to think professional jobs are a bit of a joke

[dontgetmewrongiloveit]

Knocked off at lunchtime today. Probably did 20-30h of work this week. Don't think my manager/clients cared. Sometimes I just log off and go lie in the park in the sunshine for a few hours

I make about 120k a year

I have professional qualifications which took a bit of effort to get but not talking medicine or anything like that

AIBU to think this is a bit of a joke

[bumpytrumpy]

@RenegadeMatron

You are going to get absolutely slated OP … but I agree.

All the ‘I work so hard for my £$€¥’ people - it is my opinion that that low earners work much, much, much harder than people on good salaries.

Let’s just say, I don’t work all that hard for my $$, although it can be stressful at times. DH earns three times what I do, and works 9-5 (travel aside).

100% this.

Low paid workers are usually committed to being present for a fixed number of hours to carry out somewhat physically demanding work.

Workers like the OP (and myself but don't earn as much, I also know many more people this covers) are paid to contribute their expertise when needed, not to sit in an office for a fixed number of hours.

OP how has covid changed this for you? For me I find it much easier to skive now that WFH is ingrained.

[Wheresmymoneytree]

You would think earning 120k you would have a house with a garden rather than having to sunbathe in the park

[Tougherpolicies]

Crocsandshocks

Do you worry you might be spotted lying in the park? That would put me off doing it in work hrs.

Who is going to spot her? She's hardly working in the local factory where she'll see anyone she knows is she? or he, could be a he obvs...

[InChocolateWeTrust]

The issue is that we don't educate enough people to have the skills/expertise we actually need as an economy. Plus the nature of capitalism is that wealth flows back to the people who owned it in the first place, so our corporate structures are designed to prioritise cash flow to shareholders, rather than evenly rewarding workers.

Trade unionism is (honestly) the best answer, as by negotiating as a group, workers are needed far more and can bargain for a better share of the profits. This has to be combined with a system ensuring all industries have competition.

You can ignore one workers threat to leave, especially if there's nowhere else they can go.

You are fucked if all 10,000 threaten to go, and there's 2 other competitors who will snap them up at higher pay.

[SaskiaRembrandt]

Wind them up, and watch them go.

[InChocolateWeTrust]

Or you could all keep fucking voting the Tories in, and people like me will keep getting handing bigger paychecks because the nature of my work is it's more obviously linked to a specific financial outcome plus attributable to me as an individual.

[inthehistoryoftheworld]

My DH is the same, OP, no qualifications above mediocre A levels. Same salary as you, wfh, spent half of this week doing DIY and cleaning the bathrooms.

I'm Master's educated and work in a helping professional. I'd die of boredom if I did his job and he'd run screaming from mine.

It takes all sorts to make a world.

[blueshoes]

I have worked in the same professional role for more than a decade. There are jobs where I am crazy busy and others where I could take 2-3 hour lunches, even when I am in the office, and no one would notice because my manager is in the US and the team does not sit with me. This is even easier if I WFH.

I would say that the quieter jobs are less secure and at risk of being 'restructured'. I do work in a demanding sector (not a fee earner), more 'middle office'. To be safer, I feel you have to be senior in a critical operational role rather than senior in a purely advisory role. The former tend to be busy unless you manage to get good lieutenants to support you.

[SemperIdem]

Yanbu - reasonably speaking you should have to work harder for your salary.

Feel free to resign and take a minimum wage job, if you wish to feel challenged.

[Abcdefu]

What is your job and how do you get it?

I'm a "professional" on 37000 lucky to see 21k after tax,pension,national insurance and student loan.

Complete joke

[ZenNudist]

Well you need to tell us what you do because I work in finance honestly 9.30 to 5.30 with an hour or 90 min lunch some days. Then can be working between 2 and 6 extra hours but not every night. 4 days a week. 6 figures starting to feel like a paltry sum. It's so much pressure. I'm constantly worried but I have the dc and have to sort them out too.

[Tasmanium]

@dontgetmewrongiloveit from what I can figure out most/all higher paid professional jobs used to be like this. It’s a shame more aren’t like this now, it breaks my heart to read how hard people work for f -all money, but I’d much rather jobs in general were more like yours than like theirs, I think we’d have fewer mental health problems. You should consider reading Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber next time you have some time in the park- you would find it amusing and resonant I think.

