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The Tea FairySILVER Member
old hand
853 posts
Location: Behind you...


Posted:
Hi everyone

I'm starting this thread (my first one ever!) because, well, my job sucks. Most of my previous jobs have sucked. I know lots of people who have jobs that suck, but very few who are happy and feel satisfied by their jobs.

So, to get to know you all a bit better whilst also trying to explore the vast diversity of jobs and careers that may or may not be out there, I would like to invite each of you to say a little here about your current job (or studies), the good and bad bits of it, where you hope it will lead to in the future, the skills you have learnt, how long you had to train for, how much it pays e.t.c.

If you feel like a rant because your job sucks, go for it. This thread is about getting to know each other more, finding out what it is we spend so much of our time doing when we're not doing poi and how we feel about what we do. I'll start...

My current job: Well, my title is 'fundraising, events and marketing co-ordinator' but these days I am treated more as the general office junior. I work at a Hospice for terminally ill people, but in the money-side of the organisation.

Good things about my job: smile It's the first job i've had where I am not someone's 'assistant'. I work with my friend from Uni, so that's fun. It's been interesting working for a charity that's very small and has little money or resources to waste. I do enjoy the planning and organising of events and publicity. I only have to stay another month. Those are the only good bits really...

Bad things about my job: frown Rubbish wages. I dislike a lot of the attitudes around me at work, it's very bitchy here and people are always stabbing others in the back and making presumptions about people. e.g. some people I work with do not think I do enough work, think that I'm incapable of some simple tasks because of my age/studentness, or patronise me and distrust me. I also dislike the fact that since my line manager left, I've been given little guidance or challenging work to do.

Future career path: Have not got a clue! Have a year of studying left (thank God!) to get it sorted a bit more. My degree does not link to any particular career (except training to be a field anthropologist or lecturer). Was thinking about getting into fundraising management, pay is good and it's great fun doing events and PR, working for charity is rewarding but I'm having huge second thoughts. The Charity sector seems to attract a hell of a lot of dodgy people who I don't want to work with. Plus I've got other interests that I could train in professionally, like diving and yoga, where I could pretty much be my own boss once qualified. Who knows? All I know is I want something I enjoy doing, which pays a decent wage and where I don't have to work with complete assholes all the time.

So, who's next? Maybe one of you can inspire me to take a completely different direction to the ones I've thought of. biggrin

Idolized by Aurinoko

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind....

Bob Dylan


FathomSILVER Member
member
103 posts
Location: Online!, USA


Posted:
/comfort Fire Bunny

Can you talk to the other people directly and see if they'll cover for ya? Or is it just up to your boss?

Kangaroo Island eh? I hear that place is really hopping!


kerryannnewbie
9 posts

Posted:
.... I am some ones assistant...

I work for the best bosses in a fantastic company.

I too am bored to death so i have decided to change careers.

It took 8 years to decide i am NOT interested in the corporate ladder! I would rather have more free time and dont want to dread getting out of bed every day.

I am doing a tatoo course.... permanent make up. I cant wait to be doing my own thing!

Good luck...i hope you find your 'thing'!!

SeyeSILVER Member
Geek
1,261 posts
Location: Manchester, UK


Posted:
It took me years but my job is great. It can be incredibly stessful but it is great none the less.

I played at it for years and then decided enough was enough. I studied what should be a full time course while working full time for 18 months. It cost me a fortune but then you cant put a price on being happy.

Believe me - If you think you have a calling follow it, no matter how difficult it appears to get there. It will vastly improve your life!

hamamelisBRONZE Member
nut.
756 posts
Location: Bouncing off the walls., England (UK)


Posted:
[caution, rant following]
I'm hating my job- I only started a month ago..

It's in a convenience store, and they've given me truly horrible hours- on mondays I finish work at 10pm, and 3 days a week I have to start at 7am- and as it takes me 45 minutes to get there, that means a 5:40 wake up- it's really messing with my sleeping patterns. Last day off, I wound up sleeping 15 hours straight. For minimum wage, it really doesn't seem right.

On my second week- without asking me- they decided I had to come in 2 hours early one day, so I had 8 hours from getting home to having to leave again.

