Work dilemma

Morning all.

Can I have your honest opinions please? Feel free to be brutally honest.

I have a job that pays better than average and is just 15 minutes drive from home. Home is home, ie my house is within a mile of where I wanted to live.

Trouble is, I hate my job, and resent that it bugs me even when I'm off duty.

There are other jobs, even ones that pay better that I can do. But a bit further away.

Here's the thing. I know loads of people don't like their jobs, and technically I have little reason to whine. My boss is a disrespectful fool and with my experience in the industry, which he hired me for, I have to really push just to get some common sense across. A major personality clash between someone who is a veteran in the industry and knows how it works having lived it (me) and someone who has read all the books.

Having pondered this for some time, it occurs to me that throughout my career, most bosses are about the same. Yet the jobs that I've loved have always been the ones I've had to travel a bit for (about an hours drive), and the ones I've hated have been very local.

So, what do we reckon? Should I update my CV and get it out there, or stick with the local job with disrespectful fool of a boss?

 

Hi Clueless, many would say at least you have a job and in this day and age that is a precious commodity, BUT its not all about money, in my opinion and that of my own Job Centre advisor job satisfaction also comes into the occasion. Their thinking being that if you manage to get a job you actually like and want to do then there's less chance of you leaving it.

Anyway if you're not happy I would certainly update your CV and get it out there and see what comes up, there's now harm in that whilst carrying on with your current job. If a job becomes available to you that you have to travel a little further to and maybe a bit less pay, if you can manage on that pay then go for it would be my advise.

You have two scenarios -

1. Carry on working where you are, you're not happy, you get home and are brooding over it, resenting it, it's still on your mind when you should be relaxing, but its local and the pay is good.
2. Try and get one of the jobs you know you'll love, if you do you're happy, you get home with a clear mind, able to switch off and relax, does the slightly less pay and longer travel distance matter if you're going to be much happier?

I've been there too as many of us probably have, I had a job that in the end I hated, so I managed to get another job that was a lot less pay but I could manage on it and I was happy....

 

If you wake up in the morning, and you don't feel like going to work, it could mean that you are having a bad day

if after a week, you wake up every morning, and don't feel like going to work, it could mean that you are having a bad week

if after a month you wake up in the mornings and don't feel like going to work, call it a day

I used to contract ..... and always stuck to that philosophy

 

Nothing wrong with putting your CV out there to see what's about; money isn't everything but it's perhaps worth remembering 'last in, first out' should things go awry if you did find a new job.

It might be worth literally, sitting down and writing a list of pros and cons on your current employment, you might find that despite it's drawbacks, overall you feel it's better to 'take their money and run'.

As I see it, the problem is not what's wrong with your current job, but whether you'd take a new one - if offered.

 

You have small children, don't you? (I think, forgive me if I've got it wrong.) Would you feel that the exta travelling time eroded your time with them, and eventually began to resent it? Doesn't mean you shouldn't make the change,of course. Better to have a happy Dad than a miserable one, any time.

 

clueless1 - every time you are upset you shorten your life and make it miserable.
I wouldn't want to get the services of somebody who hate his job: he/she will do everything badly and with a long face.

I would choose happiness over money hands down.

 

Thanks all. I've taken on board all your comments, and there is much wisdom in what's been said.

I think I know what I need to do. I've been there just under a year so far. If I look to leave now, then there is a danger that it will look on my CV as though I can't hold a job down. Especially since my previous company went pear shaped leaving us all out of work, and I was there for exactly a year. Employers get worried about bits and pieces of work unless they are contracts. So, I'll stick at it. The boss is a fool and I can't let a project go bad just because of someone else's arrogance, even if that someone else is the boss, so we will no doubt have a few 'full and frank exchanges of views' over the coming months. Once I've been there about 18 months, which a recruiting agent once told me is a respectable term, I'll re-evaluate the situation. It may be that things sort themselves out by then, or if not, then at least my CV wont look all fragmented.

 

don't worry about what you cv will look like and don't worry about your company .... you are only a number there .... so worry about yourself

if they have rough times, they will not think twice about terminating your services aswell as all your work collegues ... so, in a nutshell, they have no loyality to you .... you are only there so that you can make money for them

so, in the meantime, look for something else .... land a similar job, then ask for a 25% payrise .... if you are as good as what you say you are, and worth the money, they will keep you .... and you will be happy

if not, it's time to move on as you are not entirely happy there ....

