Things I hate about my job

[Susquahana]

Having a slightly rubbish day (of many) and decided that I really wanted a rant about my job. I thought maybe others would like to do the same without judgment or too many questions.

I have NC'ed so I can give details. I'm a transaction lawyer at a very big law firm.

I hate the hours and hours of drafting things from templates and inevitably finding out that the templates doesnt really do what I want and needs proper amendments anyway.
I hate the 3 hours-at-a-time calls with aggressive bankers and male partners talking over me when I am speaking.
I particularly detest the lunches (where I am usually the only woman in the room and still having to kiss the arse of aggressive and hostile middle-aged banker that actually doesnt really want to speak to me anyway).
I hate having to pretend i care about what is going on in the Financial Times.
I hate spending hours stressing over firm-wide training sessions that I am forced to give because hey, it's part of my job - who cares about my feelings or anxiety.
I hate the constant chasers for things that aren't important because someone else has decided they aren't busy and want to shift something off their desk, despite me being too busy to do it there and then.
I hate filling out daily timesheets with full naratives of what I have done all day (this is a widely detested part of being a lawyer).
I hate the aggression and hostility that the US firms insist on including in every email.
I am sick of all feedback being negative - good feedback is only provided in appraisals when HR are present (I'm good at my job - this isn't just me).
Most of all, I hate working for a stream of white, middle aged men who literally couldn't give a flying F--- if you have plans, commitments, issues or a personality - particularly in the evenings - and say things like "oh let's have a call at 9pm then" like it doesnt warrant discussion because, of course, their wife is a SAHM and they have nothing else in their lives other than work.

Phew - much better now. I'm sure someone will ask why i dont leave if i hate it so much, but honestly, it's never that simple. I have zero ideas on what else I would do and quite honestly the pay is so good it would be pretty damn hard to take the pay cut while I am still paying off debts and supporting family members.

Keen to hear yours!

OP do you think any of those issues will eventually disappear if you stick it out at your firm? Or is it more likely that the hellish workload, internal politics and client ass-kissing will remain if not intensify as you progress? There's a reason the pay is what it is.

I do empathise. For me, those feelings of dissatisfaction and resentment are what made me decide to leave private practice and move in house where the workload is more manageable and varied, colleagues come from all walks of life, and you can have a life again. It was really a no brainer.

I usually love my job, but I am currently working with someone new who is whiny, needy, arrogant, rude and misogynistic. Hopefully he will fuck the fuck off soon. The worst thing is he can be really sweet in small doses so everyone else thinks he is lovely. He is not, he is a boring, competitive, thick twat.

I was going to complain about my job but honestly I feel better about it, reading about yours. Why did you become a lawyer, how long until you clear your debts? You need a 3 year plan and a change of direction or you're a heart attack waiting to happen.

I career switched. V glad, worked well. But it took more than 3 years of planning, looking on jobs websites, preparing. Eventually an unexpected job opportunity (in the field I was planning to move into) came up and I got it.

Having an escape plan, looking on jobs websites (at what I could do if I quit) actually made my old job easier to cope with. I didn’t have a terrible old job, just wasn’t suited to it personality wise.

I hate how I put every effort into planning, organising, background furiously working, working over and above my contracted hours, having zero recognition and being expected to just drop what I am doing to fit in else where.
This expectation is from colleagues and management.
I hate the additional demands that are made on me with no thought about what my priorities are, what I am working on and seemingly my job being deemed as unimportant because they don’t understand what I do.
I hate that they all assume that I can magic things out of my arse, that I am knowledgeable about EVERYTHING and yet have been given zero training or time to learn my job since starting it fairly recently.

I hate feeling a nuisance because I have to do my job which means speaking and communicating with staff closely when I know that they are very busy and stressed.

I hate the paperwork, red tape, hoops to jump through for no brainer changes, the fucking ridiculous tick box exercises that we are forced to do.
I hate feeling helpless and useless amongst the most intelligent and inspirational people who intimidate me.
It’s not at all what I signed up for.

I have zero ideas on what else I would do and quite honestly the pay is so good it would be pretty damn hard to take the pay cut while I am still paying off debts and supporting family members.

Aye that's the rub. The truth is that all jobs are as you describe. If you work for yourself, your clients will be as you describe and in addition you will spend sleepless nights worrying about cash flow (which in your case is taken care of by your accounts dept. We actually have never had it do good, but the grass is always greener. You could quit your job, set up a company where you treat the workers fairly - and die young from the stress of managing them.
Have a friend (female, there are many) high up in a multinational company who despairs of the never ending bleats of people who want to work flexibly around their children/parents/hobbies/holidays and leave her with a nightmare of HR.
Work is hard.
The alternative is worse.

Ha. Sorry OP, it’s rubbish.

I left law and I am infinitely happier for it

The crux of the issues it seems...is people. They are a fucking pain in the arse!