Oh joy, back to work again

The BBQ Pit
1

[I’m only writing this to get it out of my system; please don’t feel obliged to reply]

Tomorrow is my first day back at work, and the very thought of it is making me dread the minute I check my email. I’d just about managed to put thoughts of it out of my mind over Christmas, but made the mistake of pre-emptively checking my voicemail tonight. Three messages, three more piles of shit to deal with in the morning.

I have one thoroughly unhelpful client who never provided evidence for my work; now they’re raising merry hell at my report. As the lowest rung on the ladder, it’s my job to deal with the flak from them and from our audit team. My only supporter, my line manager, has resigned and is getting out while she can.

On the same job the audit manager has been trying to stab me in the back while I’ve been away, claiming my work wasn’t up to scratch and that he’d had to do it himself. Bollocks. He got involved at the end and made no difference. Now my reputation is at risk thanks to his little fit.

I also have a particularly fun job coming up next week - the client hasn’t responded to requests for meetings despite several months’ notice, and the line manager for this job has already carpeted me for a previous job (mostly because he failed to understand the new reporting standards I was using that he was unfamiliar with).

So basically I have one line manager who I hate working for, a client screaming blue murder about me and a second client who won’t even answer the phone. I’m dreading it. I’m usually one of the most consistent, reliable and generally decent people at my grade, but I just feel sapped and I’m sure it’s hurting the quality of my work and my attitude.

I’d resign but the job market is so stagnant that I doubt I could survive for long; even temp jobs are scarce. So now I feel trapped tool - if I resign without a job to go to it would look very bad on my CV (I resigned from my previous position), and because of foul-ups like these clients I never have time to attend interviews or really get stuck into job-hunting.

I realise that it’s not the end of the world. I have a job, it pays well, I could be a lot worse off. But right now it’s just making me miserable. I’ve been stressed at work before, but nothing like this. How do you deal with it?

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Just be happy.

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That’s my aim. Sadly not quite that easy at this point in time.

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Is that your final decision? Just so you know, happiness comes from the inside out, not the other way around. :wink:

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I hope it’s not a decision! It’s just that what would make me happy right now would be rather drastic and impractical, and could very likely cause more unhappiness in the long run. Bugger work!

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Sorry to hear it’s rubbish at the moment. Stick it out, things will improve - try not to get overwhelmed by it all. And remember - you are not your job and you cannot control all the circumstances. I know you’re a decent chap :wink: Best of luck.

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In my opinion, unhappiness comes from desire. Simply let go of your desires.

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Easier said than done, for me at least. Worth considering, of course. Thanks for the suggestions (and cheers Fran!).

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Believe me, Matt, I know how you feel :frowning:

[sub](apart from the “tomorrow” bit, since I’m off til Monday.)[/sub]

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My job’s been hell, well, heck, for awhile too. Too much work, not enough support, not enough time to do things the way I’d like, no light at the end of the tunnel.

Just about every day I ask myself, what’s the worst that could happen? Somebody gonna die? No. Well then. I calm right down.

I can survive unhappy bosses and snippy people who don’t get what they want when they want it. Keep smiling, do the best you can.

Take it a day at a time and realize that it will get better.

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Crusoe, what is your job exactly? Accountant?

News to me. Why is this? That’s exactly what I did a year ago, didn’t hurt me any. I just told the truth : that the 3 month gap between jobs was an intentional holiday from work in which I did nothing more than play guitar, read books, and complete some private software projects. Of course I only intended that break to be 1 month long… it overran solely due to the fact that, then as now, the job market is utterly stagnant.

But I don’t regret it one bit. If work makes you that unhappy, you should quit and find somewhere where your boss isn’t a waste of oxygen! But don’t quit right away, 'cos things might get better where you are. I’d say a decent suffering period would be around two months. Anything more than that is just masochistic.

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Forgot to add : resigning without a job to go to ALSO indicates that you are not a disloyal treacherous weasel who uses ‘sick’ days for interviews etc.

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First, take a deep breath and realise that you are not your work, and your job does not define your life. You owe more to yourself than to be caged by such shitheads.

Secondly, none of the problems you reported seem insurmountable - ask the complaining client to list any work they query or invoices they disagree with, and work through one by one. Ask the audit manager to detail which work he was unhappy with and changed himself - then watch as he tries to avoid putting down anything concrete. Copy the line manager on your emails to the marie celeste client, so he can’t claim to have been left uninformed or that you didn’t try hard enough. OK, obviously the solutions won’t be this easy and therer’s details I don’t know about, but most problems become a lot easier when you take them one by one and break them into chunks.

Finally, and this is the most important one, what are you doing outside of work? Modern workplaces just seem designed now to promote stress and worries, and the only thing that keeps me from losing it are ice hockey, skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, inlining - whatever sport is available at that time of year to work out the tension and make me feel alive again. It’s the payback to myself, that reminds me why I put up with the bullshit and why it’s all worthwhile. Even the shittiest week in the office evaporates after a terrifying downhill, a good slapshot in the back of the net, or that rare moment when you finally pull off a 360. What floats your boat?

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Thanks for the responses all. Sorry to hear you’re suffering too, ruadh.

Reuben - I don’t really have a job title, but basically I do IT reviews for auditors. They need someone to explain whether they can rely on financial data at their clients. They don’t like us very much (“coneheads”) and we don’t always like them either (“audit monkeys”).

The resignation problem is specific to me. I resigned from my last job because I was bored - over-recruitment left me high and dry with literally nothing to do for weeks on end. If I resign from two in a row it’d raise a few eyebrows with future employers (lack of commitment etc). Not the end of the world but not sure if it’s a good idea either.

AuntiePam and Gary: thanks for the advice. I’ve never been very strong-willed when it comes to toughing out nasty situations, but I think you’re both right.

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Unless, of course, one of your desires is to be happy.

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Nothing could make you more unhappy than clinging to that particular desire.

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That’s gotta hurt.

Seriously though, from former experience I feel your pain. Good luck, and remember it’s not your life, just your job. Make getting a decent one an ongoing task (albeit probably a long-term one in the current climate).

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Great advice there, Libertarian. “Just be happy.” Why didn’t anyone ever think of it before. We can all Just Be Happy and all our worries and cares will just fall away.

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For real. There’s no problem that a facile solution can’t fix.

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It sounds to me like Libertarian is writing about some of the tenets of Buddhism. While it may well lead to happiness, it isn’t a simple fix-it type of solution either, like those “inspirational” business posters and short parable books about missing cheese. For instance, the exhortations in Buddhism to let go of “desire” doesn’t mean that you don’t want/strive for anything and get rid of your possessions; “desire” in that context really means the sorts of obsessions that have become unhealthy to you and are driving you to unhappiness. It is difficult to tell from this thread whether Crusoe is experiencing that, or if so, where exactly the problem is. It might just be a job change (or a change within the job) that fixes how he’s feeling, or it might be something more ingrained within him.

IANAB, merely someone who is learning about it, and I don’t know if Libertarian is one either. His commentary seemed to echo some of what I’ve been reading, though, and I wanted to attempt to explain it in that light.

Regarding the OP, document as much as you can. You may think it doesn’t look good to simply resign from a job, but it doesn’t look good to be fired for incompetence (whether real or not) either. Keep scouting for jobs, keep your resume up to date, and have people who’d be good for references in mind. Don’t burn bridges. If you think the situation is hurting your work and your attitude, it probably is - and in my experience, the hard-working people are usually affected strongly by that, since it stands out more than when substandard/average workers aren’t doing as well. Good luck to you, I hope things turn around for you soon.