 

I know you're right, but in a small company it is up to the team to try to prevent the company going bad. I was hired because I have a lot of experience at ensuring the success of projects. I have that experience because I've lived through the common (and less common) mistakes and learned from them. So when I see the boss taking us down the road to disaster, and he doesn't realise because he's read the books but never actually lived it, it is my job to speak up. I hate to boast but the fact is, with our current level of demand for our product, it would have already failed by now had I not spotted and corrected a number of major blunders that had been made before I started there. The boss knows this, yet still I feel like I have to justify every single move I make. If something looks to him like its not what he wants, he will have a go first, rather than asking for an explanation. Once you give him the explanation, which is usually along the lines of 'its what you asked for and I've done it this way because this way will work whereas the other way will appear to work but will break as soon as such and such happens, he accepts the explanation but there's no hint of apology for having a go.

Consider in your current job Dim, if a customer asked you to, say, plant two small palm trees in the garden. So you position them in their containers to see what they'll look like in place. The customer sees that and thinks 'that looks good, and it only took a few minutes'. They then see you move the containers and start digging holes in their garden, and removing the trees from their containers. They then, to their horror, see you sticking the trees in the soil, back filling and firming them in. Rather than asking why you didn't just leave them in their pots on the soil, whereupon you explain that it might look good now, but the trees will need a lot more care if you leave them in the containers, and the first wind will simply push them over, they start ranting and raving about how long it took and how it was better before etc.

 

Nah ... doubt that would happen .... and if that did happen, I'd tell him where to stick his palms and I'd walk

when I worked in Engineering, I was pretty nifty at programming on Microsoft access and at many companies, I designed databases that used to monitor the projects .... done this as a sideline job (my main job was mechanical engineering design on 3-D CAD)

every project had a costcode, and every part of that project has a sub-costcode

every single person (both contractors and permanent staff) were monitored every single minute of the day .... they filled in time sheets .... and had to clock in and out even if they just nipped off to the local shop

these times were then recorded into the database ....

if a person was not at least 2-3 times worth the money the company paid them in wages, they were soon out of there

that is fact and that happened in most (if not all) the companies I worked at

there is no loyalty .... if they want loyalty, they are best getting a dog ....

it's all about money and how much money you are worth, and can make for your company

so, thats why I say .... if you are not entirely happy, move on .... or make it worth your while staying there

 

I am sorry to say, I stuck with your conditions for 30 years, then after a stroke and heart attack, years 25 at year 30 I jumped ship, a lot less pay ie minimum wage, No company car anymore and still an hours drive each way a day, and it was one of the best things I have done in my life
However bear in mind I only had seven more years to work, and had no mortgage or debts, so could live just, No big evenings out with meals and concerts, but the sheer relief was worth it,
You are a lot younger, so may need an equal or higher income, as you have 35 years work ahead, and possibly mortgage
Traveling has never been a problem for me, I enjoy driving around it is not a chore, just do not think of it as I could be home an hour ago
The job I jumped ship from, they changed me from paid hourly staff, to Salaried Manager, that just meant I worked all the hours god sent for free
So I got £2k a year more salary, and my engineers, got paid overtime for the same hours as me and took home £3k more

The main thing is to get that CV out to Linkden, and bide your time, jump when the right offer comes hopefully sooner than later,
You will live longer and have a happier life

IMHO

Regards Jack McH

 

It sounds like your boss wants to control everything that happens Clueless, so he's no good at delegating, which is what he should be doing in his position. He has taken you on for a specific purpose and he's not letting you get on with it and to be honest he probably never will.

There's also the fact that you have many years of work ahead as Jack says, do you really want to be miserable for that length of time. It will not only get to you but your family as well.

Yes, with a young family you need to earn a good wage, but it doesn't mean you have to stay in a job you hate.

My family moved to the island twenty years ago, why? For a better way of life. With a young family, my husband was the only earner at that time and took a considerable wage cut for us to come here. We've never looked back. Things get to a point in peoples lives when they start to think, what am I doing, I can't hack this anymore, it's time to change.

So what I'm really saying is, go with your heart not your head. Things will turn out okay.

I'd get that CV up and running.

 

Well, I've done it now. I have a good working relationship with a very good recruiting agent in the area. As of tonight, he now has my updated CV, along with a note saying I'm looking again.