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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be baffled by how everyone on MN claims to have a really stressful job

271 replies

T1nah · 01/05/2019 13:43

Or their DH does. Or they both do.
What exactly is so stressful about your jobs? Does everyone work in Intensive Care or are you being a bit dramatic about the pressures of your job?

OP posts:
mogloveseggs · 02/05/2019 11:33

My job can be very stressful if a customer is not happy. Also because we have an awful lot to get done in a shift and have to pick up any jobs not done by the previous shift too. There's a lot of expectation that sometimes I just cannot live up to.

RomanyQueen1 · 02/05/2019 11:36

I think many jobs are stressful as employers expect more and more all the time from nmw jobs to high powered careers.
Also, the higher up you go and more money you earn the employers ask for more pounds of flesh.
I don't work for that reason, when my business kicks in and I'm making money then I'll have a job.

lazylinguist · 02/05/2019 11:38

You clearly don't actually want answers to cure your bafflement, OP. You just want to scoff at people who find their jobs stressful.

Dh and I are both teachers. Teaching is a pretty stressful job. Lots of teachers are leaving the profession because of that. My teaching job isn't stressful, because it's part time, peripatetic and low-responsibility (and low-pay). Dh's is very stressful, as was mine when I worked full time (except when I worked in a lovely private girls' day school, which was a joy).

There are all kinds of things that can make a job stressful. That doesn't mean you can't handle it or that you're pathetic.

SrSteveOskowski · 02/05/2019 11:41

Both DH and I work in sales. He is a manager. The amount of pressure to hit targets is unreal.

redbedheadd · 02/05/2019 11:42

Stress is relative though.... I used to organise big scale events with loads of "important people" --- logically I can think this just isn't the end of the world if something goes wrong, no one's life is on the life BUT that doesn't mean event management isn't a super stressful job managing a ton of tasks and making sure everything goes to plan.

Stress can come with responsibility, expectation and the type of work environment/boss you have. You can be doing a job you love and still find it stressful....

PlinkPlink · 02/05/2019 11:53

Another one here who used to be a teacher. Had a mental breakdown during my last post (for various reasons including the pressure of the job)

I now deliberately pick jobs that do not entail me working all hours of the fucking day and night in order to get by.

Life is for living and I would prefer to be happy in my day to day job than exhausted and overworked, just for a bit more money.

Foxmuffin · 02/05/2019 12:02

I agree stress is relative. My DH is in what I would consider a hugely stressful job, but he’s not a stressy person and just takes it as it comes. I think that’s the secret of his success. Other people get stressed just going about their daily lives and seem to think life itself is a source of stress.

Ginnylamb · 02/05/2019 12:10

JacquesHammer I agree.

I don't think everyone on MN thinks their job is stressful.

I do think a lot of posters are under the impression that saying they don't understand or are baffled by someone else's opinion is a bullet proof argument against that opinion.

In fact it just shows that the baffled/ uncomprehending person lacks either empathy or intelligence, or is being obtuse.

NunoGoncalves · 02/05/2019 12:15

My DH is in what I would consider a hugely stressful job, but he’s not a stressy person and just takes it as it comes. I think that’s the secret of his success. Other people get stressed just going about their daily lives and seem to think life itself is a source of stress

Agreed. Lots of people posting on here about their jobs, which, to me, sound pretty low-stress.

I think it's that a lot of people are more prone to stress nowadays, as a result of modern lifestyles. Work is a major part of day-to-day life, so if you're prone to stress, then what job you're doing isn't really relevant. You're gonna feel stressed no matter what.

edwinbear · 02/05/2019 12:19

I work in investment banking. It's stressful because we work 10-12 hours per day, we are expected to read, analyse and react to complex data very quickly and we are working on transactions of £100m+, where if I make a tiny mistake,it's going to cost us a lot of money and I will get fired.

It's clearly not a stressful as being a doctor/paramedic/police etc but it's definitely stressful.

ElenadeClermont · 02/05/2019 12:27

My job is not stressful. I have to work hard, but that is true for everyone.

RadishesAndLentils · 02/05/2019 12:55

As discussed yesterday, the new buzz word is anxiety, taken to mean lack of resilience and copability as opposed to an actual stressful situation

Anxiety is an actual medical condition which pretty much means exactly that. Hardly a new buzzword.

