iamlew Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 ok, im 34. and i thouroughly hate my job. it could be good except i work for the cheapest fools on earth and its dirty, nasty, cold and hot. def not a good situation. as soon as the economy picks up ill be looking for a better job. dont get me wrong, the money is pretty good but in the last 3 years, ive dropped myself down in pay just to find something i enjoy. and if i could find something i like id take an even deeper pay cut. Working at walmart sucks =p just kidding :sweatingitout: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiplee Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Anyone who said they aren't happy with their work should read "Stumbling On Happiness" by Dan Gilbert. Many of your posts reminded me of the way he opened the book. He says we spend enormous amounts of time planning for the happiness of our future selves. I'll copy the forward here in bold so it's easy to skip if you're not interested. Very interesting and thought provoking book. As for my answer to the topic, I imagine some here would be surprised by how much I'm constantly aware that a large portion of my own happiness with my "job" comes from the fact that society approves of my job and holds it in high regard. When deciding whether I'm happy with my job exclusive of society's opinion of it, I'm very conflicted. It is stressful at times. In a social system we're not very well equipped to decide how happy we are with our jobs. Everything is relative to how other people feel about the job. For example, notice how A.J. phrased the question, "are you proud and not afraid for other people to know what you do". It's unfortunate how much other people's opinions drive our self satisfaction. not that kind of self satisfaction, Fanta. Anyway, here's the Foreword to "Stumbling On Happiness": Foreword What would you do right now if you learned that you were going to die in ten minutes? Would you race upstairs and light that Marlboro you've been hiding in your sock drawer since the Ford administration? Would you waltz into your boss's office and present him with a detailed description of his personal defects? Would you drive out to that steakhouse near the new mall and order a T-bone, medium rare, with an extra side of the really bad cholesterol? Hard to say, of course, but of all the things you might do in your final ten minutes, it's a pretty safe bet that few of them are things you actually did today. Now, some people will bemoan this fact, wag their fingers in your direction, and tell you sternly that you should live every minute of your life as though it were your last, which only goes to show that some people would spend their final ten minutes giving other people dumb advice. The things we do when we expect our lives to continue are naturally and properly different than the things we might do if we expected them to end abruptly. We go easy on the lard and tobacco, smile dutifully at yet another of our supervisor's witless jokes, read books like this one when we could be wearing paper hats and eating pistachio macaroons in the bathtub, and we do each of these things in the charitable service of the people we will soon become. We treat our future selves as though they were our children, spending most of the hours of most of our days constructing tomorrows that we hope will make them happy. Rather than indulging in whatever strikes our momentary fancy, we take responsibility for the welfare of our future selves, squirreling away portions of our paychecks each month so they can enjoy their retirements on a putting green, jogging and flossing with some regularity so they can avoid coronaries and gum grafts, enduring dirty diapers and mind-numbing repetitions of The Cat in the Hat so that someday they will have fatcheeked grandchildren to bounce on their laps. Even plunking down a dollar at the convenience store is an act of charity intended to ensure that the person we are about to become will enjoy the Twinkie we are paying for now. In fact, just about any time we want something—a promotion, a marriage, an automobile, a cheeseburger—we are expecting that if we get it, then the person who has our fingerprints a second, minute, day, or decade from now will enjoy the world they inherit from us, honoring our sacrifices as they reap the harvest of our shrewd investment decisions and dietary forbearance. Yeah, yeah. Don't hold your breath. Like the fruits of our loins, our temporal progeny are often thankless. We toil and sweat to give them just what we think they will like, and they quit their jobs, grow their hair, move to or from San Francisco, and wonder how we could ever have been stupid enough to think they'd like that. We fail to achieve the accolades and rewards that we consider crucial to their well-being, and they end up thanking God that things didn't work out according to our shortsighted, misguided plan. Even that person who takes a bite of the Twinkie we purchased a few minutes earlier may make a sour face and accuse us of having bought the wrong snack. No one likes to be criticized, of course, but if the things we successfully strive for do not make our future selves happy, or if the things we unsuccessfully avoid do, then it seems reasonable (if somewhat ungracious) for them to cast a disparaging glance backward and wonder what the hell we were thinking. They may recognize our good intentions and begrudgingly acknowledge that we did the best we could, but they will inevitably whine to their therapists about how our best just wasn't good enough for them. How can this happen? Shouldn't