MattF that's YOUR interpretation of ERE. I damnwell gamed a past employer and I still look back on that period of time with pride. They were truly awful. Instead of laying people off, they would get the mid-level manager(s) to bully the employees so they'd quit instead of packaging people out. I was the first one to catch wind of this told people to hold firm in their jobs, which they did and everyone got a sweet deal. We're talking about a top multinational corporation here, not mom and pop shop. A nameless, faceless corporation that sees you as the same and doesn't hesitate to screw you over every chance you get.
Another lovely anecdote: at one point I was passed over for a promotion because I turned down the Chairman's son's best friend when he asked me out. I found this out a year later, of course.
MY interpretation of ERE: The corporation, the system, the society we are forced into is gaming us every single day, ERE teaches you how to game back and reclaim control over your life.
Just walked out of a job...
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LiquidSapphire
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm
Just a small update, I guess.
I have opted to stay for the time being. My boss is not verbally abusive, but she is horribly incompetent and not a good person personally, but not verbally abusive (to my face). I'm sure she's dragging my name through the mud every chance she gets, but she does this to my whole team so it's not just me. The ironic thing is she is attacking the stuff I did right, saying it is technically inaccurate when it is not?? and then she doesn't say a word about the stuff I'm not doing...? bizarre. Anyway, I stayed home yesterday, just gotta get through today and then I have vacation scheduled for next week so. That's good.
I applied to about 7 or 8 vacancies on Wednesday so we'll see what comes of that. I think you guys are right that it's win win, I feel like I'm doing something, I'm testing the market and if I get replies back, yay! and if not, well, then maybe I won't feel so bad about sticking it out here for a while.
The stress leave thing is interesting. At the very least they might legally prescribe me something and at best it will give me the right to claim FMLA whenever I want. That's 3 months of time off that they legally can't say shit about. That might be enough to get me up to a point where I can financially afford to quit.
I have opted to stay for the time being. My boss is not verbally abusive, but she is horribly incompetent and not a good person personally, but not verbally abusive (to my face). I'm sure she's dragging my name through the mud every chance she gets, but she does this to my whole team so it's not just me. The ironic thing is she is attacking the stuff I did right, saying it is technically inaccurate when it is not?? and then she doesn't say a word about the stuff I'm not doing...? bizarre. Anyway, I stayed home yesterday, just gotta get through today and then I have vacation scheduled for next week so. That's good.
I applied to about 7 or 8 vacancies on Wednesday so we'll see what comes of that. I think you guys are right that it's win win, I feel like I'm doing something, I'm testing the market and if I get replies back, yay! and if not, well, then maybe I won't feel so bad about sticking it out here for a while.
The stress leave thing is interesting. At the very least they might legally prescribe me something and at best it will give me the right to claim FMLA whenever I want. That's 3 months of time off that they legally can't say shit about. That might be enough to get me up to a point where I can financially afford to quit.
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Riggerjack
- Posts: 3191
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:09 am
Chenda: Congrats! there are few experiences more empowering than the "explosive walkout" quit. I hope you do well.
Liquidsaphire: In reading your first post, i was going to recommend you disconnect (emotionally) from your job to decrease your misery. then i read the post about not answering your voicemails, and i thought "wow, she's already quit. she just hasn't been considerate enough to stop showing up!"
so then i read your journal, saw nothing of this, and your later posts don't seem to reflect the same hopelessness. i truly hope that was just momentary venting and not the full time state you feel when at work.
I used to work as an onsite technician. this allowed me to see thousands of people, at their work. i have a few observations:
as a general rule, the bigger the organization, the less happy the employees. and strangely enough, the "Better" the job was, the more miserable the employees made each other. by "better" i mean the jobs that were lifetime career type jobs, often these were union, but not necessarily.
