Low paying job you love, or great pay for a job you hate?

[purple haze]

For some reason today I was thinking about my job and how much I like being there. I've finally found the perfect combination of atmosphere, co-workers, work responsibilities, commute, and hours that is best suited for my personality. The only drawback is the low pay. My employer receives a grant and that funds my work... needless to say, it's not much.

Due to the economic climate, my husband's hours have been reduced to 32 instead of 40. Before that happened we were doing OK, but now something's gotta give. I'm confident that we'll work it out. I really don't need a whole lot of extra 'stuff' at this point in my life. In fact, I donated an enormous amount of things over the past year in an effort to streamline our home and the result has been great.

I do have a point. How important is it to you to earn a healthy paycheck? How important is it for you to be happy at your job? Just curious.

[ITR champion]

I currently have a low-paying job that I love--high school teacher, if you must know. I would not trade it for a job I hate at any salary.

[tesseract]

In 2000 and 2001 I had a pretty high salary (big law firm job). I absolutely hated my job and I was miserable. I used to wish I would get in a car accident so I could go to a hospital instead of work... I now make a little more than half what I did and I am way way way way happier.

[Petrobey Mavromihalis]

My declared income for the last year will be about £5,000. You figure it out!

[China Guy]

hmm, depends. A lot more money maybe makes it okay for a while. I sock away a major portion of my salary knowing that it could end any time. I've got a great job for a global 50 company gig, but I've certainly had much more enjoyable jobs for a lot less pay.

[Toxylon]

A low-paying job I love wins. Making more money but suffering for it does not compensate, unless we're talking really big bucks. I have several friends who have left high-paying jobs in the IT business to become part-time teachers etc. One third the pay, much happier dudes.

[ZipperJJ]

There have been some really low points in my company's payroll history (I am part owner of my own company) and every time I think it's time to give up, I also think about how much I really love my job. Basically it's a hobby turned into a profession and now (finally) I make a decent living out of it.

Currently my partner makes a good chunk more than I do, but he works 12-16 hours a day and often on weekends. I work 9-5 M-F with the occasional overtime and that's what makes me happy. I'd much rather have my lower salary and work regular hours than make more and work like he does.

[Rubystreak]

Originally Posted by ITR champion

I currently have a low-paying job that I love--high school teacher, if you must know. I would not trade it for a job I hate at any salary.

Agree with this 100%, just substitute in "middle school teacher." I have found some other ways to augment my salary (having a tenant, tutoring after school, teaching summer school, pet sitting). It's not all that onerous, and allows me to work at a job that I like.

[whiterabbit]

Low-paying job I love, please. Though either would be better than low-paying job I hate. Been there, done that. Gah.

[Khadaji]

That is tough. I absolutely hate the stress of being poor. Having money may not buy happiness, but it certainly buys a lot of freedom.

OTOH, you work in a job nearly 1/3 of your waking hours. So hating 1/3 of your life sucks too.

I think I would take the high-pay, but keep on looking.

[Manda JO]

Originally Posted by Rubystreak

Agree with this 100%, just substitute in "middle school teacher." I have found some other ways to augment my salary (having a tenant, tutoring after school, teaching summer school, pet sitting). It's not all that onerous, and allows me to work at a job that I like.

Me three. What's funny, though, is that to a lot of my students, I have a high paying job--my base salary is 50K a year. It's less than my siblings in the corporate world, but it's not poverty.

I guess what I am saying is that I love my job, but if it payed 20K a year w/o benefits, I'd find something else to do. There's got to be a balance between loving your job and some degree of security.

[Giraffe]

Being poor sucks, but hating your job sucks more. So, of the two choices, I'd rather be poor but happy. I'd try to find ways to make more money, though.

[Rubystreak]

Originally Posted by Manda JO

I guess what I am saying is that I love my job, but if it payed 20K a year w/o benefits, I'd find something else to do. There's got to be a balance between loving your job and some degree of security.