MyShinyWhiteTeeth · 02/05/2019 13:13

My job is not stressful in itself - but I'm not just doing my job - I'm covering other job roles than I'm untrained/minimally trained on at the same time as being expected to cope with an ever increasing workload as more and more people go on sick leave (or leave and are not replaced) because of the stress from their jobs. I've had efficiency training so I'm now expected to get more done every day.

I find being too busy is very stressful.

Polarbearflavour · 02/05/2019 13:22

Also having no work to do is stressful. I’ve been bored to tears in a couple of jobs.

LadyRannaldini · 02/05/2019 13:22

The use of the word 'stress' is a bit like 'traumatic', people use it when what they really mean is 'it's a bit difficult' or 'I was a bit pissed off'.

feistymumma · 02/05/2019 13:24

My job is quite stressful most times. NHS

goingonabearhunt1 · 02/05/2019 13:45

I think being stressed and busy is seen as a good thing in our society therefore the people who aren't that stressed or busy probably won't say so. Obviously some people do have objectively stressful jobs but not everyone. Also, ppl who don't do much at work are hardly going to admit it (esp IRL) are they? That would be a risky strategy Grin Not suggesting people who say they're stressed are lying before anyone jumps on me, I'm saying the non-stressed people will stay silent.

anothernotherone · 02/05/2019 14:01

I actually saw a documentary recently about minimum wage jobs specifically focusing on the fact that many are actually very stressful in a specific way, and often people who think of themselves as "above" such jobs, working in higher paid office, clerical managerial or professional roles could not cope with them.

A very banal example was employees who work for an international pizza chain in a very busy location whose sole job is behind the scenes fulfilling take away orders. Each pizza had to be exactly identical to every other pizza of its sort. The size, shape, toping distribution etc had to be exact. The employees had to work very fast indeed, standing up the entire shift. They knew they were disposable, mistakes cost money - time was so tight anything not meeting quality control was binned.

The money involved in a mistake might only have been a few pounds, but nevertheless a few mistakes on probation and they'd be fired.

That's just as stressful as one mistake costing the company millions in its way, especially if you're living pay check to pay check and have people relying on you.

High status, highly paid jobs are not necessarily more stressful than very low status jobs - if you are afraid of making mistakes for whatever reason you'll be stressed.

Obviously there is also "good" stress which gives you and adrenaline rush and keeps you going and "bad" stress which makes you feel fear, misery and eventually makes you unwell if it goes on constantly.

ScrewyMcScrewup · 02/05/2019 14:16

Also having no work to do is stressful. I’ve been bored to tears in a couple of jobs

I had a job like that and it was hell. My number 1 priority now when jobhunting is that I will have enough work.

trixiebelden77 · 02/05/2019 14:28

Yes. I actually do work in intensive care.

But I think the things that make a job stressful are often personal things like a difficult boss or a workplace bully. Dealing with the public can be very stressful too, doesn’t have to be life and death.

bordellosboheme · 02/05/2019 16:27

What do you do then OP? I don't think you've shared your own circumstances. Stressful or otherwise?

IAlmostCracked · 02/05/2019 16:51

Today I had a customer who was completely malevolent, who, despite me doing my job correctly, was determined to cause trouble in the pursuit of getting something for free. So much so that for the first time ever I came very close to having a full blown panic attack dealing with it. And said customer came in again later today and I watched as they approached another member of staff to try it all again, all after having smirked at me as they walked past me on the "shop floor". And you wonder if or why people get stressed at work? You should try it OP.

MidsomerBurgers · 02/05/2019 17:28

I work for the NHS on the frontline in a band 6 role and I am responsible for many colleagues and dozens of patients a day. My professional registration and their lives are at risk. So yeah, pretty stressful.

Tunnocks34 · 02/05/2019 17:30

I’m a teacher and I don’t fond my job stressful really. Hard work, and sometimes I wish I had a job that meant when I wasn’t in work, I wasn’t working BUT I love it.

The most stressful job I ever had was working in a home insurance contact centre. The absuive arseholes who’d speak to you like dogshit on the phone, the targets I couldn’t hit because I refused to offer people products the didn’t benefit from for the sake of a sale. Never again.

Ignoremeiaminvisible · 02/05/2019 17:33

Personally I think people responding to the post explaining why their job is stressful is missing the point really. Most of the posts where a 'stressful' job is mentioned actually has nothing to do with their job. In my opinion it is mainly about problems in their relationships. I think that some posters use this 'stressful job' to obtain sympathy from others by exaggerating how hard their life is, and by implication, how little their other half actually contributes.

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