The most miserable people: there was a tower belonging to a huge bailedout-bank, back in the 90's, on the the 54-57th floors were hundreds of VPs and executives. these were the former presidents and executives of banks taken over by the mega bank. they had no responsibilities, just titles and a desk they had to be at 40 hrs a week. these were alpha male/hard charging/competitive people put in golden handcuffs and left to rot in a cage. those floors reeked of failure and misery, and i hated working there.
after that were public school teachers, followed by government employees in general. then employees of large, regulated corporations, i.e. utilities, aircraft manufacturing and repair, insurance, colleges. then those low paid, hard working or miserable job conditions, but these jobs aren't very plentiful, or at least where they are, the companies weren't paying for my services.
on the other end of the spectrum: dot com companies in the 90's. big software companies have extremely happy talent, and the full spectrum in the rest of the company. private school teachers are very happy.
so the general rules of misery at work:
the less employee turnover, the less happy. this is because the jobs with the great benefits and no competing positions in other companies, those are full of careerists who get tied up in political games that last decades. the people make each other miserable in ways their management never could.
the 2nd biggest lie in america is that if you get paid the same or more for less work, you will be happier. often the harder one works, the happier you are. skilled construction workers are pretty happy folks.
the less self definition, the less happy. the more your job is regulated, or defined by forces you can't influence, the more empty the repetition, and the less room for happiness.
liquidsaphire, your job is covered in all 3 catagories of misery. i'm not in any way surprised at your unhappiness there. you will have to decide for yourself what you want to do about your situation, but my advice is to DECIDE. take control of your employment. or, take control of your unemployment. whatever you decide to do. but take control. if you leave, do it under your own terms. get fired up to go find a better job, in HR, or daycare, it doesn't matter. or, if you decide to stay, you need to re-engage your job. bring headphones and rock out thru the middle of the night playing catch up when you can work like what you want to work. stop trying to escape your work, that clearly isn't working, and just change how you do it.
or, disregard my advice as the 3 a.m. ramblings of a madman. either way, good luck!
Liquidsaphire: In reading your first post, i was going to recommend you disconnect (emotionally) from your job to decrease your misery. then i read the post about not answering your voicemails, and i thought "wow, she's already quit. she just hasn't been considerate enough to stop showing up!"
so then i read your journal, saw nothing of this, and your later posts don't seem to reflect the same hopelessness. i truly hope that was just momentary venting and not the full time state you feel when at work.
I used to work as an onsite technician. this allowed me to see thousands of people, at their work. i have a few observations:
as a general rule, the bigger the organization, the less happy the employees. and strangely enough, the "Better" the job was, the more miserable the employees made each other. by "better" i mean the jobs that were lifetime career type jobs, often these were union, but not necessarily.
The most miserable people: there was a tower belonging to a huge bailedout-bank, back in the 90's, on the the 54-57th floors were hundreds of VPs and executives. these were the former presidents and executives of banks taken over by the mega bank. they had no responsibilities, just titles and a desk they had to be at 40 hrs a week. these were alpha male/hard charging/competitive people put in golden handcuffs and left to rot in a cage. those floors reeked of failure and misery, and i hated working there.
after that were public school teachers, followed by government employees in general. then employees of large, regulated corporations, i.e. utilities, aircraft manufacturing and repair, insurance, colleges. then those low paid, hard working or miserable job conditions, but these jobs aren't very plentiful, or at least where they are, the companies weren't paying for my services.
on the other end of the spectrum: dot com companies in the 90's. big software companies have extremely happy talent, and the full spectrum in the rest of the company. private school teachers are very happy.
so the general rules of misery at work:
the less employee turnover, the less happy. this is because the jobs with the great benefits and no competing positions in other companies, those are full of careerists who get tied up in political games that last decades. the people make each other miserable in ways their management never could.
the 2nd biggest lie in america is that if you get paid the same or more for less work, you will be happier. often the harder one works, the happier you are. skilled construction workers are pretty happy folks.
the less self definition, the less happy. the more your job is regulated, or defined by forces you can't influence, the more empty the repetition, and the less room for happiness.