That's true. I have student loan debt to pay, and I wouldn't have bothered to get two Masters for a job that paid that little. I do think what we get paid is low for a job that requires an unpaid internship and a Masters, but you're right, at least we have good benefits, time off, reasonable hours, a mostly safe working environment, and job security. It could be much worse, and in this economy, at least I know I won't lose my job.

[Antinor01]

I've never had a job I could say I loved and really can't think of one that would apply. (within reason that is, I'm sure there's something that I'm not qualified for) So I'll take the high pay. That's sort of what I have now, it's not super high paying but more than I've made anywhere else in my life. To me a job is just something that pays the bills so I can do the things I do enjoy.

[don't ask]

I really like my current job. Love the work, we get on great together and have a ball. Our director admitted to me that she makes excuses to come and hang around our work area (seeing us there rather than at her office) because it cheers her up to be around us. A few years ago I had a job where my first thought when the alarm went off was , "oh shit, this again." I spent part of each day looking for another job.

No amount of money makes up for having to drag yourself around like dead weight for 9 or 10 hours a day.

[Kyla]

I spent the last couple years making US$3,000/year. (Not a typo.) Now I'm a grad student. Take a wild guess.

[Kobal2]

Last year I had the opportunity to get a very decent paycheck, or to put it in the words of Daniel Pennac : "overpaid for what I do, underpaid for how boring it is". Tried it for a while, but I just couldn't bring myself to give enough of a fuck about the money to cope with the boredom. And now... now I'm paid nickels and dimes, the amount of work is very irregular and I have to eat a loooot of ramen, but I enjoy myself most of the time. I don't regret my choice in the least.

[lavenderviolet]

My first question was going to be "Just how low paying are we talking about?".
Where I come from, someone making 50K is considered to be comfortably middle class, so I wouldn't even consider that to be low paid.

If you're making fast food worker level wages, you may want to aim a little higher even if the job is really fun, because you never know when you might get sick or have a major financial crisis that spoils the fun. I'd put up with a less fun job just to have more security.
However, if you can afford to put away some savings for a rainy day and have decent benefits like health insurance, you're doing pretty well in my book. If you like the job on top of that, that's a bonus, and I wouldn't leave it just to keep up with the Joneses.

[flonks]

"Medium paying job" I love. I am quite happy...

[Manda JO]

Originally Posted by lavenderviolet

Where I come from, someone making 50K is considered to be comfortably middle class, so I wouldn't even consider that to be low paid.

I don't, either. It's a medium-paying job. I've turned down higher-paying work that I wouldn't have enjoyed. Some places, though, teachers make much, much less, and in others they make more but cost of living is so high that it really is low-paying.

[flonks]

Originally Posted by Manda JO

I don't, either. It's a medium-paying job. I've turned down higher-paying work that I wouldn't have enjoyed. Some places, though, teachers make much, much less, and in others they make more but cost of living is so high that it really is low-paying.

OK.... I downgrade mine to "low paying", then

[tumbleddown]

My job is not especially high-paying. It pays my bills, it wouldn't allow for any frills if my living situation were different and I had to pay a high rent/mortgage. (I live with my widowed mother and we split household costs.) But I love what I do, and more importantly, I'm not a cog in a corporate machine. I actually provide human service in my work, and that's what keeps me going. Money isn't everything, and even a medium-paying job where my sole purpose was to generate profit for a corporation would not be worthwhile to me.

[lazybratsche]

Definitely the low paying job that I love. I'm sort of there right now -- at the moment, I'm making great money for a single dude straight out of college, and I have my ideal position with the ideal boss.

Still, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that much money, and if I keep at it for a while I won't ever be making a lot more. Supporting a family on just my salary, even in the future where I get all the possible pay raises, will be tight.

[msmith537]

I've only had high paying jobs I hate and low paying jobs I hated just as much. I'l go with the money. How low paying are we talking about anyway? And how much hate?

