I hate working

[KarenMorgan49672]

I hate working and would rather be at home or with friends and family

thats it thats the thread.

As I say to my children, the reason they pay you to go to work is because you wouldn’t do it if they didn’t. There may be one or two very fortunate people (usually in high up positions, or in arts / creative industry jobs) who would work for the joy of doing it, but for the majority of people, you work to pay the bills. And there are aspects of even the very best jobs that you will dislike - even Picasso had to clean his paint brushes. That’s life.

personally id prefer £250,000 to pursue my hobbies more and do part time.

Bully for you, not everyone can be so lucky. A bit of humility wouldn't go amiss and the awareness that thre are so many different circumstances people face. That tired old trope that "hard work" puts you into a category of being able to earn that wage.

Am with you OP. Work for me is not a joy. Possibly because I am a burnt out public servant in a severely short staffed and underfunded sector.

I absolutely hate working. Just the concept of it makes me question why we're all still having to spend our lives in this way.

As a teacher, I could never understand the handful of colleagues who'd come back after the holidays, half term even, and say how glad they were to get back into the routine as they were so bored at home. Usually, they were the people who had the less stressful roles in school, those who were more office based who could go to the toilet whenever they needed to.

There's so much more to life and living than working. Obviously we need to work to live but the whole idea seems outdated somewhat.

Part time (3 or 4 days) is the best of both worlds. I was lucky to be a SAHM but then later on was glad to have a career and support myself and kids as i became a lone parent. I find the structure helpful and it is a rewarding job that challenges.
Grass is always greener!

A luxury to me is that I get to sleep as much as I want to, watching plants grow from seeds and exchanging second hand books. I really don't care about having money

OK that’s great and good that you have been able to shape your life like this but you have someone else paying the bills. It’s relatively easy to say you don’t care about money if someone else is paying for the basics. Some of us don’t have that luxury.

I’m getting quite a lot of bad vibes on here directed at people who do enjoy their jobs. But what some of you seem to be missing is that work for many of us isn’t something we do to fill the emotional void, we have to do it to support our families.

Same.
I could happily fill my days with going to the allotment / gym / cooking / chores / reading / crocheting. Sadly I'll shortly be heading off to my fucking office to deal with a load of shit and make money for someone else.

We haven't "got into" this situation. We are animals who need to eat and reproduce and most animals spend their whole lives looking for food and shelter and caring for their young. The good thing humans have managed is to share and disperse the roles in that, so that not everyone has to do all of it really inefficiently all the time. We don't all need to build our own houses or harvest our own grain.

There's a lot wrong with the current system because the efficiencies are mostly going to a few folks who own the means of production and the weird imaginary thing we call capital money, but I still can't see a system where people would just not do anything all day that produces value for the common good and yet have all the resources they currently enjoy.

Having said that I'd like to see a UBI, a load more personal food production and time spent repairing and less consumption and more creativity. I don't think each individual (me included) would particularly enjoy that more than working a 60 hour week because it would be challenging and difficult in different ways. But it might be better for all of us if everyone shifted a bit in that direction.

But this isn't about people individually being happier with some magic "less work!!" solution. We all have to have purpose and satisfaction in something and we have to find it which is work in itself. However if you don't do that work and live an unexamined life you'll end up not terribly happy anyway.

I feel the same way. I enjoy my leisure time so much because it's a contrast from my working days. It's like the prospect of eating chocolate all day - it's a nice treat but I'd soon get sick of it if it was all I ate. It's the balance!

That sums it up pretty well for me.
I'm not sad because I enjoy my job. It challenges and satisfies me intellectually more than any volunteering or other activity that I do. We don't have enough income for me to do the things I would like to do if I wasn't working, so I might as well do something I enjoy and get paif for it.

I also don't want to lose the skills I have acquired from my job, and which I use volunteering for the charity I fundraise for.

I think its something genetic, some people are easier to please. My grandfather always worked hard in simple jobs, often combined 2, but he was always happy doing them! He worked until he was 80, because he didn’t like hanging around the house and enjoyed the contacts with customers so much.

(he worked in a bakery, postman, parcel delivery, taxi driver… that kind of jobs)

I get what you mean and you’re right that most people work for money and nothing else. And that’s fine.

But in many jobs there’s either a broader societal benefit (teaching/healthcare/town planning) or a creative one which gives the job a vocational dividend beyond just money and can be hugely life enhancing.

I wouldn’t want my children to feel that they have failed if they don’t all love their jobs. But I also wouldn’t want to signal to them (particularly girls) that work is something miserable which you just have to bite the bullet and get on with.

It’s important to at least allow for the possibility that work can be interesting and fun, surely? Otherwise you aren’t incentivising your children to do as well as they can.

I have seen this mindset a lot on here: people rant on about how enjoying work makes you “sad” etc. I find it quite unpleasant.

Agree! To turn it around, you could ask people who “hate” work why they haven’t bothered to find a fulfilling job? Isn’t that sad too?

To those who say if you like work “get some hobbies” - what do you say to those who have a hobby/interest/passion, and made that their job?!

Edited to correct stupid typo

Humans have worked since the dawn of time, its a necessity in order to meet our basic needs such as food or shelter.

I like my job and I get enormous satisfaction from it. I meet all sorts if interesting people, its fulfilling and rewarding, I like the social aspect of it and I get satisfaction from earning my own money. It also allows me to pursue my hobbies by giving me the funds to do so. I came from a family of people who all liked their jobs and feel fortunate to do so.