When I'm actually there, I'm barely allowed to do anything without getting permission- I can't delete an item from a list of stuff I've just scanned if someone decides they don't want it; if something scans at the wrong price, which happens all the time, I can't correct it without getting a 'supervisor' who are frequently upstairs, leaving me to deal with- quite justifiably im my opinion- annoyed people who don't think it should take 20 minutes to get a few items of shopping in an empty shop..

I have to serve people I really really don't want to, like the woman who buys a daily bottle of vodka and shakes uncontrollably, while I have to ID anyone who 'looks under 25', so lots of 21 and 22 year-olds, who never bother with ID because no-one else ever asks for it get very, very annoyed at me. I have to throw out at least 3 bin bags full of perfectly good bread every single morning, because it's 'company policy' to change stock 2 days before the best before date, and they refuse to sell it discount. I'm not allowed to even take any home.

I haven't even been paid my pathetically low wages yet, as they only pay at the end of the month, so I couldn't even afford to buy the food I have to throw out.

I got shouted at for being *one minute* late for my shift last week..

I have to keep telling myself it's only temporary, but I've had no luck at all in finding anything else.. frown

THE MEEK WILL INHERIT THE EARTH!


If that's okay with you?


The Tea FairySILVER Member
old hand
853 posts
Location: Behind you...


Posted:
hug to all! Hope you're all doing ok in your respective crappy jobs.

I've found myself a better job, I'm now a facilities administrator at a big wealth management firm. The finance industry is not really very 'me', but it's a really nice place to work, I am kept busy so the days go really fast and everyone on my team is lovely. My job is basically to get things fixed when they break and to organise all things related to the office facilities at about 22 different offices across the UK. It's pretty cool, I'm enjoying it.

I've also signed up to study massage, it's something I've wanted to learn for years so I figure I may as well while I have the time and the money. I'm planning on learning a couple of other complementary therapies too over the next few years, and maybe counselling skills and yoga teacher training too. I've always wanted a job where I can help other people feel good about themselves, so I figure if I start picking up a few skills related to that now, in a few years I might be ready to make a career change and not do admin/office work any more. Can't wait to start the course in September! It will be so nice having somethign else to focus on, I've been lacking in hobbies a bit since we moved out of London!

Idolized by Aurinoko

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind....

Bob Dylan


Fire BunnySILVER Member
veteran
1,260 posts
Location: Now in the land of Oz, Australia


Posted:
No i tryed changing with someone else, but it had to be approved and he said no.
aaaanyway.

Hamamelis:
Im sorry your having such a misruble time at your job. Im not sure where you live, but in New Zealand, and Australia legaly you have to have 10hours between shifts (so if you finish at 12am the earlyest you can start work is 10am unless they ask you and you agree to come in earlyer than that, but they cant make you) also they have to give you at least 24hrs notice of a changed shift.
Maybe you can it them up about it?
Im not sure what it is like over here in the UK and no idea what it would be like in the US or other countrys.
Also in Australia there is a number in each state where you can ring if you think they are taking advantage of you or giving you an unfair deal, and all new work place contracts have to pass a 'Fairness test' (the last job in was working at failed and had to pay me compenstaion from the date they got the letter (unfortuitly i had just left to move to the UK so i didnt get to make the most of any of the new rate. I did get $120 from the month inbetween the time they got the letter and the time it took them to change the contract)
Look around maybe on line because im sure where ever you are there is some one you can ring to find out about what rights you are intitiled to.
Hang in there, and ask everyone you know and meet about jobs, look on line, look in cafes, look in shops, look in the paper and im sure something better will pop up for you soon!
Good luck smile
hug

What if we think the jokes on them,
But really - the jokes on us....

and also... i wuv Rougie *snuz*


AdeSILVER Member
Are we there yet?
1,897 posts
Location: australia


Posted:
 Written by :Fire Bunny


Hamamelis:
Im sorry your having such a misruble time at your job. Im not sure where you live, but in New Zealand, and Australia legaly you have to have 10hours between shifts (so if you finish at 12am the earlyest you can start work is 10am unless they ask you and you agree to come in earlyer than that, but they cant make you) also they have to give you at least 24hrs notice of a changed shift.




