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

[T1nah]

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?

I used to be a finance director for a failing company. Bailiffs could turn up at any time, and I used to send out the payslips not knowing if there would actually be funds in the bank to cover them.

It was when DD was small, and I used to pour a G&T before I got my coat off.

It is only looking back, from the position of a more successful company, that I realise now how stressful it was.

The problem is that most jobs have been restructured to the point of people having to do the work that used to be done by multiple people, and technology means that you can never switch off (I get calls evening, weekends, holidays), plus working with time differences means you can easily be on a call at midnight. It may not be life and death work that I do (work in a commercial business) but I basically spend my day feeling hen pecked by everyone, as they all need a piece of me

Exactly this. .

I'm on maternity leave with dc4 and every time someone says 'you must be busy!' I just smile as it's;so much easier and less stressful than trying to do my nonessential job in non essential industry in a world where cutbacks are continual and childcare is expensive and life isn't structured around two working parents

T1nah... usually in a corporate environment you are depending on others to an extent. Some of the stress is not being to control those people to get you what you need in time. Often due to staffing pressures everyone has too much on and you feel like a bitch for forcing them to shit on someone else to prioritise you. And sometimes you have to put what's best for the company over your individual deadline, short term pain for long term gain but stressful while its happening if you feel you can't deliver.

My job is stressful due to long hours and challenges meeting deadlines, managing people and stakeholders, tough on myself to deliver all the time, often work 10 hour days and weekends, but I’m well paid for it and enjoy it mostly.

What a ridiculous goady post. Lots of people's jobs are stressful these days due to cuts and increased pressure on staff including the increased pressure to go in when sick.

Lots of things can make a job stressful, long hours, long commutes, lots of responsibility, other stressed colleagues, difficult managers, bullying at work, unpleasant work cultures, dealing with real people and their problems which can be emotionally stressful (eg working with cancer patients).

It's great you don't have a stressful job and can't possibly imagine what could make a job stressful, think yourself lucky. You are in the minority sadly.

Sometimes I love my job, sometimes I hate it. It has very stressful times and other really fun times. Not sure what's hard to understand about people feeling stressed about certain aspects of their job.

We have had no permanent manager or structure for over 2 years. We've had a series of interim managers, provisional structures, temporary office arrangements, promised restructures where nothing happens - and in all that we are expected to keep things going. That is quite stressful.

The thing to remember is - the chief executive is not necessarily the most stressed - he is in charge of everything, his day, his staff etc.

The busy PA who has to constantly re-arrange could actually be more stressed.

A (very good) former MD boss told me: "Pressure is what gets you out of bed in the morning, stress puts you in bed in the afternoon!"

I’m a teacher and I will fully admit I don’t think my job is stressful at all!! (Admittedly I am not in the U.K.!)

^It's trendy to be stressed and busy.

People think self worth is defined by their need to be needed and stressed because they're indispensable^

True!

My current job isn't stressful. Neither was my last job.
I have spells of being under-busy.
DH has a low stress job.
I know lots of people with low stress jobs.
I suppose I have avoided any performance jobs.

Personally I have an "Oh well" feeling about work. Do my best. Be honest about the mistakes I make & move on. I will not give my bosses or the clients the power to upset me. The worst they can do is fire me & that trauma would be over with in a few days. yes I am lucky to have a financial cushion.

Most jobs are stressful these days

As life is so much more fraught and pressurised . I struggle to think of any role that’s not stressful and pressurised in some
Way . Even the less skilled and low paid roles have major stress inherent

Mine is stressful at the moment - new job with a picky team leader who I don't much like. Lots of new stuff to learn/ new computer system to learn etc.

ragged - That is a great way of looking at things, we too have a financial cushion. I've been so anxious this week over the possibility that things are not going to work out with my new job, that I have made myself ill. At the end of the day if things don't work out I can just leave and I will find something to bring in a bit of money.

My min wage job is extremely stressful because the place I work in isn't being run properly and as shit runs and I'm at the bottom, I get it all.

I used to be a staff nurse in acute mental.health, whilst looking after acutely mentally unwell patients could of course be very stressful,the most stressful part of the job was being unsupported by the management,it wasent unusual not to get a break if you were the only trained nurse on duty, I remember one hectic shift and there was an error with paperwork which I got complete blame for, they ignored the fact that the ward was understaffed I was in an office where the phone was constantly ringing, there were patients needing medication, relatives wanting to speak to me ,I had been on a 13 hr shift with no break, and he's I made an error however it we had been adequately staffed in the first place, and I had actually had time to check the paperwork etc the error would never had been made .

Ragged at least you are acknowledging your financial cushion enables you to have that more relaxed attitude to your job.
Without that it's a different ballgame.

I feel stressed by my job much of the time. I'm a partner in a City law firm. It's stressful having to win work to keep my team busy. It's stressful having to do the work knowing that my clients could lose huge amounts if I get it wrong. It's not brain surgery and no one dies if I fuck up but the law is fairly unforgiving. If you make a mistake it can end your career. So I find it stressful. It can also be very rewarding - when you get a win and your client's position is vindicated.

As life is so much more fraught and pressurised

Is it?

Social worker here. Stress is just part of the job. There are strategies in place to manage that but sometimes it can be unbearable especially in instances where someone is at risk of harm. Also it's constant and relentless- added to that, no staff and funding cuts don't help.

That said, getting a good outcome for someone makes it worthwhile (most of the time)

My job is busy and fast paced and certainly frustrating at times

It’s probably the politics that make it stressful though as the work is fine

I think I have a stressful job. I am a primary school teacher.

No stress in mine. I do accounts.
Dh yes. He runs a huge site.

I used to be a teacher - that was bloody stressful. I now write and translate manuals. I haven't been stressed at work since I quit teaching.

@icky

But I must not moan because I get good holidays