Job satisfaction vs nice people

Hello · 27 July 2007 at 10:39AM

Hello

I need a sanity check and hope you lovely people will share your experience with me.

I like my job, I get job satisfaction, I enjoy the tasks that I do, I get to travel the country a bit but the people I work and deal with are awful. Does anyone else have this problem?

My job is specialised so to live in the area I want to live in near family, friends and the OH's job I have to stick with this company for the time being. I feel as if I don't have conversations - just arguements! My boss ignores me (easy from another site) and H.R are not interested. I am also tied because it is a good wage for the area and until I am debt free I can't see how I can take a lesser wage.

Does anyone else love their job but not the people? How do you cope? Does anyone have the flip side - they love the people they work with but not the job? Is it really possible to not like someone in work :mad: and like them out of work?

Sorry it's a bit of a rant too, but it is getting to the point of making me ill!

I know I should be grateful I have a job but I do wonder sometimes if it is all worth the agro.

What do you think?

H

Storm · 27 July 2007 at 10:54AM

Hiya :hello:

I know exactly what you mean - I like my job, the actual work is really interesting & I can see a good career development path for myself, but the ethos of the organisation is going rapidly downhill and there are days when I wonder how long I can last here!

Conversely a few years ago I was doing a job that was soooo dull, but the people were great fun & I'm still in touch with them even though we've not worked together for over 3 years!

The decision I've made is that once I'm debt free I'll look around properly for other jobs, including ones at a lower salary, but unless things get worse I'll be sticking here for a while (esp as I've just been given a pay rise)

However, if the stress of the situation is starting to make you ill, then I think you need to try and alleviate this somehow - could you take a pay cut & just pay off the debt at a slower rate, what is the minimum you could survive on each month etc?

What sort of things are you arguing about with colleagues - work or more general stuff? If there's issues that HR should be dealing with then jump up & down until they respond - and if they still don't go to the chief exec about it!

jo1972 · 27 July 2007 at 10:58AM

I'm the opposite, the people are great but the job is SOOOOOOOO boring!

Sorry to hear you are not happy, I wish I could advise summat to make you feel better but I can't think of any other options. Maybe just post on DFW all day? We're nice

I'm seriously considering leaving work and becoming a stay at home mummy.

DHDEBTS · 27 July 2007 at 11:00AM

Hi,

Yep I'm in the same boat as you. The job I love but I work with one particular colleague just happens to rub everyone up the wrong way. Was at a leaving do for yet another colleague who has left as a result. :mad:

However I see it as a means to an end, and on the bad days really try and focus on the positive, ie there are other people in the building where I work that I get on well with even though they work for a different company, I'm close to home and that's a plus with young children, I finish early on a Friday yeh!!!,:T and it's not the worst job I've ever had.

You are not alone:p

KittyKate · 27 July 2007 at 11:02AM

I totally know how you feel - the people around me are so lazy, my boss is a total a-hole and as I work in telecoms faults for hospitals/councils/the police, I always have to speak to irate nurses/councillors/police who can't do their job because they can't send an email or make a phonecall..I then have to call an irate engineer who is overworked and underpaid and get an earful about all the other telecoms faults and how this isn't the only one, blah blah! I wish I could talk to one cheerful person during my working day!

I too earn a good wage and know that to leave this company and do the same job for a rival firm I'd be on 5k less easily. I so much want to quit (so much corruption and lies from management) but I know I can't find another job on this pay without retraining. I am thinking of training to be a mortgage advisor - telling people they can have the house of their dreams would be a welcome change from 'sorry, your internet will be out all weekend, our engineer got stuck in a ditch and has gone home'!!

flower_72 · 27 July 2007 at 11:06AM

Hi Hello,

I'm in the same situation as yours. It can be hell at times!

