To wonder if there are jobs that are reasonably paid and not stressful, and if so, what those jobs are?

[Jinsei]

Have had a shitty day at work, and have concluded that I just don't want the hassle of managing other people any more. I know that stress comes with the territory, and that's why managers earn more, but I want out. I don't mind taking a pay cut but I am the main breadwinner in our family and need to pay the mortgage.

Are there any jobs out there where you can earn a living wage without being stressed all the time? And if so, how do I get one??? The other day I was stressing about a potential redundancy situation in a few years time, but now I'm almost wishing it would happen...

LaQueen that job sounds great!

A second vote for being a Librarian.
I get to talk to people about books all day. When I'm tired of talking I sit in my office and type up lovely lists of books or make posters for events that are coming up. Sometimes I cover Storytime and do sticking and glueing. Sometimes I go downstairs when rhymetime is on just so I can sniff a nice fat baby.

I earn just above the National Average Salary. I have good annual leave allowance and flexible working. I have friendly, intelligent, committed colleagues and I never have to buy books.

Sometimes I get to meet famous authors and they tell me how fab Libraries are... that's always nice!

I think it can be quite stressful being under-employed - having a job in which there's not really enough to do to fill the hours. You must begin to feel a bit pointless.

Bin men are incredibly well paid for what they do. They used to have to empty rubbish from bins into the truck, but now they only hang the wheelie bins on the back of the lorry. I saw that some bin men in Birmingham, I think it was, were earning £60K due to overtime. I think many local council jobs are a bit of a doss. Tree Officer, anyone?

Wait a god darn minute, my do works in uni administration an earns nowhere near that much. Unless he is sneakier than I ever realised and has a small fortune hidden away somewhere.

I am also a bit concerned by this idea that if you like managing people you must be crap at it. I thought was doing what well, nobody has complained about me yet...

Do = dp

Stupid auto correct!

I now want to be a librarian! It's got nursing beat hands down...

I am currently working only one day a week and am finding being very under-employed very stressful. It's not just the money either, it is the waiting around for other people to organise interview dates, waiting for references to come through and contracts and just generally a lack of control and not knowing if by this time next week I'll have too much work to do!

I am a self-employed Nail Technician and I have the best job in the world!! Not totally stress free - stress comes from managing my diary, quiet periods and managing time off - but I do a an amazing technical and artistic job for happy customers....

Massive job satisfaction and I earn a good living. Wouldn't go back to my 'proper' job!!

I think that being very good at doing things for people that make them inordinately happy is low-stress. Sadly, it is often very dull to do things you are very good at day in day out.

I worked as a PA for a Boutique Finance Company about seven years ago as a PA. Was very unstressful, barely any late hours, paid 35K, got taken out on expenses at least once a month, very expensive xmas presents from bosses. I found it a bit boring and unchallenging which is why I left but if you can tolerate spending your days booking meeting rooms, restaurants, diary management and answering the phone that's your job :)

My DP works in retail where one of the big challenges is retention of shop managers. After a while all the good ones want to be PAs instead - better money, better working conditions, no management, regular hours and they get to sit down all day...

I agree with dahlen that go the next rung up and it may look very different.

My job can be full on because I have got to manage projects and also manage a team. My boss however isn't operational at all and just gets involved in the politics and strategy. Not to say that his job is easy - he has to ensure we all deliver and stakes our place in the world - but it must be better than wearing two hats.

I really like my job - it has easy parts but personally I like that 'oh fuck' feeling when you have too much on and deadlines looming.

Management of staff is an arse though, and it takes precious time to manage well.

Don't be under the illusion that because someone earns less that the role they play is any less stressful than the one you have currently have. In almost all occupations, the management are under pressure to get the maximum value from all the staff.

DH always says that it's managing staff that will send him into an early grave . The rest is, relatively, easy.

wordfactory - lawyers are notorious for hating management. There must be something about the legal mind that cannot do the management thing.

My DP does not have a remotely legal mind but management is his forte and raison d'être.

That is so true bonsoir lawyers make terrible managers generally.

DH positively shudders when he tells me about staff problems. He's so not a people person. And yet, he is far better than some of his colleagues. Christ alone knows how bad they must be!!!

I must admit that I'm not brilliant at it either.

I run various businesses and am least comfortable with the staffing side. I'm a pathetic pushover a lot of the time.

I've become far better at getting what I want out of people since being with my DP - his skills must have rubbed off a bit.

I fancy running a cake shop. Or being a landscape gardener not that I know anything about gardening Or a marine biologist. Or curator in a museum.

What I am is a Mental Health Nurse working in an in-patient unit with acutely unwell adults. It is incredibly stressful a lot of the time. I am responsible for the welfare of very unwell people, some of whom are extremely suicidal. I work nights and I'm normally the most expeienced nurse on duty so the buck stops with me.

When things go right and people get well and appreciate your efforts, it's the best job in the world. When things go wrong it's utterly crap and there is a huge blame culture which means your every move is scrutinised if something seriously untoward happens so the trust can point the finger at an individual rather than look at the system

I'm an IT manager and also hate managing people. I have very little patience with people slacking or just repeatedly not doing the job properly and often really struggle to keep personality clashes out of it. My staff seem to like me though, I'm well regarded at work and the money isn't bad.

What I really would love to do is research of some kind. I want to find things for a living but all the ones I have looked at require a PHd. I just have a degree.

My degree is in a science discipline but when I graduated I fell into IT and never pursued the science. I regret that all the time but now I'm stuck in a money trap.

If you find anything OP, I'm all ears!

'I've realised how much of my old higher salary I used to blow on "treats" like massages, magazines, wine, coffees for the commute etc. to compensate myself for the stress and relentlessness of my old lifestyle.'

This. The expense of working is enormous.

But I also agree with Dahlen that stepping up could be a lot less stressful than stepping down. You may think you don't want your boss's job, but what if a new broom comes in at his level and makes your life hell? Why not go up, where you have half as many direct reports to deal with, who are anyway all more senior and more experienced, AND you actually have the power to say 'We're not going to do that because nobody cares and I am not prepared to put my team through it' or similar? For a substantial whack more money?

Likewise you might find doing some mentoring for a junior colleague actually reconnects you with the good stuff about the job?

Doyouthinktheysaurus, well I love you without even knowing you. Thank you for what you do.

Bless you Grovel, that's a very kind thing to say

The bit of my job I hate is the staff management I think. Only this week I had 2 of the staff I was working with squabbling and I was crap at dealing with it! Both of them coming to me separately and moaning about the other, I felt like sticking them in a room together and letting them fight it out

I would be a really shit manager