I had a job from hell. One day I saw a man on his hands and knees in the public restroom, using a screwdriver to scrape gunk out of the drain the the floor. I thought “Hey, I could do that. Maybe I could get a job doing that instead.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was a sign that I should QUIT. I ended up getting layed off, but since then I’ve learned to recognize “gunkscraper” jobs and bail on them. Life’s too short for that crap, and I value my health and sanity more than I value money.
I’m currently in my fourth month of unemployment. I’ll start looking for work pretty soon, but for the time being I’m just enjoying myself. (I was a contractor, so I’m not receiving unemployment benefits, so you needn’t accuse me of slacking on the government dole)
I had the job from hell. Or more to the point, I had the commute and schedule from hell *. I did it for better than a year. Then I asked to on the next layoff list.
Now I collect unemployement. I hate it. But I feel much better, AND I don’t have fantasies about killing my fellow motorists.
[sub]12 hour shifts, 140 mile commute, rush hour both ways on one of the worst commuter freeways in the world[/sub]
I had a horrible job once. It was about as bad as Stranger’s, with a verbally abusive boss and lots of company expenses financed on my credit card tossed in. I used to fantasize about driving off the road on the way in in the morning. In the thread I wrote after I finally told the she-beast where she could put it, I believe I said something along the lines of I’d rather live in a box in Golden Gate Park than go back there. I was prepared for anything-- from working at target to living on my parents couch. I was ready for bankruptcy. (Note: I don’t have children. I don’t know what I would have done with mouths to feed)
It’s been a year now, and I still look back and can’t believe i stayed so long. I believed the whole “it’s easier to get a job when you have one,” and all the various sources telling me that quitting my first serious job when I’d only been there 8 months would make me unemployable. Of course, I found it impossible to job hunt, between my misery, long hours, and my boss not letting me have a day off (we were not allowed sick days).
Just thinking about going back there is making me sick right now. There is a point where a job is so bad that unemployment becomes the only option. (Well, I suppose there’s always another option. I feel like for me it was probably a mental/physical breakdown landing me in the hospital). Unemployment remains preferable.
Not to hijack this thread but…I grew up in the Midwest and have lived (briefly) in the deep South; while my hyperbolic comment was not intended to tar every occupant of those regions as backwards and degenerate and I’m certain that every state can claim some oasis of intellectualism and freethinking (except for Oklahoma…just kidding, guys), the fact is that virtually all non-defense related manufacturing is found not only in those socially conservative regions but in some of the more remote areas, to make use of labor rates that are at least marginally comperable to what can be had overseas. I object not to living in “fly-over country”–other than the lack of geographic varience that makes my current residence so appealing–but I’m repulsed by the notion of moving somewhere an hour or more from a bookstore, where the shops and restaurants all close at 8pm, and where cinemas won’t show a film 'cause it has words along the bottom.
Frankly, my disquiet with my current job isn’t only the inanity that passes for management, but the fact that, through a series of poor or misguided decisions and the consequences thereof I’ve managed to lock myself into a vocation which has caused me to do work that is in contradiction to what I thought were dearly held principles; my inability to simply toss it aside and return, as I did in school, to service and clerical work, regardless of the fiscal disparity and lack of job stability or future promise, make me furious at both myself and the immediate surroundings, manifested as frustration, albeit legitimately fueled by the actions of those in charge.
I’d like to get out–not only of this company, or even industry, but engineering in general–but my education and experience seems, well, quite limited in terms of what else I can apply it to. Even within my own field, my association with a particuarly vile but highly admired piece of software has restricted my choices and opportunities; and lacking a specific direction or career goal I find it difficult to conceive of, much less articulate, where I’d like to go from here.
So, the result is that I am where I am 'cause of what I’ve done and choices I’ve made, and my inability to go elsewhere and do something else is purely a problem of my own lack of initiative, limitation in conception of a different path, and an inability to overcome poor decisions that have brought me to this place, not to mention a somewhat irrational fear of being completely unemployable and ending up, as I’ve been once briefly before, homeless and destitute.
