To absolutely HATE corporate life/work?

[FishOnTheTrain]

Humans were never meant to work as much as they do. I feel totally trapped in the constant cycle of waking up, going to work, rinse and repeat. It’s so so so boring and I don’t feel I’m living any kind of interesting life.

I work to buy all this crap I don’t need. And to impress people I don’t care about with said crap I don’t need.

the corporate lingo really makes me
cringe. The way we sit in a grey office all day with no natural light looking at a screen. It’s just awful and so unhealthy. The way we feel anxious in meetings.

anyone else? I would love to start my own business one day but need money behind me to do that. Problem is, I’m so unfulfilled that I keep spending my spare money on STUFF just to feel something.

and I do realise how, on paper, lucky I am to have a job and an income. I am truly, truly grateful for that. But my physical and mental health is suffering.

The solution for me was to just stop doing corporate/professional work. I jacked in my graduate job and got my HGV license. Ironically, it's people in professional jobs that seem most likely to look down on anything 'blue collar' IME, but it's also my friends in these jobs that seem the most unhappy (with some exceptions of course). But invariably the majority of people that work in office jobs seem to have to 'sell their soul' in a way, and it's just whether you're OK with that or not (I wasn't).

This week I'm working the evening shift on a big civil build and I get a £150 out of hours bonus so I'm making over £300 for the shift. I always start at 7pm and last night was back home by 00:30 which is pretty standard. Two hours of the shift was just sitting watching stuff on my phone and waiting for site to be ready. I absolutely love it!

It's not all roses though. When I'm on days I usually work 5x10hr days, although sometimes we do finish really early. But I'd still not go back to the hamster wheel of office work where I've always got a neverending list of things to do, with new tasks being added as soon as I finish current tasks. I just get in, have a coffee and wait for things to start.

What Iove is how a 10hr day still seems less gruelling than eight hours in the office, probably because it's broken up. Typically, it's 15-20 mins of chatting while waiting to load. Then 10 mins loading. Then 10-20 mins driving to site with music on (or maybe a podcast if I'm going 30-40 mins, which is rare). Then up to 30 mins waiting onsite where I just get some sun or have a coffee with the builders (or hide in cab and read mumsnet if it's raining lol). 10-30 mins offloading, then rinse and repeat. I really think it's the lack of mental stress that makes the difference. Eight hours looking at spreadsheets or talking in meetings is exhausting!

And I just hated office speak tbh. I notice it even more now I'm not in that type of job. It's just so unnecessary! Like, who says "I'm going to reach out to Sarah and see if she has the bandwidth to go for a drink. I'm fancying a curry too so maybe we can all sit down and roundtable it". 🙃

Only feminists see it as empowering (feminists with a capital 'F', that is).

This view seems to have come about from wanting equality with men, but the reality is that getting the same deal as somebody else doesn't always mean it's a good deal. Although the fact we have the choice to spend our days sitting in a chair is the important thing to me.

Most people just work as a necessary evil to earn money. I struggle to see it as empowering tbh. Morelike enforced serfdom. 🤣

I am so glad wfh has come in, even though I still am in an office for two days a week and not the same days every week. And that is in a job with decent colleagues who are pleasant, and the absence of those who you would never spend one minute with in other than a work situation.

The responses to this thread do not surprise me.

Have you any friends at work/nearby? 4 or 5 times/year we would book a half-day on a Friday to take a late lunch….and finish work for the day. It was great!

Starting to save for a purpose (even if it is lobbing it in a pension so you can retire early), might help motivate you.

There are still a few decent firms out there, but it tends to be friendships that help you get through the drudgery.

Could you delete your credit/debit card info from your phone /computer, unsubscribe from all shop emails and cancel all your accounts with online shops. I did this and my spending went right down. Also I love my job, so I don’t think hating work is inevitable

Ds finds that his job gives him happiness, meaning and purpose. He's trying to improve the earth and leave it better than he left it

I don’t hate it but I don’t love it either. I get through it because it pays and allows me to pursue my passion of travel. In between generous annual leave and a lot of public holidays where I live, I take 7-8 weeks off a year to go travelling which I can only fund by sticking out my corporate job - that’s how I see it.

I’m nearly 59 and I’m done with it really but I’ve got two more years to do financially. I’ve started making jewellery and am dropping a day a week to do that. The stuff I buy now relates to that hobby and I’m even starting to get commissions. Find a hobby.

What is your passion @FishOnTheTrain? What do you really love? Have you ever had a job that didn’t feel like ‘work’ and that you didn’t dread going to in the mornings?

Don’t lose sight of the things you feel passionately about. Purpose and the joy you experience from it is so important.

I wasted many years in jobs like that. Some huge life events turned my life upside down but now I’m on the other side, have a simple job that I absolutely love and can genuinely say I look forward to going to work because it fulfils the things that really matter to me.

I’m glad I had those previous experiences though because they make me appreciate things now all the more.

I'm 58 and can empathise with this. 4 and a bit more years until I retire.

I would far rather be sewing or working on my allotment. Not sure either of those can be monetised though my lottery fantasy would see me with a sewing studio making lovely fitted clothes for people who arent the standard shape/size.