Anybody else hate working in general

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OK so a quick break down I worked full time since leaving school. I went part time after returning to work from matty leave (years ago) and have no intention of ever going full time again. I have hated every single job I have ever had and dread going/logging on to work every time I wake up in the morning because I know what it means, it means going to have to work and will be stuck working for hours. I count down all week till Friday and clock watch all day until I'm finished, get a nice happy buzz feeling Friday when I'm done but by Sunday night the dread is kicking in again.

I'm married with 2 teenagers and have a mortgage, I can't afford not to work as need to help pay the mortgage and bills. The one thing I would hate more than working would be not having money to do anything or have to start really counting the penny's ect. My husband earns enough to pay the mortgage and bills but we would be very tight for cash after that and would be skimping to get by, so not working is not an option for me.

I know some people say you just need to find a job you enjoy. Ive recently changed jobs, thinking this may help so I have changed to some thing I enjoy more, its a good job with decent pay, Monday to Friday and good benefits... but still I hate working. I know I should be thankful that I've managed to get a good job and I could be doing alot worst job's ( I tell myself this aswell to get through the day) but I still hate it. Its not my colleagues, im working from home so its not the office environment, only thing wrong with the new job is not being able to get clear help or advice when stuck. But apart from that it isn't too hard... I just hate working for a living in general 😒

I know some people say they love there jobs. But does anyone actually love there job ? Or working in general ?

I also hate that I have to be a fake version of myself to survive. I cannot even be honest on my exit interview as don't want to "burn my bridges!"

I love my job with a passion but I don't like getting up to work.

FWIW, I never found an office job where I wasn't counting the hours. I ended up retraining in late 20s and getting my HGV license which I love.

I often do 10 hours (although in quiet periods like end/start of year it can be half that for weeks on end with full pay) but the day still feels shorter than an eight hour office day. I've compromised my pay in that I won't make much more than £40-something-K, but that's enough when combined with partner's salary and tbh I'd hate most senior office jobs and all the politics and bullshit.

I don't have to push myself to work in the same way as when I was doing documents on a pc, and I feel this is because it's not really mentally challenging but thankfully still requires concentration so I don't get bored.

I get in to work, stick my tacho card in, have a brew, then go to my first job. I always know in advance where I'm going and know 99% of the sites. Rarely driving for more than an hour to first job, and then will usually be 15-20 minutes to next two. I'm onsite for about 15-20 to pour the mortar so I get enough human interaction to keep me sane.

Of course, I wouldn't do it if I won the lottery, but I don't have to keep motivating myself and resisting another coffee break/distraction. I drive on autopilot and the job kind of does itself while I chat on hands free and listen to music/podcasts/audio books. It's great when the sun's out and I'm cruising through the country.

It's hard to describe but my entire day is kinda like driving to work, but in a good day. I never have that feeling of 'having to knuckle down' which used to kill me. I can stop for a coffee or whatever whenever I want as long as I get the work done. Same with what time I come in. Can start 5am or 07:30am depending whether I want my afternoon free.

This kind of describes my previous sentiment in a nutshell. I hated having to suck up (in relative terms) to clients and mansgers. I'm a contactor now dealing with builders and can literally say "you guys are taking the piss. If you're not sorted in ten mins I'm leaving" and they still have to pay the £500 or whatever for the materials. Feels good tbh.

Yes. Sometimes I have particular projects I enjoy but in general I just don't like working. This surprised me as I loved being in education and worked hard and assumed I would enjoy work too. But I don't. And I've been working for decades now.

I think because I am quite anxious and neurotic so I am constantly worried my work is not good enough (despite always getting good feedback) worried about what others think about me. I feel sick before the start of every day. Before I went on maternity leave I didn't really associate the feeling sick with anxiety about work, but on maternity I found that feeling went so I realised it was just stress about work. I wish I wasn't like this. If I could learn how to overcome these feelings I probably would like work.

I am the same. I have worked FT since I was old enough to, and have spent that time trying to find ‘a job I love’. But even the jobs I kind of enjoyed, did not enjoy more than not working. I have a limit of around 9 months before I start to feel that dread of getting up/getting ready. I even start to feel resentful for having to get pack up ready the night before, because why should I spend time on work related things, in my free time 😂

It’s not laziness, outside of work I’m always faffing about with DIY, gardening, helping relatives, other little projects. I think it’s just the feeling of having to be tied down for the majority of my waking hours.

I work in a job now that I can sort of deal with, only due to the hours (4 on 4 off WFH). I love the amount of time off, being able to have a coffee and a fag whenever I want, sort out little jobs at home if I fancy it during quiet periods, not have to worry about rushing to leave in the morning, not having to pay £5 for parking, yet still walking 15 mins just to be miserable for 9 hours. But I still dislike the job itself 😂. It’s not the worst, but not a job for life, the company is quite shit at what it does tbh, but I can never go back to working M-F, or ‘any 5 out of 7, random shifts’. Tried a job with flexi hours, didn’t like that either! I realised having a definitive end to the slog is much better.

Despite what I sound like in this post, I am actually quite a decent employee. I care about clients, teams, making things work better. In previous jobs I’ve had offers of development, promotions, paid training/qualifications, on a plate. I just hate the feeling of not having a choice but doing XYZ for the next 9 hours.