we know the tastes, preferences, needs, and desires of the people we will be next year—or at least later this afternoon? Shouldn't we understand our future selves well enough to shape their lives—to find careers and lovers whom they will cherish, to buy slipcovers for the sofa that they will treasure for years to come? So why do they end up with attics and lives that are full of stuff that we considered indispensable and that they consider painful, embarrassing, or useless? Why do they criticize our choice of romantic partners, second-guess our strategies for professional advancement, and pay good money to remove the tattoos that we paid good money to get? Why do they experience regret and relief when they think about us, rather than pride and appreciation? We might understand all this if we had neglected them, ignored them, mistreated them in some fundamental way—but damn it, we gave them the best years of our lives! How can they be disappointed when we accomplish our coveted goals, and why are they so damned giddy when they end up in precisely the spot that we worked so hard to steer them clear of? Is there something wrong with them? Or is there something wrong with us? When I was ten years old, the most magical object in my house was a book on optical illusions. Its pages introduced me to the Müller-Lyer lines whose arrow-tipped ends made them appear as though they were different lengths even though a ruler showed them to be identical, the Necker cube that appeared to have an open side one moment and then an open top the next, the drawing of a chalice that suddenly became a pair of silhouetted faces before flickering back into a chalice again (see figure 1). I would sit on the floor in my father's study and stare at that book for hours, mesmerized by the fact that these simple drawings could force my brain to believe things that it knew with utter certainty to be wrong. This is when I learned that mistakes are interesting and began planning a life that contained several of them. But an optical illusion is not interesting simply because it causes everyone to make a mistake; rather, it is interesting because it causes everyone to make the same mistake. If I saw a chalice, you saw Elvis, and a friend of ours saw a paper carton of moo goo gai pan, then the object we were looking at would be a very fine inkblot but a lousy optical illusion. What is so compelling about optical illusions is that everyone sees the chalice first, the faces next, and then—flicker flicker—there's that chalice again. The errors that optical illusions induce in our perceptions are lawful, regular, and systematic. They are not dumb mistakes but smart mistakes—mistakes that allow those who understand them to glimpse the elegant design and inner workings of the visual system. The mistakes we make when we try to imagine our personal futures are also lawful, regular, and systematic. They too have a pattern that tells us about the powers and limits of foresight in much the same way that optical illusions tell us about the powers and limits of eyesight. That's what this book is all about. Despite the third word of the title, this is not an instruction manual that will tell you anything useful about how to be happy. Those books are located in the self-help section two aisles over, and once you've bought one, done everything it says to do, and found yourself miserable anyway, you can always come back here to understand why. Instead, this is a book that describes what science has to tell us about how and how well the human brain can imagine its own future, and about how and how well it can predict which of those futures it will most enjoy. This book is about a puzzle that many thinkers have pondered over the last two millennia, and it uses their ideas (and a few of my own) to explain why we seem to know so little about the hearts and minds of the people we are about to become. The story is a bit like a river that crosses borders without benefit of passport because no single science has ever produced a compelling solution to the puzzle. Weaving together facts and theories from psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioral economics, this book allows an account to emerge that I personally find convincing but whose merits you will have to judge for yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernielist Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 How many people here actually enjoy what they do for a living? I mean really enjoy it... like, they thoroughly are proud of what they do and are not afraid that people know? Because I gotta tell you... I question what I do on a daily basis, and if its actually worth it or not. I just want a rough estimate... so let's hear it. I hate my job. I'm a cop and my job stinks. Low pay, crappy hours, chance of death, stepping on brains at a suicide, you know the fun stuff. Pays the bills tho, 20 years till retirement. Then I am gonna go back to school and learn how to paint and customize cars for a living. That I would enjoy doing, make something amazing from nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Yah chip, a lot of it is mental, not situational. I coudl loathe my job if I wanted to, it's sometimes involves getting dirty, cold, hot, it's sometimes extremely stressful, occasionaly very long/odd hours, and I have occupational injurys that are often painful and I'll likely have forever. I'm also at the peak of the path to the top so I have no "carrot" to chase. Without changing careers, there is nothing to learn or do that I havn't already learend/done. I can't make much more than I