I enjoy the actual job I am meant to be doing (this is where it goes wrong, I am asked to do a lot of other people's jobs with little time left to do my own), the few of the people I work with are making my work-life difficult (this just doesn't apply to me but many other employes). Part of management's attitude is "learn to live with it or leave", the rest of management says "stay, it'll get better soon".
Just like you, hello. I can't afford to leave money-wise.
The only way I get up and stay motivated through the day is by thinking that every day is getting me closer to the day I leave. I have got "a plan", you see. I'm paying everything I have to pay, sorting my finances and my savings to ensure that in a few months (early 2008) I will be in a better financial situation to live on much smaller wages.
I have lived for that plan for the past 2,5 years. I'm nearly there!!

Some peeps at work have ended up at the doctor's and on antidepressant. The only reason why I'm not there myself is that "escape plan" I am working at. It is keeping me sane.

I have done mind numbing boring job with little money in the past but with great people. I never got the Sunday blues then. Why did I leave? ... Insight is such a wonderful thing!

Flo

Hello · 27 July 2007 at 11:22AM

Thanks so much for all your replies. I keep having to bomb out because 'people' walk past me and I know I am going to get 'busy, are we?' which makes me look bad and they haven't a clue how hard I work.

DHDEBTS - the reason a lot of my colleagues have left is the same reason as you, HR and the CEO know this but still nothing is done. What is the point of exit interviews if the general consensus is ignored?!!

Storm - it's mainly work stuff, everyone agrees to one thing then go and do their own thing anyway or external forces forget that I am the customer and really should not be arguing but finding a mutal solution instead! I have to manage my Managers and Suppliers - how daft is that!

H

Hello · 27 July 2007 at 11:24AM

KittyKate wrote: »

'sorry, your internet will be out all weekend, our engineer got stuck in a ditch and has gone home'!!

Don't fancy your job much - that would mean no MSE, no wonder they would be cross!! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Storm · 27 July 2007 at 11:32AM

All I can suggest on a practical note is if something is agreed follow up with a quick email to everyone - that way you have an electronic paper trail of what was agreed, and some comeback if people don't do what they said they would.

However, if your manager isn't taking control then that's a huge issue that's impossible for you to resolve by yourself - do you know if they're as frustrated as you or are they part of the root of the problem?

The only other thing is to refresh your mind of your job description & then refuse to do anything beyond it - you presumably have your responsibilities, and so just tell others (email's great again as you have a record) what you need from them and by when - whenever it doesn't come then email your manager & their manager too to let them know of the problem.

As Flower72 says - if you've got an end goal in sight then that does help - how long have you got until you're debt-free? You've sliced about £8K off your debt in less than a year, so if you should be debt free in 6 months or so it's not so long to stick it out...

Hello · 27 July 2007 at 11:57AM

Thanks Storm. The amount I have sliced off the debt was from a surrendered endowment policy (not the type I could sell). My DFD is currently around 2009. This may seem a long time for a small amount, however with the savings I have made since I joined the MSE community it does mean I am living within my means for the first time ever so it's not all gloom!!

smudgemanc26 · 27 July 2007 at 12:06PM

I really like the people who i work with but my job has become so boring i have no motivation or the will to get up in a morning its horrible, however i have been fortunate to get my severance agreed from work meaning i will be debt free when i pay everything off with the money :j i have also been accepted for a college course commencing in September and i can now enrol next month now i can afford to pay for my course in Law and the other week i sent a general mail merge out of my CV and letters to companies to see if they had any vacancies and just yesterday i got an email offering me an interview next week!

Im not intending to gloat but i understand how you feel i felt exactly the same i really hated being bored in this job and was envious of people who really seemed happy at work and enjoyed their job, but now things seem to be looking up so you really never know whats just around the corner.

Think positive and remember without working you wouldnt be on your road to becoming debt free thats a great step in the right direction.:T If your truely not happy where you work it might be worth seeing what else is out there at the moment do some research into possible jobs in your area and send your CV out to a few companies see what kind of response you get back anything is worth a try.

Would your current job support you going into further education pt? If it was beneficial to them this might be a way for you to become more motivated and progress in your company and work with some nice people.

Hope things get better and keep popping on MSE for a chat and friendly advice, that should make your day abit brighter

Job satisfaction vs nice people

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