It really depends on the industrial instrument that covers you. Is it an award, enterprise agreement, AWA or common law contract? If none, then Workshoices (the Workplace Relations Act) has the minimum standard

 Written by :Fire Bunny


Also in Australia there is a number in each state where you can ring if you think they are taking advantage of you or giving you an unfair deal,

Look around maybe on line because im sure where ever you are there is some one you can ring to find out about what rights you are intitiled to.




Try the ACTU hotline to see which union covers you, join the union and ask for some advice

Join a union - free call number and more information



newgabeSILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia


Posted:
Hamamelis is living in the UK.
ANd Fure Buny.. are you now????? You better change your 'land of Oz' tag under your avatar then!

And Roarfire.. there are load of jobs in disabiities/ home based lifestyle support that you don't need formal qualifications for. I used to be training coordinator for a big disability organisation and almost none of the staff had quals (we designed and put them through a Cert IV while they were working, it was a great deal for them)

.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....


TinklePantsGOLD Member
Clique Infiltrator, Cunning Linguist and Master Debator
4,219 posts
Location: Edinburgh burgh burrrrrr, United Kingdom


Posted:
I used to love my job - I work in the clothing dept. at Sainsburys. At the moment it sucks. My supervisor left last year to go regional - a team that spend a few days here n there doing stuff that staff can do. She's in my store most days and I feel like I can't talk to her anymore.

The person who replaced her was from the deli counter and had to be trained from scratch, where as because I hadn't been there for a year, I wasn't able to put myself forward - although I'd worked very closely with my supervisor and not to sound to up myself, I knew 95% of what that job entailed. Even how to handle the paperwork.

Even though that was last year, I'm finding it even more annoying as she's cutting corners. I was shocked to discover a few months ago that she cannot use a pc properly. She is 43 and can only surf the web. No email knowledge, nothing. As a supervisor, who needs to use the computers for various tasks, i thought this was awful.

I discovered this when she told me she was going to teach me how to do the disposals properly, which basically entails you printing off a preformatted word doc form stored on the comp, filling it in with product numbers that are found on the clothing tags, writing in how many items and the reason why theyre up for disposal, then getting a signature off a duty manager and going back to the computer, opening up the doc u printed off and being a word doc, editing it with what you wrote down on the sheet, printing that file again with the details for filing and also emailing a copy to head office.

She'd been in that position since last may and she had step by step instructions how to do it - all i needed to learn was what address to send the email to. She had this in front of her

log on
Click start
Click all programs
click microsoft word
click file
click open
double click general
click proforma
click open
etc etc

and that was just to open up the file she needed. she had a whole page of a4 with side notes on where about on the screen these buttons were found and what they looked like, and wee doodles what they looked like.

I was absolutely horrified that she'd been doing this for as long as she had. Another colleague normally did the disposals anyway, but it was the fact my new supervisor hadn't been shown properly in the first place, or that she hasnt got a techie brain to actually handle this in the first place.

Another thing - it took us 45 mins to do this when in total it takes 10 minutes.

You probably think that I'm being unfair, but I'm not as the lady actually owns a pc, and that my employers should have at least offered to train her - give her that ecdl thingy so she knows how to do basic things - but they didnt. And knowing her noobness, she struggled on. I did feel pity for her, but the lack of confidence she has to speak up and say "hold on, I'm not exactly skilled enough to do this job- I shouldnt really be doing this without the proper training" is quite frustrating.

Yes I may be bitter, but so would you be, especially when I see her cutting corners as she aint the brightest bulb on the the street.

She got the job over me because she'd worked there for 14 yrs.

So there's me, with knowledge and skills to use, and I couldn't. Hmph indeed!

So, at the moment (as I cannot get full time hrs there as she's over spent them - i dont know how) I'm looking for a new job too.

I have a few options open to me.

Move to a diff department - oh I cant as there's been a management restructure and job titles have been removed, people had the choice of being demoted or being sent to another store.

Move to a diff employer but stay in fashion retail - prob my best option at the moment.

Do something different and go for an office job. A lot of jobs "require" you to have understanding of microsoft word, excel and email - and from my experience, word is no different from microsoft word processor, and excel is no diff from the basic speadsheet application that comes with microsoft works.
When Me n Sunbird had the gardening business, I was acting as receptionist, booking people in, answering calls, balancing the books.