already do save for merely workig more hours. And yet, i'm happy. Most men my age in this situation end up having a mid-life crisis. It doesn't have to be that way thoguh. I'm finding other ways to make my self feel fulfilled, the work I do is more a means to an end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdbgracing Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 im 27 yrs old. i have had a fultime job since 16 but when unexpected things happen and i was a father at 19yrs old i decided to get a serious job and went into construction ( asphalt work) as a shovel man. 8 yrs later i have learned all the equipment excavating and pavind and now run my own 7 man crew. i love what i do even when its 100+ degrees out. as workin outside scenary always changes. pay is alright. now i have 3 kids and am married. i love my job and my family thanks me for the long hard hours i put in so it is gratifing to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edde Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I'm 51 - been in business with my little bro (46) coming up on 20 years this spring. I'm a CEO. But there are only two of us so we're equal shareholders and both critical. We basically do custom screenprinting on advertising specialty items for people and businesses, and sell related items. But we do everything ourselves. I do get tired and long for something more meaningful, but I wouldn't change the path I've taken so far. We have reinvented the business a couple of times over the years to at long last have some real success, with less hassle. I took my first week+ vacation ever this summer and all I got was a picture with shelby If I knew then what I know now I would have done differently, I think (I had a great job as a wine salesman but with nowhere to go in the company and limited income). But I am not worried too much because I do not lose my job unless I decide so. I may get paid last or not at all when times are tough but I don't quit until I say so. That's the best part. I see Chad's posting about the mid-life crisis.. I bought a dirtbike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Szester Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 CHIP! If we compiled all of your responses from the last week, we would have a book thicker then Harry Potter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiplee Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 CHIP! If we compiled all of your responses from the last week, we would have a book thicker then Harry Potter. The post in this thread is mostly a cut and paste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pure_insanity Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I hate my job. I'm a cop and my job stinks. Low pay, crappy hours, chance of death, stepping on brains at a suicide, you know the fun stuff. Pays the bills tho, 20 years till retirement. Then I am gonna go back to school and learn how to paint and customize cars for a living. That I would enjoy doing, make something amazing from nothing. not as good as you might think man. ive been a body man for many years and gotten truly burnt out on it. ive always dabbled in the custom sides of things as it pays so much more money and it made a nice supplemental income for years. then i decided to get into it for a living and leave ordinary bodywork alone. this was a mistake. what seems like it should be pretty cool and fun, becomes a pita real fast. trust me and dont ruin your love of cars by doing it for a living. after a few years i was burnt out on customizing even worse than body work. so now i work on heavy equipment and its a touch less stressfull, and the pay is competitive but its a much worse environment to work in. everything is wayyyy nasty, wayyyy heavy and because its so big lots, some days im working in the cold outside. the shopis so friggen huge there is no way to get it warm, so no heat.in the summer it becomes an oven. generally a pretty bad environment. strive for a better on you job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turborusty Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 (edited) One of the hardest things about my job is having to always hace the nuts to say "sorry, I just can't be all the things you want me to be"......to the hot soccer moms that take a liking to me. Because without my wife financially supporting me in what I do......I'd simply look like a bum instead of something they think they want. I'm kidding....settle down, haters. Turborusty Edited January 27, 2009 by Turborusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlattopMike Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 That somehow I'm less of a man for not coming home from a job that I loathe, only to vegetate in front of the TV with my 4th beer and get irritated all to hell that my kids are jumping all over me, because I just want my peace and quiet at the end of the day. Turborusty Rusty, don't let anyone tell you that you are less of a man for staying home with the kids. You are less of a man because you no longer own a Quest and because of your tiny member. (that's what she told me) :eek1bluegreen: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanta Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 (edited) Hmm, Chip - curious, what did you exactly mean? I'm not at my current job due to other people's opinions. Straight up, at the end of the day, after all the mumbo jumbo, I make $10/hr, which is currently better than anything else I'd be able to be hired up for. Believe me when I say that not a day goes by that I search the depths of the internet like a homing STD trying to find something that currently I'm qualified for in the career I want to go in. Problem being, I don't have a degree yet, nor the years of experience in said fields, which to even start with those years of experience they want a degree ( still has never stopped me from applying anyways ). Don't get me wrong, when people ask me what I do, I straight out tell them that I'm an assistant factory floor manager/data input/customer service/psychologist/first aid responder/heavy machinery repairman/manual labor/shipping and logistics. Kreal - sounds like you just posted your resume on SQC - and like you, I offer insight on what could be improved upon and done. Crappy part is, my boss never listens to any of the ideas. 