Yanbu. I’ve done jobs I really enjoyed but the travelling and petty politics killed it stone dead. I’ve had the experience of working for some self entitled folk and bullies and I won’t tolerate it now.

If you do get the bigger house, maybe find one with an annexe or separate space so you could run a little Airbnb and get some income.

I honestly think a good aim is a job you don't mind, I think theme idea of having a job you love, are super passionate about is really damaging because for 99.9% of people it's just not and never will be.

Find a job you don't mind and make your non-work time as good as it can be - friends, family, pets, hobbies, outdoors, travelling,

That's how you find life fulfilment and you'd be surprised how much job dissatisfaction you can comfortably tolerate when you've got a good life outside work

*the idea

So true 😂

I enjoy a lot of my job but politics at work can sour things. I work to deadlines which means evening work at times. I'm only staying sane because I wfh 2/5 and stay away from work emails at weekends and on annual leave. In the past I was too involved in my work & relationships at work and had to pull sharply back from the brink of burnout.

I think the whole 'find a job you love' mantra is BS. It's a myth. The most mentally healthy people I know don't make their job their life-focus.

I would agree with that.

The flip side to your last para is that if you did not work and every day was a 'holiday', the joy and freedom of that would quickly lose its shine.

OP, you said that you have chosen something you are good at, opted to work the minimum hours and has a good environment . Your work in intellectually stimulating even if it is something you don't want to do. Retiring early is a risk factor for dementia.

I think having a balance between work and outside life is the key for long term until you reach retirement age.

My daughter was telling me there’s a study somewhere about how 99% of people do understand how capitalism works and realise that they are basically giving away hours of their lives and their existence to other people to make money out of them and it really quite pisses them off. Versus being self-employed and having the freedom to be able to live by the sword and die by the sword.
i’ve done both I much prefer self employment even with the element of risk involved. Most people are only four weeks away from the dole que anyway, so if you can save a month salary park that somewhere and work for yourself. All of the risk but all of the reward.

I don't hate the idea of working/doing something productive per se and I really enjoy having a part-time hustle that I never get tired of spending time on.

Unfortunately I don't make enough of part-time self-employment so I usually have to complement this by being a regular employee in a part-time office-type role.

I absolutely hate office politics, having my time and energy sucked by completely pointless meetings and ''committees'' (to the point where I usually can't even focus on the actual job I was hired to do). Not to mention the endless, pointless training that are just done so that HR or whoever can tick a box. I have also had some really poor senior managers. Add to that commuting and frankly it adds up to a pretty miserable experience.

I forgot to say in my post above that I also hate the idea that so many employers seem to have that their employees should work beyond their contracted hours for free and answer calls/emails when they are not at work. I find that culture so damaging.

Same here, been lucky to have mostly had jobs that I’ve really enjoyed, but still would have preferred not to have had to work at all. Just hate it on principle.

You're not being unreasonable. I hate it as well. Never liked a job and most of my stresses and worries in life have come from work. Depressing really

I think the whole 'find a job you love' mantra is BS. It's a myth. The most mentally healthy people I know don't make their job their life-focus.

I think it's about balance. I genuinely love my job, but I don't allow it to take over my life. I negotiated a 3 day week so I have plenty of time for other things and don't take work home with me. You can be passionate about your job without letting it become all consuming, but you have to be boundaried and having a supportive manager also really helps.

Why don't you look at doing something as a job that you DO like - you say you like walking/training your dog, well a friend of mine quit her well paid job, bought a doggie van and takes dogs for walkies & training through the day. She also is a licenced dog boarder but only takes her charges for boarding. Always pretty much fully booked with a waiting list for walking. Makes more money in less hours than in her previous job.

I share your pain OP. Honestly don't know how I managed commuting on top for so many years but I still hate it.

My dream is to build up such a big nest egg that I can essentially not give a shit about being fired.

I've never been particularly enthusiastic about having children but a massive con is the extra expense leading to an even bigger reliance on having a job.

I really really hate working and it’s not about just finding a job I don’t mind, I don’t particularly mind my job now but I still despise having to do it 😅

I’ve had a few jobs that I can say I genuinely loved doing and was very passionate about but in the end had to walk away as I was still bloody miserable. I now do a job I can just about tolerate because of the hours and nature of the work but my heart isn’t it it at all. Its just about getting in, doing what’s expected, and getting out for me. I don’t know if I’ll stay there much longer due to a management change that’s already lost us 2 colleagues but we’ll see, I don’t see myself being able to tolerate anywhere else this way even if this place does stop working out for me so who knows what I’ll do haha.

I hate working as well, and am counting down to retiring. Like the OP, the alternative ie counting every penny is a worse alternative and the only thing that stops me walking out.

I don't hate my job but would love to have the choice of never working again . Just knowing that I could walk away when ever I wanted .

I don't hate my job but I hate going to work. I'd much rather not work at all. I've got so many other things I'd rather be doing. I can't wait to retire and do things I want to do.

If I could afford to I'd stop working tomorrow. I don't define myself by what I do for work. I don't need work for a social life. It's just a way to earn money so I can pay into a pension and retire asap!