To have hated every job ive ever had?

[Coffeeebean]

Just as the title says really – I hate my current job, and I have come to realise that I have hated every single job I have ever had.

I currently work for the civil service and today is my first day back since the 24th. I didn’t sleep a wink last night because I was so anxious and full of dread, and I’ve already been in tears this morning. I have worked in a few other civil service roles, in education (non-teaching), with animals and in hospitality and grown to hate every single one.

Its usually around the 6 month point that the boredom and dread start to set in and I start having thoughts like ‘maybe I could just have a minor car crash and have a few days off’ (not ideal)..

I find the constant interaction and pressure to deliver exhausting. I don’t have ‘passion’ for anything I’m working on so just get so bored and fed up. I definitely don’t have a ‘dream job’, and above all else I completely resent the loss of freedom and the manic Monday-Friday trying to fit everything in, for the weekend to fly by and having to start all over again.

Does anyone else feel like this? How do you cope?

Ive been so happy the last 10 days and immidiately just feel awful now i have to go back. The thought of doing this for another 40 years makes me feel like theres really no point to any of it, but everyone else just seems to get on with it and be perfectly fine!

What am I doing wrong?

Absolutely nothing against you/your thoughts in a personal way, but this is the part of the problem. Volunteering in more worthwhile things. So many of these things should be paid work! People willing to volunteer ‘for the experience’ are just making it hard for those who rely on that industry for a wage. Events workers, charity workers, sports workers. The things that are more likely to be people’s passions seem to play on that to get free labour.

Ive done cafes, and worked with animals...still end up loathing it after 3-6 months.

A previous poster has summed it up perfectly

I do think its the monotony

And to clarify - i am aware im the problem..thats kind of the whole point of this thread for those who seemed to have missed that.

I was just hoping to establish if others felt the same, and if so, what they have done to cope or improve it.

Where would the money come from for that?

I think you just need to adjust your expectations. Work is shit. Accept that and try and ensure you have good work life boundaries make your home time more interesting.

OP I agree with you and empathise with you so much, I also hate working.
I've done a wide variety of different roles and although I don't loathe what I do now (and I am very privileged compared to my great grandparents who were miners and domestic servants), I hate the idea of having to spend time doing something I just don't want to do.
I was off today and I went for a walk down by the riverbank. It was cold but sunny and there wasn't another person around so I could hear the birds singing and just sat quietly watching the water flowing by.
I'd like to spend every day like that.

I wouldn't mind working quite do much if it paid well, but just over NLW for 40hr of my week makes me resent it.
My weekends are crammed as I refuse to let it not do what I want. I go to exercise classes during the week but it's at the expense of spending time with DH. If we had an Universal income I would reduce hours.
I also feel cheated, as a young teenager in the early 80s we were told computerisation would reduce the need for working and we would have more leisure time.

I can relate to your post OP. In my 20’s and 30’s I did jobs that I mostly hated. It wasn’t always the job I hated, sometimes the people I worked with or the commute.

Before I turned 40 I re-trained - think uni degree, a lot of hard work and a complete career change. I’m still doing the same job over 10 years later but I’ve had to make a few adjustments. For example part of the job was shift work but I told myself that I was so desperate to do the job that it would be fine. After a few years I really resented having to work shifts and it made me start hating the job. I couldn’t afford to take a drop in salary to re train or do anything different so I’m kind of stuck. I’ve managed to get a 9-5 role which is better as I feel I have more freedom.

I feel massively anxious about going back
to work after a break and sometimes even just after the weekend and I worry endlessly that I will make a mistake or that people think I’m crap at my job - I do think this is more linked to perimenopause though.

I would just prefer to be at home but bills to pay and all that

Loving your job is a dream sold by capitalism. The reality is the vast majority of us cannot be arsed but we have bills to pay.

One great essay to start the ball rolling:

https://medium.com/@scottsantens/how-to-reform-welfare-and-taxes-to-provide-every-american-citizen-with-a-basic-income-bc67d3f4c2b8

There are lots of other ideas out there too, easy to use a search engine.

Again. People can work if they want to, People can work if they want extra money, but it frees us to follow our desires. I would be fine to sign up to something that said I need to put in x number of hours over my lifetime to contribute my time towards my community/humanity, but my financial needs are already met to a decent standard. What I struggle with is the wasted time so many of us experience, there are loads of pointless jobs just moving money around, taking us away from our children, away from friends and family, quashing our creativity.

I don’t mind my job particularly, but the sheer pointlessness, other than simply paying the bills, has begun to seriously depress me after working for 35 years non-stop (not all in the same job or the same company).

What’s the point? The vast majority of us are doing nothing of any real use, just lining somebody else’s pockets. The world we will be leaving will be worse than when we found it, our children will struggle to have anything near the same standard of life that we have had but also in a society that is becoming ever more impersonal, selfish and stupid.

