To be specific, I pit the idiots who says “why don’t you just quit?” It makes me wonder … has this person ever held a job in their ENTIRE LIFE?
It’s true that we all have the legal right to quit our jobs, but in a slow economy, or a Republican economic expansion as they’re also called, it’s often difficult or impossible to quit as a practical matter. So telling people to quit under such circumstances is pointless, thoughtless, and makes you look like a fatuous blowhard without an ounce of decency in your makeup.
Sometimes people have to quit jobs and they do so, but they generally go through a certain amount of hell before they do. You deserve your turn in hell, too, fatuous ones. I’ve seen posts like this quite frequently when people post to complain about their boss or their job, and I just want to take this opportunity to tell every last one of you to go to hell. You need the experience. Really.
It must be such a burden on them to be independently wealthy. You don’t know what kind of stress they’re under. No bills to pay, no car payments, mortgages, mouths to feed. Should they take the BMW or the Jaguar to the yacht club? Is this Beluga caviar fresh?
Really, walk a mile in their shoes before pitting them.
I hear that. I was ranting about my boss a few years ago, and at least one person said “just quit”. I was astonished. Obviously, this person is lucky enough to work in a field that hadn’t been ripped apart by the economy, or doesn’t need to work at all.
As it happened, I was laid off a few weeks or months later, and it was nearly two years before I found a full time regular job.
I know I should cite this but I can remember a few “My job/boss/coworker/etc is intolerable” threads from people who have burger doodle type jobs when all the other Burger Queen/Burger Bonanza/Burger Bob places in town would most likely have openings. In these cases, finding new employment is not that big of a hurdle.
Then there are the people who paint such a bleak picture of their situation that one could only come away with the conclusion that their life or health is in jeopardy. In these cases, life and health are obvious choices
I will be the first to admit that it is not easy to just get up and leave a job and the golden handcuffs (even if it’s just gold-colored tin) it can put on you. However…
[Devil’s Advocate] sometimes, the statement might be a wake up call to freshen your resume, cut down on your debt and/or stoke your savings, in preparation for finding a new job. I’m not advocating going to your boss and saying, “I’m outta here”. I’m advocating being in a position to go to your boss and saying, “I’m officially giving my 2 weeks notice.” knowing you have someplace to go.
[/Devil’s Advocate]
Change is hard, and sometimes a swift verbal kick in the pants (i.e. “Just quit”) might be what is needed to start the ball rolling. And other might be prompted by a different stimuli…one never knows until one tries.
Yeah, but most of the time the person complaining about their job/boss is just venting. And most of the time the people saying “Just quit” arent doing it out of any desire to be constructive, they’re saying it so they dont’ have to think about the person’s situation, or acknowledge that our wonderful economic system can stress the hell out of people. It’s really a subtle way of saying, “Just fuck off.”
Perhaps I hate my job just enough to grumble about it, but not enough to go through the hassle of finding another one at this point in time. Just like people complain about something that their girlfriend/boyfriend is doing that rises to the level of annoyance, but not to the level of where they want to break up with them. Do you understand?
Personally, I intensely dislike hearing people complain endlessly about their jobs. Sure, every working person has days when the job seems unbearable, the corporation or the boss seems incredibly obtuse and you just have to gripe about it.
But if it’s all the time, there are 3 possible alternatives, and they apply to more than just jobs:
Change the environment.
Go somewhere else.
Change yourself.
By #1 I mean try to do something to make the place where you are better. Not always possible, but can often be attempted. #2 is obvious – find another place. Also not always possible, but should be investigated and attempted. #3 is the hardest. Learn to accept that where you are is better than the alternative. Better than being unemployed, for example.
It’s also possible that something the complainer is doing is at least part of the problem. I’ve known, and you probably have, too, those for whom nothing ever seems to go right and it’s NEVER their fault.
Doing nothing except bitch and moan is just irritating to everyone.
You forgot one:
4. Sometimes you simply have to accept the fact that you’re fucked.
My current job is a prime example. I am damned lucky to have a job in my field, because until it came along, I couldn’t get one since I had no experience. The economy in this area is in the tank, so even with the experience I do have in my field, there’s no hope of my finding another job. My immediate boss is the most inept fucktard I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with in my entire life, upper management holds him in nearly the same level of contempt as I do, but won’t fire him since he’s family, I cannot change shifts or departments to get away from this perforated douchebag, and in the name of Satan’s obstructed bowel, I refuse to change myself so that I enjoy working with a semi-literate, bigoted, lazy-ass jerk off with delusions of granduer.
I have tried to be the nice guy, I’ve let it slide when he’s kept his head shoved up my ass because I was doing a better job than he’s able to do, I’ve bitten my tongue when he’s confessed to not knowing something that anyone with a week’s worth of experience in machining would know the answer to, I’ve listened to his nearly hour long tirades against me when I’ve come up with a better, faster, and easier way of doing something, I’ve surpressed the urge to stave his skull in when he’s made comments like, “The people who jumped from the Towers on 9/11 are in Hell.” and I’ve done everything that I can possibly think of to improve the situation, all to no avail.
Today, I snapped. The lobotomized fucktard wanted me to do run a job using this incredibly convoluted fixture that he created, when there was a perfectly servicable one that I’d put together some weeks ago. I started stripping his jig off the machine and he said, “Why are you tearing that down?” I told him I wasn’t going to use his set up, he tried to tell me that his was faster (Uh, yeah, yours involves 3 C-clamps, a toe clamp, angle plate, and the mill vise, mine involves an aluminum plate, the mill vise and a set screw.), when I laughed, he said, “No, really it is.” This comes from a guy who can’t do simple math (and I mean the 1+1=2 stuff) in his head, and can’t be trusted to tell me how to set up a job (I’ve caught him on numerous occassions telling me to do a job in such a manner that if I followed his instructions I’d either damage the part, the equipment I was using or myself). I told him that his was the most jackassed set up I’d ever seen. I managed to keep quiet while he lectured me about my negative attitude (nevermind the fact that he’s been an ass to me ever since I showed up in the shop).
Later, I (probably foolishly) avenged myself by supergluing his coffee mug to the table. When I left at the end of my shift, he hadn’t discovered what I’d done. I’m wondering now if I’ll have a job tomorrow.
Heh, me and the other guy in the shop are seriously considering welding the tards next uberconvoluted set up in such a way that the welds aren’t easy to spot. Should be fun for hours watching him trying to swap parts.
Try as I might I can not picture a jig consisting of 3 c clamps a toe clamp, an angle plate and the mill vise. And I even know what you’re talking about. What the fuck are you making.