liquidsaphire, your job is covered in all 3 catagories of misery. i'm not in any way surprised at your unhappiness there. you will have to decide for yourself what you want to do about your situation, but my advice is to DECIDE. take control of your employment. or, take control of your unemployment. whatever you decide to do. but take control. if you leave, do it under your own terms. get fired up to go find a better job, in HR, or daycare, it doesn't matter. or, if you decide to stay, you need to re-engage your job. bring headphones and rock out thru the middle of the night playing catch up when you can work like what you want to work. stop trying to escape your work, that clearly isn't working, and just change how you do it.
or, disregard my advice as the 3 a.m. ramblings of a madman. either way, good luck!
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LiquidSapphire
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm
@ Riggerjack -
Thanks for the insightful post. Unfortunately it wasn't momentary, I pretty much feel that way all day every day. I managed to break out of it, sort of, on Friday, got a few easy things done, and then this week I'm on vacation, but back to the grind next week...
But really... wow like you said I have it all...every single thing you said applies to me... huge organization, low turnover (When I told my friend about my ERE plans she said "You can't quit! Haven't you noticed that no one quits! You can't even name one person you know that has quit!"), "good" job - same or easier work for more pay...the work is regulated beyond common sense and into oblivion and I have no control whatsoever because my boss is a control freak (amongst other weaknesses). Every freakin' day is the same. I'm bored out of my mind.
I'm trying to re-engage, it's a tough battle but that is what I am trying to do. Change how I do it, I'm not sure how that applies to my situation but I'll think about it. You're right, putting my fingers in my ears and singing lalalalala for 9 hours a day is not helping me or the situation.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Thanks for the insightful post. Unfortunately it wasn't momentary, I pretty much feel that way all day every day. I managed to break out of it, sort of, on Friday, got a few easy things done, and then this week I'm on vacation, but back to the grind next week...
But really... wow like you said I have it all...every single thing you said applies to me... huge organization, low turnover (When I told my friend about my ERE plans she said "You can't quit! Haven't you noticed that no one quits! You can't even name one person you know that has quit!"), "good" job - same or easier work for more pay...the work is regulated beyond common sense and into oblivion and I have no control whatsoever because my boss is a control freak (amongst other weaknesses). Every freakin' day is the same. I'm bored out of my mind.
I'm trying to re-engage, it's a tough battle but that is what I am trying to do. Change how I do it, I'm not sure how that applies to my situation but I'll think about it. You're right, putting my fingers in my ears and singing lalalalala for 9 hours a day is not helping me or the situation.
Thanks for your thoughts.
I know how you feel and i'm just 25 years old. I'm on a boring desk job right now and finishing a boring college too (1 year left), i just can't see myself doing anything related to these things. I'm overwhelmed, don't have much free time and i feel sad all day long. I can't quit my college because my parents would kill me and i'm already teamed with a partner on the conclusion project (don't know how you call it out there) so i can't leave the guy behind. I have plenty of projects but i don't have energy and time to engage to anything. Even my college project is slow as hell.
Some jobs you can't simply change how you do it. You just need to do it, there's no other way. Do it or quit. It's sad. But i'm far more overwhelmed by my college then everything else, i throwed years away and will drag me to a job that i'll hate even more.
Some jobs you can't simply change how you do it. You just need to do it, there's no other way. Do it or quit. It's sad. But i'm far more overwhelmed by my college then everything else, i throwed years away and will drag me to a job that i'll hate even more.