We have been so relentlessly gaslit as to what is supposedly important that many will defend a system that is going to eventually collapse and take most of us with it. For what? An extra weekend abroad, some Botox and a mountain of unnecessary Chinese plastic crap? We deserve the shit show that is coming our way really.

Then do something not pointless? It's not that difficult.

Not an option for everybody. Most jobs are pointless. Besides the pointlessness has only just become too obvious to ignore, but too late to do anything about it with three kids to support.

I feel the same as you OP. I’ve never enjoyed working regardless of the job, after a few months I hate the repetitiveness and there are always a group of bitchy staff. i find it difficult to be around people all day and have no peace or time alone mostly. The only job I tolerated was as a temp cleaner as I worked alone and in my own time and pace. I’d love to have a job I enjoy but I’ve never been ambitious or had any interest in a particular carer. Work from home jobs are hard to come by especially when I don’t have experience, but that would be my dream to stay home and not mix with anyone. I lack any skills or social confidence to do anything professional, I’m pretty sure I’m ND too. I resent the fact I can’t be home with my children enjoying them grow up, instead I’m a slave to a company while childcare raise them. (I know not really but that’s how I feel). Why work for nice stuff if you don’t get time to enjoy it. Hugs to those who feel the same and struggle each day. Humans weren’t supposed to live this way, the earth provided everything we need to survive until the government took control.

There must be some parts you find tolerable or even pleasant? Even if they're not obvious parts of your job.
Up until I was 39 I'd always worked shifts and even though some awful jobs in that time, the shifts made it less monotonous and I appreciated my weekends off as well as enjoying days off in the week. Also doing three long days a week was great.
Can you look at different jobs with a different shift pattern? It might be more bearable getting 12-14 hours out the way in one go.

And as others have said, it depends on what life is like outside of work. Does work leave you enough time or energy to do the things you enjoy.

@RM2013 did you go from corporate to healthcare/nursing by any chance?

When I had jobs I hated I coped by knowing I had to do them because I needed the money. Like you I did quite a few different jobs. Didn't get one I enjoyed until I was well into my 50's.

I was exactly like you, but I was lucky enough to escape into being a SAHM (loved it) and now I’m working for myself at home, for which I am grateful every single day.

I enjoy my job most of the time but I wouldn't be doing it if I had alternative ways of paying the bills! I get bored easily. I despise office politics. The older I get, the more I see the 5 year cycle of new manager has idea, it's a disaster and gets quietly shelved, manager gets promoted/better job, new manager comes in and has this great idea...

The whole bring your authentic self to work, and care about it like it's family is crap. I have seen people made redundant and out of the building within the same week, regardless of how good they have been or how committed they were. We're just numbers on a spreadsheet at the end of the day.

I will do a good job out of personal pride but I don't invest my emotional energy into work, because when push comes to shove my loyalty and commitment means jack shit if costs have to be cut to give the shareholders what they want. My number will come up at some point, so I am trying to make hay while the sun shines.

Temping might work well for you OP, is that an option?

Well, if it were enough that you could live on it but not comfortably, most people would still choose to work and therefore pay tax. Because more people would work part time, there would be more positions available so less unemployment. And poverty costs the country billions; by vastly reducing poverty you would have more people needing less additional state support, better standards of health and education, and therefore the possibility of more people doing high quality jobs, paying into their local economy and supporting small independent businesses, greater possibilities for artistic and creative expression, and therefore higher levels of wellbeing generally which again increases productivity, reduces sick leave/ long term ill health unemployment, and puts more money into the economy.

it would pay for itself.

It is very privileged that we have the choice now but some satisfaction has been lost in the working culture nowadays. My dad says that the work was physically tough and often unpleasant but the camaraderie, organised social activities and community made it bearable, you wouldn’t exactly look forward to working but you would look forward to the things that were part of your work.

No benefits system. Everyone gets the same amount each week to spend as they wish on UBI. It's a great idea.

I’m going back to work tomorrow (also civil service) and am dreading it.

Was at a friend’s this evening and spoke to her husband, who drives a lorry. I’ve often thought I would quite like to do something like that as it doesn’t require a lot of brainpower and doesn’t have unpleasant levels of responsibility (which I do) so I asked him how he felt about going back. He said he feels the same as I do and reckons most do.

The only times in life when I’ve enjoyed my job are when there are people there I like. Even then, I rarely stay long. At the moment, I’m trying to calculate how long it will be until I can afford to go down to four days a week. I feel that would be much more bearable.

I also think UK working hours are brutal. Frankly, by the time I’ve been there six hours, my productivity drops off and I reckon most other people are the same. There’s lots of chatting or Teams chat. We’d probably get through a similar amount of work if they cut down our hours. Nobody is going to do it though, as UK managers are obsessed with “getting their money’s worth”, even when they don’t.

But where from?
Benefits are paid out from taxes collected.