[Manda JO]

Originally Posted by flonks

OK.... I downgrade mine to "low paying", then

Middle-paying is, to me, a pretty wide range--anything where you can live on your own (without a roommate) and have decent health-insurance is middle-paying. And it doesn't start being "high paying" until six figures, and possibly more in really expensive areas.

[Napier]

Lower paying job I love wins.

Love and pay are measured in different units, and love is pretty hard to measure rigorously, so the comparison isn't well defined.

But the gist of it, I think, is that there is to little time left after you do the job and do the other necessary things in life. It doesn't work if you try to get enjoyment into this crowded timespace to an extent that makes life satisfying, even if you have more money at your disposal to help.

[LouisB]

Higher pay any old day.

[purple haze]

Eventually I'll get to the point where I need to move on and find a job that pays better and offers benefits. I know I can't go on forever at my current place of employment, so I try to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm glad to see that there are so many other people who agree that money isn't everything. The fact that I enjoy my job carries over into my personal life, which is definitely a great thing.

[robby]

Originally Posted by ITR champion

I currently have a low-paying job that I love--high school teacher, if you must know. I would not trade it for a job I hate at any salary.

When I was in the Navy, I taught chemistry and physics for seven years. It was the best job I ever had. At least I think it was. I have a tendency to be nostalgic about things, remembering the good, and forgetting the bad.

At the same time that I was teaching, I also went to school at night, and got a master's degree in engineering. Upon getting out of the Navy, I looked for work as an engineer because:

1. I had just worked for 6+ years getting the master's degree.
2. An engineer gets paid much more than a teacher, and at the time, I was the sole breadwinner in the family.

Now, seven years after leaving the Navy and teaching, I recall my time teaching with a great deal more fondness than my current job (which I don't hate, but find rather boring at times).

On the other hand, there's nothing to say that I would like the high school environment as much as that of a military academy environment.

I sometimes think about teaching in the future, when I retire, if possible. I kept all of my teaching materials (notes, exams, quizzes, etc.), both electronically and hard copy, in case I ever got the opportunity to teach chemistry or physics again.

[Loach]

Originally Posted by lavenderviolet

My first question was going to be "Just how low paying are we talking about?".

That is exactly right. Being miserable for 8-9 hours a day beats being miserable 24 hours a day because you are scared of losing the house, don't have enough money to go to the doctor, can't make needed repairs, have collection agencies calling.... I would rather have a lower paying job that I could comfortably live doing over a job I hate. I would rather have a high paying job I hate over poverty. At the poverty level you are just one of life's hiccups away from total disaster.

[zenith]

I'd live as frugally as possible on the hated high-paying job for several years, then seek out something I really wanted to do.

I used to have a not-bad-paying job that had good benefits and that I could have lived with 'til retirement, but the plant closed and I ended up with 2 low-paying jobs that annoy the hell out of me.

I'd love just one job if it paid better than the two others combined. I'm 58 and a high-paid job I hated would only have to be tolerated for another 4 years.

[Lunar Saltlick]

I can't imagine there's a job I would enjoy. Anytime someone gives me money to do something, the pressure's on. It's my own fault, I guess, but if I was stocking shelves I'd feel pressure to do it faster and neater than the next guy, and also find a way to streamline the whole operation.

So as long as I'm going to be miserable, I might as well make some money.

[Freddy the Pig]

I can't imagine any job, or even any activity, that would be enjoyable for the 2,000 hours per year (plus commuting) necessary to make a living. That's too much time to be dedicated to any one activity.

So, since work is going to be unpleasant, regardless of the nature of the job, I want the money.

[Boyo Jim]

If I got paid 5 times as much per hour for a job that sucked, but I could work for one day a week and make the same money I do now, I would do that.

If it had to be full-time, I'm not sure. It depends how low 'low' is. I make a little over 40k a year, which is pretty good money for a small to middlin' city in the midwest. I wouldn't leave it to earn 80k a year for a job that I really hate, but I don't think I'd leave it for a 20k a year job that I liked a lot more either.

[pravnik]

Reasonable pay for a job I can tolerate.