Feel free to vent with your own story if you don’t have any advice. I’ll be happy to hear it.
So, I entered the real world a few years ago, and I’ll tell you that it sucks. (I know; you’re shocked. I’m the first person in the world to discover this)
I hate having my life consumed by work. I hate how I work real hard, but my boss only seems to notice when I make mistakes, or if I’m slacking off (aka, thinking. My job requires lots of thinking; sometimes that looks like slacking off!). Also, my boss has no respect for me and I catch him mocking me out of the corner of my eye sometimes. (Seriously, is that really necessary?)
I hate how my boss fakes liking everyone, but says bad things about them when they’re away (ass-kisser, I mean). I hate how he hates Americans (I’m American, and I have no problem with people of his nationality), and how he has no respect for the people under him (in the sense of disparaging all non-manager peons). I hate how he cheats on his wife.
I hate how talking is frowned upon, so I have to sit next to other people in silence and isolation all day, preventing the possibility of actually making friends. Lunch is apparently discouraged, too, so gotta eat at my desk. Oh, yeah, and of course he blathers on all day about nonsense that has nothing to even do with work, something the peons could never get away with.
The one good thing is that I make mad money, but I’m thinking that being unhappy isn’t worth vast piles of cash.
In summary, the thing I hate the most is having to please other people all the time. Oh, yeah, I’m quitting next week, so wish me luck in future endeavors.
So, will self-employment be my key to ultimate escape?
Hey, reading all that above, it looks pretty clear to me that my boss is the only reason I don’t like my job. Otherwise, I’d love it, since I love the actual tasks that I have to do for work.
I’ve worked in major corporations for 25 years - well, except for five years when I was employed as a consultant at a small company - and all my clients were major corporations. Most of my bosses have been great, some of them have had me run screaming. Without exception, my worst bosses were early in my career - eventually (and it took a while) I realized “I don’t need this shit” - which I think changed the ability my bosses HAD to be bad.
My boss is mostly a fairly decent guy. When things go wrong though? We all just want to curl up in a closet and maybe die.
To be fair, he is married with five daughters, all but one is now in their teenager years. :eek:
You just have to deal with corporate hell unless you want to do actual work.
Another thread where the OP’s user name and the thread topic mesh together in bizarre ways …
Before you can obtain meaningful advice on whether self-employment is the best route for you, more info is needed: what are your skills/what you would be planning to employ yourself as? How important is, not just being financially well-off, but being secure? Do you need expensive health insurance? Are you on your own, or helping to support a family?
I’m in the same position and I did what you did. Quit. As soon as they replace me, I’m going self-employed myself.
I actually really like my boss and all my coworkers, so our situation is different there. The things I don’t like about the corporate life are more things like the dress code (no facial hair?!), various policies on various things that make me feel like a gradeschooler (I’m written up for tardies if I get stuck in traffic and show up 5 minutes late, for example), 30 minute lunches (I get the stink eye if I take 35 minutes), etc.
Life is too short to spend 40 hours a week hating it. Being self-employed, I’ll make less and work harder, but I’ll be happier.
Also, as your career goes on, you have more skills and are hopefully less replacable. This changes bosses attitudes.
I suspect most horrible-people bosses are at the lower levels, they never get promoted. If you move up the ladder yourself, you deal with different kinds of bosses. They may be more subtle jerks, they may be strategic morons, but they’re less likely to be cringe-worthy scumbags. IMO.
Sounds like this is your first job. If you’ve been there for a couple of years, no one will think twice about you changing jobs. Get your resume ready, and start networking. If you are in a big company, start looking for other internal openings. If not, start asking people if they know about openings and start applying. Don’t quit first. The process of looking, and seeing an end, will make you feel much better.
I’ve been pretty lucky with bosses but I did work in one place for a psycho. When I wasn’t allowed to move (even though the hiring boss wanted me) I found another job and left. So, just hum “50 ways to leave your workplace.”
I hope that this is an “…on the inside” kind of thing and not something you actually did IRL. Because it’s a typical rookie mistake that can (if you’ll pardon the expression) really bite you in the ass.
I’ve been working in my industry for about 16 years now, and it’s amazing how often I’ve ended up working this job with people I’ve worked at other jobs.
That “boss” might be at another company you really want to work for in the future. People who have heard what you did may also be at other companies you apply at in the future.
My experience says “never burn any bridges” because you never know what’s going to happen in the future.
I feel weird reading this thread, because I’m in my late 30’s, and I’m making plans to get into corporate hell. Assuming they’d even let me in, I don’t think the little rules about facial hair and lunch times would really get to me after all I’ve seen in academia, but this thread does give me second thoughts about my plans.
From what I’ve seen, corporate politics at the low level are much better than academic politics. There are crappy bosses just like their are crappy department chairs and deans. It’s easier to move in the corporate world. There are also good bosses - when you interview, be sure to reverse interview your prospective boss. The only time I didn’t (he was on sabbatical) I regretted it.
Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking too. I’m not worried about the politics. Two things are knawing at me: Whether corporate people would hire a 40-year-old right out of business school and whether I could make enough to pay off my loans and retire before my 105th birthday. In my favor, I haven’t spent the last fifteen years picking my feet. I’ve learned a lot of useful skills. I’m just hoping they’ll consider that in the job interview.
I don’t think I’d have a problem with piddly rules or keeping my mouth shut. Not after all these years in an academic library.
