to think if your first office job is in your 30s its too hard to adjust

[spegal]

Hi,

I've started an office job in my 30s, its been a month and still just finding it a miserable and boring existence. Such dull conversations and other people seam to delight in pointing out minor mistakes or picking arguments over little things. To be honest I really don't care about it all, I'm just like whatever its not like anyone is going to die if something isn't perfect.

I'm coming to the conclusion I'm just not an office 9-6 kind of person. Maybe if I had started in my 20s I could of coped. But now I've had such a great life not sat in offices it makes it so hard.

Am I being stuck up or does anyone see my point of view?

Might just stick it out till Xmas for the cash

Some offices are soul destroying to work in its true. However if you find an organisation doing something that interests you it gets a lot better. I had nearly always worked in offices during my working life and endured it basically, then I got a job as a Medical Secretary in a mental health unit and absolutely loved it. Typing up medical histories and statements was interesting and getting them to the right people, on time meant something. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but while I didn't sprint into work in the morning I certainly didn't drag my feet either.

Ho thanks, what is wrong about my work ethic? That I just don't care about the work and just their for money?

Oh sorry OP x-post, I don't mean to seem as if I'm laughing at your qualifications!!

It's more the cheese samples.

Stick it out until Christmas while looking for another job. Make a list of the kinds of environment in which you would like to work and phone or email all the companies or organisations in the field to ask about vacancies.

Complete some online courses to beef up your CV and then rewrite it.

Sell your property if you own it and use the money to travel or whatever else you would like to do

You have had a great life up until now so why can't you continue to make it wonderful?

Join things, play things, make things, take up a sport

Not all offices contain nit-picking bureaucrats - you're clearly in the wrong one!

I worked in a politician's office for many years. Very, very few dull moments.

List all the things you really enjoy doing (whatever they are, no matter how frivolous or unusual). Do any of those suggest possibilities for a new career?

Very few of us get through life without a boring job somewhere along the line!

Oh, and my advice would be - get a different 'office job'!

Just because a job involves sitting down in one room does not make it comparable with all other jobs involving that. Telesales people sit down in one room a lot. So do university professors.

If admin is what you feel you can start at, try and find a job in an area you have an interest in? Art, medical support, teaching, animals, children, party organisation, hospitality. Even cheese.

I think I would just go back to working for myself and start my own businesses, got lots of ideas I want to work on and this office job seams like it sucking my creativity.

I just snorted tea all over the keyboard, that's hilarious! You sound like a teenager or self-aggrandising 'sleb'.

well, even if you think the work is pointless you are being paid to do a job and should do it to the best of your ability, not take the attitude "if it's not perfect no one will die"

that is what i mean by work ethic

but if you hate it then either find something else or find some way towards doing what you want to do, something that means something to you and inspires you to excel and do your best

not all jobs are the same, nor are offices

10/10!
This is goady fuckery, right?

At the risk of being flamed I do think some people just don't suit office work at all. I'm one of them. I've worked in numerous industries and different positions and I've hated every single office I've been in. It feels claustrophobic and confrontational and I am a bit like you in that I just don't care about any of it enough to be bothered really.

The only thing I've ever enjoyed doing was working as a make up consultant in my early 20s for clinique and then chanel. My long term career ended up being marketing management but that was so boring to me.

I am now a sahm and I enjoy doing things round the house etc because I feel like I'm doing it for me and my family not for some company or for the sake of money itself... which ironically I do see the argument that obviously earning money is doing it for your family ... It just doesn't feel as immediate as being at home for me.

I just really hate work. But then I guess a lot of people do. It's a necessary evil for many people.

Can you give me the details of your cheese-handing-out job please? £12 an hour sounds great and I LOVE cheese

All the advice you need is on here.

1. Suck it up and stay until you have enough money to leave.
2. Find another job in a different office - not all offices are the same
3. If you want to start your own business then spend your evenings working on a business plan.

Not sure what else you need to know - it's just common sense.

How about using your education to get a job in that field and then being interested by it?

I cant bear office work. Sucks the life out of me. And offices ALWAYS have at least one petty fucker who gets over excited about who is using too many paperclips.

Stick it out a bit longer just to make sure...and then start job hunting?

"I spent my 20s in education and internships - have two degrees."

Ah.

I was going to ask how you managed to get a job handing out cubes of cheese that paid £12 per hour but you've answered my question.

If your job is sucking your creativity then sign up for some evening or weekend courses in your chosen creative field .

Not all jobs are creative, and not everyone can earn an income in a creative field. You need to focus and get experience. I think lots of people are in jobs just for the money. Use that money to fund what you really want to do.

Peach and Marmalade
I love this thread!

There are definitely some people who aren't suited to office work. Just as there are some people not suited to teaching, bricklaying or being a human statue (I couldn't do it - no balance and crap at keeping that still).

But, like many previous posters have said - if you don't like your job, or don't feel you are cut out for office work then look for something else .

Whether you hand your notice in now or stick it out until Christmas probably depends on how much you need the income.

You could work as an OOH call handler talking to people about their piles and stubbed toes. It's long periods of boredom interspersed with moments of terror where the caller casually mentions their friend is unconscious/not breathing/ threatening to jump off a high ledge.

Am
I selling it to you?

Would love the cheese job

It's got nothing to do with being in your 30s. What a bizarre thought.

Some jobs are boring. Some office jobs are boring.
Some jobs feel pointless. Some office jobs feel pointless.

If you don't need the money then go off and do something less boring instead, or try retail or catering or call centres or chugging or whatever. Some people find these sorts of jobs boring too, but other people quite like them, what with not every person being the same and all (even in their 30s).

You sound like a teenager, to be honest. Perhaps your colleagues are unpleasant to you because they sense how little you care about your job?

Are you working in the field you studied the whole of your 20's for?

If you are starting at the bottom in an office in your thirties, with little understanding of what you are doing and no interest in the output then yes, it will be boring and soul destroying.

usually the learning stage, figuring out what parts of a job you like and climbing the career ladder to the point you are bring stretched in what you are doing happens in your twenties, when the boredom can be tempered by going out and having fun and the novelty factor. By your thirties, settling down etc is partly done because the job gets real and very much more stretching.

I feel for you but I would say suck it up to get the experience. Working for yourself is all well and good if you can afford to live on very little and risk your own money on the mistakes, if you can't then learn as much as you can in an office environment before you go it alone.

On the subject of the cheese job - a friend of mine used to do that sort of thing in her early 20's. She was/is very tall, slim & pretty and was signed up with a modelling agency - and the modelling agency found her the "promotions assignments" .

She also has a degree. I'm not sure that was a requited attribute though .

You know your business idea? Is it cupcakes or a craft business? Which one?

Required not requited. Grrr!