of the Italian company, I was declared bankrupt by HMRC (long story and not relevant to this thread).
Whilst I thought that I had lost the chance to continue in business (I actually gave it up for 10 months) the Italian Company stuck by me throughout, whereas I heard, from customers, that the previous company were taking great delight in telling them that I had gone out of business.
I have just come back from a trip to Italy, where we have discussed the framework for starting up again, in the UK. They are prepared to back me, and, hopefully, I will be back in business within a few weks.
So I suppose that the advice I am giving is that friendship is at least as important as earning money.

Good Luck

skintlass

I am in a job which isn't really stretching me (and in IT if you're standing still you're in effect going backwards) and the people aren't great - most of them aren't bad its just that the one I really don't like is in my team of 3 people. I wouldn't count anyone here as a friend (only been here 6 months) but the pay and the hours are good. I feel I shouldn't complain but I do look forward to the weekends. I'm waiting to see what happens over the next 12 months and if I still don't like it I'll move even if it does mean taking a pay cut (as long as its not a big cut :-)) It peopbably doesn't help as 2 of my friends are in jobs they absolutely love at the mo and while I am happy for them it does remind me of the fact that I'm not happy.

Ytaya

My situation isn't quite the same, but it might be useful. I worked in an office with people I did not get along with, doing a job that bored me to tears. It was ruining my health, both physically (I have severe, long-term RSI from that job) and emotionally (I was stressed, tired and just plain miserable). I quit to go to university full-time - quite a drastic income change! It was the best decision I ever made. Three years on, I just graduated and I'm about to emark on a PhD. I'm a different person. The quality of my life is so much better because I love the things I spend my day doing, so I don't care about being broke all the time.

So, in short, the lesson I learned is that your quality of life is more important than your income, as long as you have enough to cover the essentials. You spend more awake time at work than you do at home. At the very least, you deserve not to be unhappy at work. If you can actively be happy, so much the better!