I do nothing all day at work and it’s draining the life and soul out of me

[ZombieWorker]

Hi all. Posting here for traffic. This will be long so I apologise. The TLDR is the title.

I graduated 7 years ago and this is my third job since then.

My first job I did nothing. I didn’t mind because I was a young graduate on a big team of people my age, and spent the day talking on the instant messager and having long lunches. When I left I said to my boyfriend (now DH) ‘finally, the real work begins’.

My second job I did a little more, but still vast amounts of nothing- think 1-2 days of work a week max. I was in a corner with my PC facing the wall behind me, and wasn’t being overlooked, so I used my downtime to write a book and do some online courses- learnt a bit of coding, French and some advanced Excel. This suited me very well, but I was still chomping at the bit to leave by the end, as the monotomy of doing nothing for 5 years was really starting to build up.

My third job I started 18 months ago. I was over the moon to get it, and AGAIN said to DH ‘it will be nice to finally start doing real work’. The first 8 weeks were a whirlwind of being taught things, but after that I was told ‘we work responsively’ and ‘you’ll be trained ad hoc as and when things show up’. Clearly, they don’t show up much- I am less busy than I was at job 2.

I’ve mentioned this before in other mumsnet chats before and the answers are always ‘talk to your boss, create your own work, get a new job, fill your day with other things’. So to address those points;

I have talked to my boss many times, always asking for things to do, and about two weeks ago it came to a head as I was nearly in tears telling her that I feel useless, that I don’t know anything more than when I started. He seems to be trying to address it and has mentioned more training, but nothing has materialised yet. I suppose it might over the next few weeks, but I can’t be confident, and it doesn’t help where I am now.

I’ve created so much work at this stage that I keep getting commended for my efforts- why nobody can see this is happening because I have NOTHING ELSE TO DO I have no idea. I’ve gone back through old folders and tidied them up, created new projects to work on, created filing systems, procedural documents- it all gets me through a few days then it’s done and I have nothing to do. I am at the point where I can’t think of a single thing to do myself. I spend a lot of time filing my emails, of which I came in this morning to a grand total of zero, triggering this post.

I could of course get a new job, this seems the logical solution, but this one is very close to my home, with a walking commute. It’s also a good wage, and I have a mortgage to pay. I like my boss, even if nobody is overly friendly here. I don’t know how I could find anything on this wage nearby. Plus, this is my third job that has been like this, so I have no faith jumping ship would leave me in a different spot.

Filling my day with other things is how I have spent my entire career to this point. This worked brilliantly at previous jobs, but I am very overlooked here and don’t feel it’s possible. We are all sat very close together in an open plan. I can listen to podcasts, and get through hours of them a day, but that still leaves me the issue of what to do with my hands. Yesterday I genuinely stared at a blank excel page for about an hour. It’s soul destroying.

My DH tries to help but what can he do. He gets upset with seeing how drained I am on coming home, and how miserable I am getting ready in the morning. He has been looking for jobs for me and sends me links but it doesn’t help that he has no idea what I do, what I’m qualified for- all the links he sends me are either not enough money or vastly past my knowledge grade. I work in a very niche area of planning regulation which I kind of stumbled into, and have no idea what my transferable skills are.

I feel stuck and it’s affecting my quality of life. I’ve gained two stone as I buy large quantities of food on my lunch to eat all afternoon. I know this is boredom but I can’t stop myself- I’m working on this now as I know a bad diet will be effecting my mental health too. I feel like a zombie trudging through the same routine every day, eating to give myself comfort, and it’s shameful. I’m at breaking point here and am really hoping somebody can magic up the answer. Thanks for reading this far.

I really do sympathise OP - while I'm not bored with nothing to do (it's the exact opposite, the workload is huge and I am completely exhausted), I do feel unfulfilled and miserable and dread going in every day. I've also gained a lot of weight and feel like it's taking over my life. I agree with people who say money is not the most important thing and that mental health is more important, however I live alone and can't afford to earn less or be unemployed, I have no support.

Someone mentioned retraining - I'd love to know from people who have switched careers now what they do now that they love? I don't think it's an option for me (I couldn't afford to leave to retrain) but even if I could part of my issue is that I have know idea what I'd actually like to do.

OP I wish I had more advice, feel free to PM me if you fancy a chat and I hope things get better soon!

xx

I suggest you are one of those highly efficient people who manage to grasp the escenario of the job and become very quick at streamlining it and therefore ending with a lot of free time.

Working a job that gives you constant challenges may be the way to constantly challenged and motivated. Coordinating big groups of people in changing environments may be the key, there is always something going out of track and giving you something to solve/improvr

Get a proofreading qualification and do that at work?

I had a job like this. There was nothing to do during the holidays. I spent 6 weeks looking at youtube. I'd feel depressed and unmotivated. Another lady started creating jobs to do, I helped her but they were pointless (e.g. we refiled 7 years worth of paperwork only for it to be chucked away in week 6!). A few of us filled out time eating! I didn't want to over est so used to take a walk around the building once an hour. I left that job 8 years later.

Well we are run off our feet and are recruiting! If anyone is in South Wales give me a pm

I think you are describing most office jobs and they aren’t for everyone. My daughter worked for many years in film distribution. Yes, there was the day when she had to meet George Clooney at the airport , but most of the time she was sat in an office undertaking mundane tasks. Have you considered teaching? Have a look at School Direct where you train on the job. I can assure you that no teacher is ever bored.

ZOMBIE THREAD

I can well belive it but don't have any suggestions.

I'm a freelance contractor working in IT. So technically I'm only brought in when there is a "need" - so you would expect work to do.

The number of places I've been at where they stress in interview how busy they are and how much work there is and they really need additional resource...... and then I get there and

get through the expected work in a couple of hours and think "what now".

Many roles I've had I've worked along side permanent staff who appear to run around like headless chickens but I can't actually see what they've been doing all day. I think the chicken impression is meant to defelect from the fact they do nothing.

The only advantage for me is its not permanent and I move onto the next role.

Look at the SRA. Legal regulation. Main operations are in Birmingham but they do have posts in Central London. Might be of interest.

I sympathise as I too have been in many a job where the days were long as I had little or nothing to do. Far from the case now! This was private sector.

I worked in one roll which was busyish where a colleague always complained of stress so I did half her work, all of mine and still had time to spare! Now I always have work and the days fly by.

www.sra.org.uk