2 months later he comes back to me saying he should have listened to me, that I was right, or I get to say I told you so Have you thought about writing one up, posting it up on Monster, and throwing it out across craigslist and other venues if you haven't done so already? Edited January 27, 2009 by Fanta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I do get tired and long for something more meaningful, but I wouldn't change the path I've taken so far. We have reinvented the business a couple of times over the years to at long last have some real success, with less hassle. I took my first week+ vacation ever this summer and all I got was a picture with shelby ................................................................................ .................................. Eddie you may have a blk eye to go with that pic if that pretty gal of your reads that but i can see where that would be a let down but i sort of disagree with Chips copy and paste ,, most people live moment to moment with out much care of the future ,it's more like their walking thru an unknown forest with head hung down and only have a problem when they stop and look up to see where they are and find them selves lost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogie Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 (edited) Well im 30, been doing different types of communications from local phone companies to small ones, cellular, and now at a Data Center doing facility management for about 12yrs. I just moved from Vegas almost 2 yrs ago where i left my dream job (Telecom Tech) i had for 8 yrs, it came down to my house selling in under 2 weeks on the market and i had some desicions to make since i had a 3yr old at the time. It was a great lifestyle for me and my wife before we had our first child after he was born it really opened my eyes on what and how i needed to raise him and his surroundings. I quit my job and we packed up our bags and moved to Florence Ky right across the bridge from Cincinnati since i had a buddy in the area. My plans were to start flipping homes with the cash i walked away with. But when i started buying houses the market as we all know took a big hit. So its left me to renting those houses out which is the best thing i could have done. I still don't regret leaving my dream job after watching my boy see lightning bugs for the first time, playing in a nice green yard and finally seeing all 4 seasons. He plays outside so much and gets dirty i love it. My job now really sux, its hard to complain since i watch tv 8 hrs a day, but i finally realized my duty in life is to prepare my boys and in 2 weeks my new little gurl for there future. Im still trying to do the house thing but my goals are different with them, know i rather buy them and rent them out since rent has went up some. 2 of the houses i have rent for 800 and my house payment on those is 340 a month. So my future plans are to buy as many houses as i can, but my wife is so scared of the market she has denied me to get anymore loans. I would love to find a way to get some investors to get some houses in different areas since the market is so low, our economy just comes more crowded everyday and its only natural for houses to slowly rise unlike Vegas were they shot up and then tumbled. Edited January 27, 2009 by boogie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edde Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I do get tired and long for something more meaningful, but I wouldn't change the path I've taken so far. We have reinvented the business a couple of times over the years to at long last have some real success, with less hassle. I took my first week+ vacation ever this summer and all I got was a picture with shelby ................................................................................ .................................. Eddie you may have a blk eye to go with that pic if that pretty gal of your reads that but i can see where that would be a let down but i sort of disagree with Chips copy and paste ,, most people live moment to moment with out much care of the future ,it's more like their walking thru an unknown forest with head hung down and only have a problem when they stop and look up to see where they are and find them selves lost Of course I was half kidding - had a great time and met a few good folks in addition to you and your brood. The good news is this is the last place she'll find me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 so i'm the only one that thinks most live for/in the moment and think/plan little for the future Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahjah Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 i'm 23 and I love my job, which is where i'm typing this from. I've been here 3.5 years and have been working full time since i was like 16. i work on the