Does anyone else hate working no matter the job?

Oh yes. I automatically think all bosses are completely incompetent arseholes.

I don't mind my job. It pays OK and the people are nice. It keeps me challenged whilst allowing some flexibility. It's not too high pressure but I feel competent and skilled.

It's taken me years to find the right thing for myself as I am a bit like you, OP. Generally I don't like working for someone else, or having to be in a certain place at a certain time. But working for myself would be too much pressure for me and I lack the motivation.

I feel like I've found my ideal job, given that I do have to work... but I still wish things were different.

If I could leave tomorrow and have financial stability (not from a man), I wouldn't think twice.

I like my job but I hate working. My children are now teenagers and I find that they need me so much more than they did as young children. I wish I could quit and be a stay at home mum.

I'm actually considering getting a Christmas retail job even though I hate being customer facing just so I can stash some money away and pack it all in earlier.

Yep I did too. Hated everything until I got a job in the arts in my early 40s. I absolutely LOVE it. I’m really busy but I’m away from all the corporate bollocks such as unnecessary meetings, sucking up to management, pointless training and workshops etc etc. My new job isn’t perfect but SO much better than before.

You're not wrong OP. I took redundancy a couple of years ago from my bog-standard office job as it felt too good an offer to pass up and I was bored and it was only a matter of time before someone realised I had very little to do post-covid as so much had been automated, gone online or just not required anymore.

I thought I'd take a couple of months out then look for something more interesting. I didn't appreciate how much the job market had changed since last time I hopped jobs and It took me nearly 9 months, countless applications and about a dozen interviews to get another job so I wasn't in a position to turn it down but I HATE it.

The organisation's OK but It's a front-line post and I hate having to be "on" all the time. To keep sane, I regularly review my options but I'm also 58 and very unlikely to get anything better in the current climate so I'm gritting my teeth and sticking with it in the hope I can retire sooner rather than later.

Not sure if this will make you feel better or worse! But I provide after school care for someone who has all the things you mentioned, VERY high earner, regular travel for work and lots of perks, and when I arrived at her house yesterday she was finishing up a call, and when she hung up she turned around and said to me, “I wish I could retire!” shes 45, so no chance! And she says this to me regularly and sometimes seems sad that I’m the one that gets to go to the school gate and to the park to hang out afterwards. However, her lifestyle is a whole lot fancier than mine, but she works hard for it.

I have mostly quite enjoyed my childcare jobs. Low stress, decent pay, time for my own kids,

I am happy in my job. I am a manager of a small team. Unfortunately my manager above me rides my ass and makes me miserable. She tells me when I phone her that I ruin her day by phoning if I end up quitting, she will be the reason.

I was a SAHM when DC were young and I absolutely loved it. I think I could have happily been a "housewife". Life didn't work out that way though so I needed to work.

I was lucky and got the job I wanted but boredom set in. Luckily I was able to move around the organisation and do different roles. That's the only way I managed. Now I wfh and it couldn't be much better, but I still long for retirement! (10 years to go!).

I do like having my own money but if someone just gave me the money without needing to work, I'd be very happy. I hate routine of any kind and work makes routine necessary.

I'm a casual worker so don't work all year round.

And I couldn't give a shit what anyone thinks.

I quite like my job, but I struggle with the demand to be somewhere at a certain time.

Every morning I seem to have a negative mindset. I talk myself into how shit the day is going to be. And then the day happens and it's not so bad.

What I really hate is commuting. Spending minimum of two hours of my life each day racing to be somewhere while the clock seems to be laughing at me.

I also hate having to be out of my home more than in it to pay for it. Seems mental to me!

And then there the general expense of living. A modest salary doesn't seem to stretch for anything nice in life.

It’s not so much work as adult life and responsibilities.

ALL I want to do is backpack around Asia and do exercise, yoga, read books, eat fresh fruit, go to beach parties and meet interesting people from around the world etc. I’m at my happiest in this ‘form’.

But I have responsibilities (not as much as others admittedly - I don’t have children or elderly parents), so can’t just jack everything in and leave on a one-way ticket like I used to do in my 20s.