I can use more graphics programmes as some of you know (eh pyrowill - pheasant killer lmao) and I can not only use dreamweaver but I can build basic sites using html, which is handy when going through coding looking for errors.

But jobs that want these skills are wanting you to have proper certificates - which requires paying money and taking courses in I already know, which to me is a waste of everyones time as i'm self taught at most things.

My job does not challenge me enough. I find it increasingly hard to get my tasks done as us colleagues are constantly getting pulled on to other departments to do "rumbles" getting as much stock out as you can in an hour. Oh and calls for more people to come to the tills is annoying. but at least i get to sit down lol

I feel undervalued, underpraised - especially by the management, the pay is not bad at £6.33 an hr - which is not bad tbh.

I keep thinking why did I not stick with school, take graphic design and IT, get my web design certificates and get paid for something I really enjoy doing, making purdys on the pc lol

I know what I need to do, but it costs money, a commodity I do not have in vast amounts.

OOOOh IDEA!

How about a scheme, where you can showcase what you know, a free, online "portfolio" type thing, that requires you to do timed tests on subjects you think/know you are good at.
Like online exams or something. You get a proper qualification in your desired subject. Maybe to stop people googling answers and copy/pasting them, the website will use gnomish technology to search though sentances/paragraphs you have written to see if it finds exact copies online. But it gives you an option to use quotes if needed.

So many possibilities. EDUCATION SHOULD BE FREE GODDAMNIT!

Can I scream now???

Always use "so's your face" and "only on Tuesdays" in as many conversations possible


inactiveSILVER Member
old hand
722 posts
Location: United Kingdom


Posted:
Finding a job is damn near impossible now, it's realy awful. I mean look at me, 31, hard working, fit, healthy, english is obviously my first language, 7 GCSEs and 2 NVQs plus years of experience in a vareity of rolls... what's the problem?

FFS I'd clean toilets for a living right now jsut to put food on the table! PLEASE britain, give me a bloody job!

To you who has been accessing my online accounts, changing my login details, locations and posting censored about me, realise, you are not worth revenge, you are not worth my attention, you are nothing, and that is all you ever will be.


Mr MajestikSILVER Member
coming to a country near you
4,696 posts
Location: home of the tiney toothy bear, Australia


Posted:
come to 'straylia, plenty of fruit needs picking smile

"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"

jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley


inactiveSILVER Member
old hand
722 posts
Location: United Kingdom


Posted:
I'd love to, OMFGs would I love to, believe me, if it were taht easy I'd have moved there... 3 years ago.

To you who has been accessing my online accounts, changing my login details, locations and posting censored about me, realise, you are not worth revenge, you are not worth my attention, you are nothing, and that is all you ever will be.


Mr MajestikSILVER Member
coming to a country near you
4,696 posts
Location: home of the tiney toothy bear, Australia


Posted:
what are GCSEs and NVQs?

maybe you could find someone to employ you over here and get them to sponsor you to come out! grin

"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"

jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley


brodiemanold hand
1,024 posts
Location: london


Posted:
woo i love my job!! even after 3+ years
Im a childrens nurse

Pros
Intresting job that changes the way you see things
Every day is diffrent
Working with kids/ teenages is soo much fun
you get to really make a diffrence if you care

cons
nightshifts
nightshifts
nightshifts

thaat is all tongue2

iseekThere's a whole lot more to life than the life we're living
1 post
Location: New Zealand


Posted:
I have no idea what to do. I'm in my mid 20s and I've had 14 jobs in the past five years - none of which I really liked, except for a job in an indoor climbing gym. That was awesome!

I've got a double degree but have traveled around quite a bit and changed my jobs because I've never found one I liked and I've never wanted to trap myself in a job I didn't like.

Now I'm working in another country, in a place I love, but I don't think this job is me either. I actually went back to school to do a journalism postgrad, this job is in my field, but it is soooo stressful and I think I'm a really bad journalist. I love to write, but I'm unconfident and naturally shy. I love nutrition and food and I'm considering quitting my current job - which I've only had for a year - to work part-time and study nutrition. But I'm scared of still not liking it!

Perhaps this whole job-love-hate-quit thing is all in my head and I just need to suck it up. And I wish I was one of those people who was actually good at what they were doing. I just feel like a failure.

Two roads diverged in the wood, and I took the road less traveled by


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