Most of you are screaming ‘YES, YES’. The tales I am hearing on a daily basis about how people feel trapped in a job situation and know they cannot quit are staggering. There are differing poll results . Gallup poll recently said that less than 50% of the employed are satisfied with their jobs. It also suggested that over 70% hate these jobs. The University of Chicago study suggested that less than half of job holders were very satisfied with their jobs–most of them with higher eduations and high incomes. Go figure.
My parents always instructed us that job happiness was unimportant. It was self serving to expect that getting paid should be enjoyable. They went through the depression and knew in their hearts that having the money to put food on the table for the family was the only role of providers. My dad put up with a lot of crap on his job, even after 30 years working for the government when there were cut backs and he kept getting bumped down due to ‘veterans preference’. He hated the fact that he ended his career at the same level where he had started. But he grit his teeth and did what he had to do.
Decades have passed, technology, innovation, and time saving equipment has evolved and yet every day millions of people force themselves to get up, get dressed, and head off to a job they hate. It produces toxicity in people and on their families, on people they cut off on the highway, and on everyone they encounter. They become ‘poison spreaders’ and they are everywhere.
We spend so much of our time at work that if we are miserable and depressed there, it turns into negativity, frustration, and seething anger. It robs us of energy, happy thoughts, and a positive sense of enthusiasm. Misery is contagious and spreads like wildfire.
So who is the source of this toxic dumping ground? The company, of course, but often it is the boss who gives off that grim aura that all is lost. They take no interest in their employees and treat them like objects. They give no pats on the back or ‘atta boys’. They seem to reward cronies rather than hard workers. Many of them are just jerks who get off on asserting their authority and sucking up to their bosses.
We send our kids off to college, telling them that if they want a good paying jobs with benefits, education is the way to go. Tell this to the graduates who cannot find good paying jobs but do have big college loans racked up.
The word ‘outsourcing’ really gets workers’ blood pressure boiling. We are sending excellent ‘American’ jobs over to India and China, really doing them a favor while ruining our own job market. Tell people who have lost their jobs to foreigners how great “offshoring’ jobs” have worked well for our middle class. Greedy corporate heads get the millions while our workers get the shaft.
Managers today are quick to tell their underlings that they better shut up and deliver great work or they can be replaced. There are plenty of people out of work who would kill to get their jobs. The problem is, killings seem to be going up among those who feel displaced, left behind, and ignored.
Maybe my parents were right. Forget about job satisfaction, grab the money, and do your own thing when you leave work. It might be the only way to go.
[tags]toxic jobs, toxic work, depressing jobs, miserable work, hate job, no job benefits, no medical coverage[/tags}