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Riggerjack
- Posts: 3191
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:09 am
Back when i was a foreman on a cabling crew, i did a school that was having its roof retarred. this made for some bad conditions, up in ceilings of a un-airconditioned school in the desert in july. occasionally the tar would find a leak, and tar formed long sticky strings that would dangle, catch the cables on the way through, and we'd get tar all over our selves. at this time, i was miserable, and making as much misery around me as i could. not intentionally, but an INTJ with a military background makes a horrible foreman to work for. i was completely unreasonable in my expectations, but that's for another post.
after i'd been there a week, an old guy on the crew says there's something i gotta see. long story short, i climb a ladder to the roof, and there is a pair of boots up there. these boots are scarred into my mind.
fairly standard work boots, with over an inch of built up tar all over them. less up where your pant cuffs would catch the tar, but some up high too. you could see how it had gone on in hundreds of layers, and when it was too thick in the more flexible areas, it cracked and broke off. or when it got too thick in less flexible areas, the owner had broken it off with a hammer or something. then the tarring would begin again.
a tar roof crew starts at about 4 am, then is off around noon. it's just too hot by noon. hot sun, black surface, tar heater, and you are working with hot tar all around you. too hot.
the rest of that job, when my job got to me, i thought about putting those boots on in the dark, they'd be cold, stiff and heavy. i'd be working with toxic crap all day. i'd be in much worse heat. i'd make less money. t5here wouldn't be hope of turning that skillset into anything more pleasant.
suddenly, my miserable job wasn't as bad.
after i'd been there a week, an old guy on the crew says there's something i gotta see. long story short, i climb a ladder to the roof, and there is a pair of boots up there. these boots are scarred into my mind.
fairly standard work boots, with over an inch of built up tar all over them. less up where your pant cuffs would catch the tar, but some up high too. you could see how it had gone on in hundreds of layers, and when it was too thick in the more flexible areas, it cracked and broke off. or when it got too thick in less flexible areas, the owner had broken it off with a hammer or something. then the tarring would begin again.
a tar roof crew starts at about 4 am, then is off around noon. it's just too hot by noon. hot sun, black surface, tar heater, and you are working with hot tar all around you. too hot.
the rest of that job, when my job got to me, i thought about putting those boots on in the dark, they'd be cold, stiff and heavy. i'd be working with toxic crap all day. i'd be in much worse heat. i'd make less money. t5here wouldn't be hope of turning that skillset into anything more pleasant.
suddenly, my miserable job wasn't as bad.
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Riggerjack
- Posts: 3191
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:09 am
wow. rereading that makes me think i could be misunderstood.
those boots were an inspiration to me. i wasn't trying to minimize anyone else's hell by saying it could be worse.
the folks i worked with in construction were pretty happy in some uncomfortable circumstances, because uncomfortable was better than office work for them. they intentionally worked outside, in the rain, snow and hail, not because they weren't smart enough for an office job, but because office work was not for them. and they were smart enough to know it.
i've worked in some miserable places, and that experience makes me appreciate the soft office job i have now. but i can't say that using your vacation time to haul bricks for a mason will make you feel better about your job.
i can say that the best work in an office i've done, i've done with metallica blasting and the lights turned off on a saturday night. pretty lame statement of a social life, huh? but seriously, i'd do it again just to power through some work, and get a different attitude. because no check is worth it when you feel that way about your job.
"work is the law of life, to reject it as boredom, is to submit to it as torment."
nobody can make your job better but you.
sucks, huh?
those boots were an inspiration to me. i wasn't trying to minimize anyone else's hell by saying it could be worse.
the folks i worked with in construction were pretty happy in some uncomfortable circumstances, because uncomfortable was better than office work for them. they intentionally worked outside, in the rain, snow and hail, not because they weren't smart enough for an office job, but because office work was not for them. and they were smart enough to know it.
i've worked in some miserable places, and that experience makes me appreciate the soft office job i have now. but i can't say that using your vacation time to haul bricks for a mason will make you feel better about your job.
i can say that the best work in an office i've done, i've done with metallica blasting and the lights turned off on a saturday night. pretty lame statement of a social life, huh? but seriously, i'd do it again just to power through some work, and get a different attitude. because no check is worth it when you feel that way about your job.
"work is the law of life, to reject it as boredom, is to submit to it as torment."
nobody can make your job better but you.
sucks, huh?
Hey @LS as James Altucher says, start your retirement now: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/11/wh ... re-i-will/