Parts counter at a very large Toyota Dealership. i survived the cut a few months ago when they fired half my department. my dealership is also expanding. Doubleing the service and Partsa department, this will be a great stepping stone to me getting a management position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elkidmino Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 (edited) I am not the biggest fan of my current job at Denso, but I can't complain because the money is really good. I'd rather be back in Nevada working for NATC bouncing humvees over rocks, driving semi's through slaloms and designing chassis components for the latest and greatest military vehicle at less pay. I'm 23 and a Mechanical Engineer. Edited January 27, 2009 by ElkidminoLTU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technology Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I don't really even have a job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmyers151 Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 so i'm the only one that thinks most live for/in the moment and think/plan little for the future Not in the least. Being 21 years old, the furthest into the future I've ever planned is about 5 days. The only longterm thing I can foresee in my life is being a gearhead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrazilBoy Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I had a job that I loved, paid well, but had to move on from due to an injury. I was a Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, and sometimes Ferrari restorer, I did the mechanical bit.... Now I am a copier tech, I do alright, and put pride into it but not proud of it. But my heart is not in it. I have 2 small kids and a wife who is a ful time student...........so I gotta do what I gotta do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanta Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 so i'm the only one that thinks most live for/in the moment and think/plan little for the future My only future goal at the moment is to finish college. My job here is just a stepping stone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boosted77. Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Gotta say, I do enjoy what I do because it's just me and my clientele. I work well with others but I work better by myself because I can do my job w/o anyone trying to correct me. I've worked in customer service jobs my entire working career. So when I decided to open a business and hit the road it's was easy to do since it is customer oriented. I run my own mobile detailing company. It's been up and down because it's not a business that people need so much as they desire to call me. Getting you car detailed is not the same as needing a new transmission so when gas prices shot way up things got very slow b/c people were diverting funds to more important priorities. I enjoy the work also b/c I'm pretty good at it and I don't get complaints. You just have to be meticulous and attentive and you won't get complaints. I need every one of my clientele and some of which I see on a weekly basis. I don't know what I'll be doing in 10 years. For now this is working for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiplee Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 (edited) so i'm the only one that thinks most live for/in the moment and think/plan little for the future Not in the least. Being 21 years old, the furthest into the future I've ever planned is about 5 days. The only longterm thing I can foresee in my life is being a gearhead. You both strike me as not having read 3 words of the text I copied into that post, which would be absolutely fine if you weren't trying to claim that it's bogus info. This isn't all that abstract a concept. You do NOT live for the moment unless you are completely nuts. You simply can't actually live for the moment. If you put on your shoes in the morning it's because you think the "you" that walks outside the house will thank you for it. If you got to work it's because you think the future you will want to have some money to spend. No one lives for the moment, except perhaps people who really do have only 10 minutes to live. Edited January 27, 2009 by chiplee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmyers151 Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 You both strike me as not having read 3 words of the text I copied into that post, which would be absolutely fine if you weren't trying to claim that it's bogus info. This isn't all that abstract a concept. You do NOT live for the moment unless you are completely nuts. You simply can't actually live for the moment. If you put on your shoes in the morning it's because you think the "you" that walks outside the house will thank you for it. If you got to work it's because you think the future you will want to have some money to spend. No one lives for the moment, except perhaps people who really do have only 10 minutes to live. I didn't read any of that stuff you copy/pasted but will probably go back and check it out when I get home from work. As you said though, of course you plan into the future i.e. whats for dinner?, should I bring tools on a long trip? At the age I'm at now though, the planning of my future for anything serious (marriage, family, house) is a long way away. I'd have to say at this point, I'm living the majority of my life week by week, with the exception of a few things I've got planned for the spring/summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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