[Strawblue]

DH earns a salary nearly as much as yours but works a 60-70 hour week. Professional role, CEO. His stress levels are so high that I have no doubt that one day his job will kill him, however he loves it and will not consider doing anything else.

[WonderingWanda]

I have professional qualifications to be a teacher. I often think it's joke but for very different reasons. Fancy a job swap op?

[Blossomtoes]

The OP is larping as after reading the latest tumblr blog

Anyone understand what this means?

[hamustro]

I earn around £500,000 a month and I only work around 15 minutes a day, and even that is during busy season.

[TooMuchGoogling]

Lucky you. I'm responsible for the health, safety and wellbeing of 20 toddlers a day and make 13k a year

[RollerPolarBear]

@Elsiid

Do you work in finance?

My question exactly. All the posh graduates my company used to take on, you’d think they knew there was a sector where the risk:reward ratio of working might be much better than most.

[toogoodforthisworld]

I get you 100% OP
It's weird because I've finally managed to accept it.
I've had years of working so much harder than I do now-
Yet I'm 100% more valued now. And earning 70K a year.

I just make sure I'm always available and take my time out when I want to.
I do Pilates and swim under work time.
I'm actually encouraged to choose the most convenient hours that work for me.

I honestly think I am blessed.
I work from our holiday home abroad too.
I start early - take about 4 hours off and then start again mid afternoons

I got this job because a female recruiter played to my value when she headhunted me.
She changed my life.

[RollerPolarBear]

@girlmom21

Isn't this the point? That the higher up the ranks you climb the more responsibility you have but less day to day pressure? You're hired for your specialist knowledge - that's not needed 40 hours a week but presumably you put the time in when it is?

Bless.

[Yfzm2022]

Bit of an insensitive post, considering the cost of living crisis is massively affecting regular households, where people are having to take on extra jobs and make huge cuts in their lives.

And here you are sunbathing for 120k. FFS.

[RollerPolarBear]

@RenegadeMatron

You are going to get absolutely slated OP … but I agree.

All the ‘I work so hard for my £$€¥’ people - it is my opinion that that low earners work much, much, much harder than people on good salaries.

Let’s just say, I don’t work all that hard for my $$, although it can be stressful at times. DH earns three times what I do, and works 9-5 (travel aside).

Yep, I earn less than my old (finance) job’s bonus and work the same hours. DH had always worked so hard with lots of responsibility and still earns less than I used to (with his STEM phd). People where I work now have responsibilities with immediate consequences that are way beyond that of anywhere I’ve ever worked before and they are paid a fraction of the salaries - although a talent for bullshitting and removing yourself from the coalface does seem to be the best strategy for a improving the risk:reward ratio IME. As far as I can see, if you can get yourself to a management position and get yourself as far away as possible from any immediate contacts where issues could
arise then you get paid extra to manage and you’re far enough away from the epicentre if it all goes to shit.

[Wonderinghare]

OP not quite sure why you have chosen to write such a post in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Yes your job is probably a bit of a joke and you don't sound very professional. As someone in a desk based "professional" job in the public sector who earns a very decent salary I am very grateful for, I don't find my job a joke and I have to work really hard. I don't think my teacher, medical or nursing friends who are also professional find their jobs a joke either. I am sure that most people I know who work in "professional" office jobs in the private sector also do not think that their jobs are a joke. I think you may need a better manager.

I know carers and nursery staff who are very professional, even though they earn a fraction of what you earn. I think that as a society we do not place enough value on some very professional jobs.

[MissyCooperismyShero]

Yup your job does sound like a bit of a joke. Is it to late to take a different route? You could get a degree in Paramedic sciences and work as a paramedic for a few years, then up it with a Masters in prescribing. That way you'd get to be a professional and work really hard. Plus you'd earn a lot less, which you might fancy for a bit of a change.

[Cherchezlaspice]

I work for a non profit (we’re funded by grants and subs, not donations - calm yourselves). I’m at Director level, in my 30’s at haven’t done more than 20 hours of actual work a week in several years. I earn just over £70K a year.

I have lots of degrees and worked very bloody hard to get to this position. But now, I just…coast? I occasionally have an idea and a bunch of people make it happen, and that’s apparently worth it for them. But, seriously, it’s a joke.