It’s my fault and my problem; I could certainly find a job pouring poison, or slinging hash, or humping furniture, that would pay the bills and keep me marginally out of default. But I did all of these things before, in support of the goal of advanced education and not having to do them the rest of my life, and do not look forward to a return to two or three jobs to make ends meet. I know that others have it much, much worse, and with far less recourse; and that some make more opportunity out of less possibility than I have, can, or will. I’m just as frustatred with myself and my own limitiations as with anything else.
I dunno…in the very short-term, I find unemployment to be more enjoyable than a Hellish job. You get to sleep in, read more books, go window-shopping, visit the art gallery…but this can only go on for so long. Soon, your leisurely existence hits that wall known as You’ve Got No Money & You’re Wasting Your Life. That horrible limbo feeling…it’s very, very bad, IMHO.
At least working for Satan’s Spawn gives you money and someone specific to fantasise about killing. Um, did I say that out loud? It can also lead to monumental stress levels and you turning into a screaming harpy at home and with friends. I’d stick with this for only so long as it takes you to secretly apply, be interviewed, and be accepted for another position.
It depends on your situation. Right now I’m the only one employed and there are bills that need paying so off to hell I go. At least it’s hawaiian shirt day. :smack:
If the bills were less and/or I wasn’t the only bread winner, I would be out of that shytehole so friggin fast I’d leave a fire trail behind me. If you can get away with it for a while, I’ve got to go with unemployment.
The 140 miles was round trip. My shift was 6pm to 6am. The trip in to work took 2 to 2 1/2 hours (occasionally as long as 3 and 1/2). The trip back was 1 and 1/2 hours.
The last time I was laid off, I had money in the bank, unemployment benefits, a small severance package and an occasional free-lance gig to make me feel better about myself. I also had the fully employed Mrs. Kunilou as a backup. In the world of involuntarily unemployment, this is about as good as it gets.
I would have gladly gone back to the worst job I’d ever had just to be assured of a regular paycheck.
I was laid off November of 2003. I had been working at that company for over five years. When I was first there, it was my dream job. Then, a new asshole manager came in and made it hell. He got rid of any one who had been there when he started one by one. It was not the kind of company that looked kindly on a manager firing the old guard and hiring their own people, so he had to find pretext for firing them. I was one of the last hanger ons. Officially, i was laid off due to reduction in force, yet he was shocked and pissed that they were not going to allow him to replace me. At my exit interview he said that he could not have anyone in my role who would make mistakes. Forgetting an attachment on an email was one of the things I was written up for. That was the second most serious error I made. The worst was literally checking one box that should not have been checked.
The time I spent waiting to be fired was miserable. I had always been given very good reviews before. I did my job well, and was up for any challenge. He was extremely negative, picking at my performance over truly trivial things. He played mind games, switched the rules and made up special nasty rules just for my team. We had to work more hours than any other team, on top of being on call and handling the sort of things IT people do outside of business hours. There would be special things done by HR for employee perks that he would tell us we were not allowed to take advantage. He made fabulously stupid decisions and then blamed us, mainly me, when they backfired.
The thing us the entire time I was unemployed, I felt guilt for feeling so relieved not to have to deal with him ever again. I literally woke up every morning for weeks and thought about how sweet it was that I would not be subject to his bitter whims. Even when things got tight, it was still better than having to work under that toxic individual. I eventually picked up some contract work, earned enough to keep up with COBRA and wrangling a better contract for a better position that kept us going until now.
Mind you, I would not have gotten unemployment if I had bailed, and that money made a real difference to us. The way they wrote my termination was that it was due to reduction in force and no one would ever say any different. They also picked up that first month of my health coverage. I agreed in turn not to sue the living shit out of them, which they richly deserved. He was supposed to write me a letter of reference, and he said he would sign what I gave him, but I was damned if I was going to ask him for anything. I asked a former supervisor if he would write one. He did. It was amazing. I have never read a letter that glowing about anyone else. It also related specific things I did as reasons for the praise in ways so it did not stink of bullshit.
