To ask what you like the most and the least about your job

[LEMtheoriginal]

I love when there is a terrified/aggressive
cat fighting having an exam or medication and im able to calm it enough to do what we need to do and maybe even get a cuddle. Or when i persuade an animal that is refusing to eat that the warmed up pate on my fingers really doesnt taste so bad.

Not so much the low pay and ridiculous hours

Best: my lovely colleagues and some scope for creative work
Worst: not enough to do and far too much time twiddling my thumbs

I work with my DH. I love that he never says anything if I go in for 10am instead of 9am; love that we work with a really lovely team of people; and love that our dog comes with us and spends the day alternating whose desk he's sleeping under.

Not any real downsides. I've resisted doing it for over 20 years with absolutely no idea why..............

Best: I'm a manager in a small office so I like being able to make the decisions on how things are run/new procedures etc without having to run it by anybody. I like what I actually do as well (public sector, public facing... won't go into too much detail, could be outing), and my staff are a great bunch.

Worst: Some of the people I deal with can be massively frustrating. The office gets really cold in winter.

I love supporting clients to get the help they deserve and fighting for their rights
I hate constantly looking for money and applying for grants etc to fund a service that helps so many people

I like what my organisation does
I dislike that I have stagnated because I am not one of my new manager's prodigies

Aagh, not to be too outing...
Good- seeing really interesting things; making a better world, solving complex problems and generally doing my best.
Bad- the office, which is open plan, ugly, insanely noisy, crammed and utterly utterly horrible. People, mostly men, who are lazy and imagine that I would do their work for them. Swiftly corrected.

Most- intellectually challenging and very interesting (banking regulation )

Least- my boss is a nightmare and my team are useless

Best: interesting work, constantly learning. (Really) good pay, a 4 day week, a respect for family life (I'm always home for bathtime and never work weekends).

Worst: getting up early and commute. After 25 years I still just want to stay in bed a bit longer.

Likes - the pay, flexibility’s (WAH) and my 4 day week.

Dislikes - the actual job (boring),the people (/unprofessional/cliquey/bitchy - men and women), the lack of team work (toxic soup - even if you keep your head down someone will try and stab you in the back).

I am getting to the point where the dislikes are not making up for the likes.

Love the shopping at lunchtime.

Hate the commute.

likes; speaking with and helping customers, having the support and tools in my armoury provided by my employer to actually genuinely help, to be able to go off-piste to make something right and Taylor it to my customer, lots of scope to make suggestions for improvement and this actually take effect and make a difference, we are paid and looked after well.

Dislike; the sheer amount of fucking paperwork.

Like - great work / life balance
Use my skills daily & genuinely help people

Dislike - adults who think I can cure a cold & try to demand antibiotics

I'm an academic.

Most: The freedom to work at home whenever I'm not needed in meetings/ teaching, and to research and teach whatever I like as long as I do it well.

Least: The opaque, incomprehensible, and hugely unfair grant capture and publishing systems, success in which our yearly staff reviews are mostly based on.

Likes: flexihours and working from home
Dislike: the boss! the unorganisation, do one thing then we undo it a week later as it’s wrong, lack of communication from managers.

Good thread OP!
Police Officer
Most - My crewmates, the freedom to just get in the car and go and change lives, that no day is the same, the pride my family have
Least - Shifts! Having to deal with a lot of nasty people every day who hate you soon as look at you. And the pay is rubbish.

Like: there is a gym and swimming pool on site

Dislike: having to be there for 40 hours a week

I love the flexibility, Home working options, getting to travel out and about to my own schedule.

I hate that any good work I do is erased by the ineptitude of other departments. And that progression is largely ageist.

I love helping people learn a new skill, and the banter that sometimes goes with it!

I hate how worn out I get by working face to face with people and the fact that my hobby turned into work and stopped being my hobby.

Love: most of my colleagues/employees, varied workload, can work from home and do 60% of the time, some travel (UK only, but it shakes things up), small business so lots of making things work from nothing which is really rewarding.

Hate: Small business problems (big personalities on rest of management team), pay isn't great.

Pro: Excellent pay, working conditions, holidays, pension etc.

Con: Sexist and backward and an old boys club. I am happy in my role so doesn't effect me so much, but knowing female colleagues will never be promoted, or as successful as their male counterparts.

I am a nursery worker - the best thing is seeing how much the children flourish and develop from the start to the end of nursery and their progress! Also all the cuddles are lovely and the funny things the kids say!

Worst thing - last week a child wee'd on me! That was a first which I wouldn't like to repeat! Also our end of term leaving ceremony that's always sad as you look after the children for 2/3 years and it's sad to see them move on! We all shed a little tear (parents included!)

Most: the amazing high of winning in court
Least: time recording

I love the people, and the chilled nature of the work. It's not going to make me rich, but thats fine with me - I get 17€ per hour to play Ludo, chat and bake cakes... My previous role was much harder work for less money ironically!

I don't especially like getting up at 4:45am to leave the house by 5:20am...

Things I like the most:

being part of the way in which people grow when they tell their story (I'm a ghostwriter), being part of the whole process as they look back on their life or their experience, helping them see that they matter and (if it is an abuse survivor story), that they were never to blame;

the delight of getting a contract for a book, seeing the cover, finding out who is going to stock it, publication day, waiting to find out if it's on the bestseller lists;

for private commissions, having the luxury of being able to work with the client on telling the story any way they want, not having to stick to demands of the genre, feeling the freedom of it all;

being able to set my own hours, so that they fit in with other demands (like elderly mum, health issues), being with my partner a lot of the working day (he often works from home), being able to go a dog walk whenever I want, always being here when the kids need me.

Things I don't like:

I can't help everyone;

90% of people expect me to do it for free;

deadlines;

I still sort of feel I should be doing something else and that this wasn't what I was meant to do.

Love: Meeting a variety of interesting people across different sectors and negotiating deals
Dislike: a lot of work is done during the evenings and at weekends.
Someone always wanting something from me!