Despite this, I would like to work less hours and be part time but can't afford to do so but I still feel very fortunate to be in the position I'm in.

@EveningSpread

Its odd the viciousness which is sometimes expressed towards people who like working. And this bizarre non sequitur of

Enjoy working = dull, no imagination, no hobbies

It bothers me for several reasons:

• It must be so off putting to kids to hear their parents complain about work so much. How can you persuade your kids to be motivated if you don’t allow for at least the possibility of some reward? Sure not everyone has to love it but instilling a sense of dread about the idea of work can’t be helpful
• It just isn’t true. There are some people who value work more than life and are dull. But it doesn’t follow that everyone who loves work has no imagination
• Lots of jobs are good fun or hugely socially beneficial. The NHS, for example, probably would collapse without working mums. We should celebrate them as opposed to sneering at people for being “on the rat race”. It isn’t just about people working in corporate offices. It’s about taking pride in playing a part in society and the economy.
• Its very tone deaf, if you are lucky enough to be supported by your spouse, to crow about how enjoying work makes you “boring”. Lots of us don’t have that option open to us so we seek to approach this as positively as we can. I find it mildly insulting to have a SAHM tell me I am “boring” or “unimaginative” by seeking to maximise the enjoyment I get from an economic necessity when they don’t have to face that situation
• Probably most importantly: signalling to your daughters that work is “boring” is not going to support them in achieving financial independence

I didn’t say they are refusing to work.

As much as I'm glad women have the choice to work etc and do what they want, it really has taken away the choice of people who want to be stay at home mums 😭 I would love to dedicate my life rn to raising my kids and keeping my house but sadly I have to work, so my house work suffers for it.

It is not the work in itself that I hate, it is the working environment:

• office politics/backstabbing colleagues
• endless pointless meeting
• loud open plan offices
• bad managers.

I am happy working from home but absolutely hate commuting and being in an office.

Also I think the UK pointless long hours work culture means too many people live to work rather than the opposite...

I work part-time and also freelance.

I could never see myself work full time in an office again.

To be fair though OP you say you have no qualifications. Why is that? What are you doing/going to do to make your situation more tolerable?

There used to be an old joke at school that if you messed about you’d end up with no GCSE’ and working in McDonalds. Not that there’s anything wrong with McDonald’s (they have good management training) but they meant poorly paid job. Now you probably even need qualifications to work there.

What are the bits that you can do to make your life less about survival and more about living, because complaining on here will make no difference.

There's a subtle difference I think you're missing.....

I HATE having to work. I hate the concept of it. I hate getting up in a morning and knowing I have to dedicate my day to others and can't do what I want all day. I live in a lovely little town, a great community and I hate that I have to go to work so I can't go out and about in the community, chatting to people, drinking in local cafes and generally being a social person. I hate that I can't volunteer, help with community events etc. I hate that I can't spend full days in my pyjamas watching rubbish telly or idly sorting through the attic while singing to the radio. BUT I have a job I flipping LOVE. (at least maybe 80% of the time anyway 🫤).

Hate work. Love my job.

Karen, out of curiosity, what do you do for a job?

All the people who say they love their job and describe their job a bit seem to be doing jobs where they have some control over their workload and where at least part of the job showcases something they really enjoy (and are good at) - e.g. puzzle-solving, writing, helping others etc.

Many jobs though are very much controlled and you have someone breathing down your neck and making petty rules. You get an awful lot of power-crazed people in environments like shops, offices etc. who get off on telling people what to do and how to do it and don't allow people autonomy. Those jobs aren't generally that enjoyable unless you really like structure and don't mind being ordered around.

OP if you have many years of career to go it really would be worth changing things up. Starting to change what you do so you can find a career you really enjoy at least part of the time. Couldn't you start by getting a few qualifications in something you enjoy? It would at least make you feel like you are moving forward rather than stagnating.

I worked in an office environment for over 20 years and hated it: the routine, the hierarchy, the pointless meetings, the initiatives that never actually improved anything...I now work for myself, do something I'm passionate about and for the most part I love it although there are different challenges. Think about what you really enjoy and start to work towards that. There are so many jobs out there and there must be something that would be a better fit for you. I started changing roles in my mid-40s and wish I'd done it earlier.

I think you missed the point of my post, but yes. My days off work are spent doing boring grown up stuff like laundry and gardening and DIY. If I had didn't have to work there would be time for OTHER stuff. Fun stuff. Eating of cake. Chatting to people I bump into out and about.. Driving to places. Walking. Exploring. If I could do 6 days doing that and only 1 day in work instead I probably wouldn't hate the concept of it so much.

If no one worked, there wouldn't be anything, no homes, no food, no bin collection, no doctor.

It's the basis for a functioning species. Even ants have different jobs to ensure the group survive.

The problem isn't work, it's self actualisation, the enjoyment of what you are doing. I feel for people who don't like work to a point, but ultimately it's your life and your responsibility. You can bitch and moan but if you won't do anything about it it's no one else's fault. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices to make those changes.

I took a pay cut snd spent a lot on training and a specific degree, now I'm doing something I love and enjoy my day to day. After a holiday I'm excited to get back to work. I don't see it as work, I see it as my contribution to society, and that positive mindset has helped me achieve things and rocket up the career ladder. I'm planning to go part time wfh when I retire, a few hours a week as a consultant etc.

It's not just about the immediate day to day, you need to plan ahead for retirement and fund that. This stuff should be taught in schools quite honestly. So many seem to moan about their lives, drift on, make no changes and somehow it's everyone else's fault.