So, being unemployed was better for me personally, but bailing the bad job would have been unwise. I am now taking another dream job, at least for me. The work is interesting, I like what I have seen of this company and know people happily employed by them.
I had real misgivings about my first contract job. The pay was on the low side for the first contract, and I was over qualified for the work. By lucky coincidence, at the end of it, contract work was available at that was more up my alley and paid nearly as well as my old job even after covering COBRA. I would never have heard about the new opening or been considered had I not been there already, mainly because of the way contracts there work. That work gave me the experience and the expertise to be qualified for this new job. I would never have gained that expertise at my old job. So, taking a job that looks like nothing much and nothing pleasant, can be rewarding and introduce you to new opportunities.
I far preferred unemployment to my job from hell. I guess part of it was that, while I wasn’t earning money, I was living with my SO who very much supported my decision to quit and start my own company so I wouldn’t be stuck in another job from hell ever again. When it got to the point that I was hoping to get into an accident so I wouldn’t have to go to work, I knew it was time to get out of that job fast.
Another thing I always kept in the back of my mind was that, if needed, I could get a temp job. Although they’re not reliable and most don’t pay all that well, most of them are fairly easy, pay far better than unemployment (depending upon your previous earnings, of course), and if you hate it, you can ask to be switched.
Right now I am working in the dead endest job I’ve ever had.
I’m making $7.00/hr which is the same as everyone else in the plant.
Most weeks there is mandatory overtime (read 7 days a week) and many there are afraid of losing their job.
The work is physical and my arthritic shoulders generally hurt all the time.
I spent 2 1/2 days off work this week after hurting my hip (total joint replacement).
There just isn’t anything out there right now and unemployment was nearly used up.
One of the bad things about working is the loss of time to job hunt.
I don’t know about you guys but I really have to be in the mood to job hunt. When I’m depressed its difficult to be enthused about job searching and the thought of an interview is really a downer.
I’d rate the hellish job as being marginally preferable to unemployment … and, believe me, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to make the comparison!
While you may have more time to job-hunt while you’re unemployed, you’re more marketable if you’ve still got a job. (And, you have the luxury of turning down job offers if they look like being another job from hell. There are plenty of those out there; Hell must be outsourcing like crazy … )
Hard to say…walking off the job from hell and not having to go back to it was satisfying, as well as the extended vacation that followed…but unemployment sucks too. I no longer had that routine to get me through the day, and had no assurance of a paycheck to plan paying my bills around.
I was getting deeper into debt, and one day the bank sent me a convenience check for $4500. Bastards. I cashed it. 21% interest. I was desperate for money, and took any grout-scraping job my temp agency could find. I wasn’t proud.
Stress from working for morons or stress from desperation? The first scenario is you trying to dig your way out, the second is you digging deeper and deeper in. The answer to both is a new job, and at any rate the worries are over, for now.
When I got fired from my last job, I had:
a) a small feeling of frustration along the lines of “if I’d been as bad at myjob as the HR people were at theirs, the company would’a gone to hell years before”. To give you some idea, I got notified on November 3, 2004, today it’s May 23rd 2005 and they still have not finished the paperwork on firing me (I can’t access the money from my 401K because HR can’t figure out how to manage the fund’s managers that I’ve been fired).
b) a HUGE sense of relief that I wouldn’t have to suffer the boss from hell, the safety guy who said that “it’s not the company’s problem if you bitches get headaches every day” (Spanish law says it is and also that he is not allowed to call us bitches), etc etc.
But still, I’ve never left a job and I doubt I ever will.
I guess for me I never really associated not working with wasting my life. If anything, it’s the opposite. I view work as a chore I have to do in order to finance my life. But when the money starts getting low, yeah, that feeling can set in. Basically the “I’m 30 years old and going to have to live with my parents” feeling.
There’s also a “disconnected from society” feeling. Everyone in the world is at work, however, you are basically bumming around watching TV, roaming the local mall, hanging out in the park and going to the gym. Which then leads to “i’m disconnected from society because the rest of society is a bunch of SUCKERS” feelings.