I like the social side of working, but not the drudge and get bored after a couple of years - then there’s nowhere to go in terms of promotion as I’d hate a management role (of people).

I’m mid-50s working for DH’s business mainly from home. Not much social side now but I’ve got my friends and am happy with that. I don’t drink anymore and have to be careful about what I eat as well s it wouldn’t be the same.

Annoyingly the one job I really liked i was made redundant.

haha, I want to be a racehorse trainer but I have zero skills... the excercise isnt really about that though, its more about if you imagine where you would wake up, what you would be doing and the types of things you would be doing to be happy... but obviously not pie in the sky impossible things, but more like, I would love to wake up in Bali, and spend the morning sipping coffee on a beach and work with animals, then that is not impossible, might not be possible today, but you can work towards it. or I would like to wake up in the country and spend my afternoon working on my novel.. then walk amongst the hills before cooking a lovely homemade dinner... for example,,, its about realising what lifestyle it is that you are dreaming of and what you need to change to achieve it. For example if you are a city nurse and you hate where you live and hate your job... OK but what actually would make you happy? Is it moving to the country and working in a cafe by day and taking an evening course in fashion design.. so you can eventually start a business doing that? Or something else.. like what's the end game that would actually make you think, yes I am enjoying life right now and how do you get there.

Not sure I can be any help at all but I have found myself asking what is work and why do we do it, or have to do it? An animal just walks around, eats and sleeps, has sex, tries not to die. I enjoy watching Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild because people lead an alternative existence, often off grid. If no job suits you, have you considered a different lifestyle? I've enjoyed a good career but I've never really rated work.

Yeah I absolutely hated every job I’ve had and I’ve had a fair few some paying quite well. So I quit this year and have mentally retired. Sure we’ve got less money but god the whole family is a damn site happier and we probably live healthier because I’ve time to prep/plan/grow and do most routine house jobs through the week so weekends are all about fun (admittedly free or cheap fun but so far so good!)

One weird thing I’ve found is, most things become significantly more enjoyable when you put MORE effort in. So the more bored you feel, the more you should throw yourself into it. Give it 200%. It sounds like it’d be even more boring but actually it becomes way more engaging.

I love working — the actual practise of working — and I’ve never been unemployed, even through uni, pregnancy, surgery… But I hate having a boss.

I used to love my work. I’m a childminder. But the constant pressure from Ofsted and the local authority ( who pay for the funded places) has taken all the love I had for it away.
The number of childminders has halved in recent years. 56,200 in 2013 to roughly 27,000 now
Im looking for something new, this will have a knock on effect to all the families who come here. But my mental health is taking a knock.

Adult life is fairly shit in many ways which is why it's important to carve out joy/fun when you can that isn'twork related.x

I want to be a Dallas cowboy cheerleader but, at 40, I don’t think any amount of manifesting will make that happen 😭😭.

I hate all the demands of adult life TBH. Work, bills, house work, all of it 😔.

Ive had loads of jobs over the years.
And i have come to the conclusion, that its not the job that makes it boring, its the people I have to work with that make it crap.
I now work from home and love it.

Then again im not a people person so that may be it.

I did love my job when I felt I was progressing. Probably happiest ten years ago. Bumps in the road at home and at work leave me at best flat.

I'm grateful my whole working life hasn't been like this.

I've done 40 years of working and every job has been emotionally very difficult in it's own way, cancer nursing, palliative care Nursing and then non nursing jobs that still involve dealing with people in awful circumstances. I did years of nightshifts around bringing up four young kids. I didn't even have a full year of mat leave. have just started a new job after being made redundant and it has broken me. My mental health is at an all time low. i just want to quit but at 58 cannot really afford to. I had three months off in between jobs and it was bliss.

I like work. I enjoy my time off but I think I’d go mad without the routine and stimulation of employment. I like my job - I’m a structural engineer - it’s generally engaging and I’m always learning. I’m happy to have a job where I’m ready to get up now, put my lunch dishes away and go back upstairs to get on with work without dreading it!