I have always done office/administration. I spent 17 years as an electorate officer with various members of parliament helping constituents as well as front counter reception etc. The money was amazing but I was unfulfilled. So I did a degree part time and graduated with a Human Resources degree to pursue my dream of mentoring and helping a dedicated workforce in private enterprise. That was 14 months ago. Let me tell you what happened. I got a job with a local transport company as their HR Manager. The day I started I closed 2 depots and sacked 27 people. In September of last year, I was flown to Brisbane to do ‘perfomance reviews’ and management rang me as I was entering the depot to tell me I was actually there to sack the staff and close that depot. I watch dickheads take stupid risks with driver fatigue and the yardies take unnecessary risks on forklifts. The money is okay, when we get paid. You see the Queensland and Victorian floods wiped out most of the company’s key accounts. So we all took pay cuts. And the parent company folded last Tuesday and I found out that all my superannuation payments have actually never been paid, so as a 41 year old woman, I’ve lost an entire year of super (about $6000) and all the compounded interest. I sit in an relocateably office (approximately 10 x 10 feet) alone all day and go entire days without any human contact. Yeah, it’s soul-crushing. BUT today I had an interview for a position with the local Aboriginal Health Services which would see me being a mentor and guiding hand for local projects with a view to great outcomes for Aboriginal health. Am I excited - yes. Is the money good? I forgot to ask about it. I find out tomorrow. FWIW - my dream is to become and independent publisher, but I think that might have to wait for retirement.
You and a billion people in India, pal!
The OP should try farming. Or working in a factory in China making iPads or whatever iShit is coming down the pipe next. I have a feeling that would change his perspective on “soul-crushing office jobs”. 
I worked 12-hours shifts at a lumber-mill. I figuratively broke my back, working outside when it was snowing and ten degrees out, and for awhile, during the summer, when it was regularly in the '90s. Each day, I took fifteen minutes for lunch, eating it from a brown paper-bag in a room that was no larger than a walk-in closet, that had once been a small utility shed. It was located in the middle of the planing equipment. It was the only room in which I could take my safety head-phones off, but with the machinery running, it still sounded like a freight train was passing just beyond the doors. I went through a pair of these gloves each and every shift. I wore through the rubber coating and the knitting until my fingers were bare. It took me a month and dozens of gloves before I found a pair that was could withstand the work and still allowed for a minimum-level of dexterity. I came home bruised and aching with sap in my hair and my clothing covered in a fine layer of sawdust. The sawdust was all greasy with the exhaust of the machinery, too. Impossible to get out of your clothes. God, just awful.
I worked on a farm. I worked as a ranch-hand. Same complaints as the lumber-mill job, basically, that it was physically punishing and often uncomfortable.
And I worked in an office, too. Doing basic administrative stuff, paperwork. If my body could stand it, I would choose to work at the lumber-mill, and it’s an easy decision to make. The agonizing boredom of working in an office is unbearable for me. It is soul-crushing. There’s something supremely estranging and inhuman about an office environment. I’ve never felt less fulfilled as a person than when I was working in one.
Not that building iPads would be any better. I imagine it’d have the same problems inherent to office-work, the repetition and boredom. But farming, yes please. I’d take that.
I was also in line to pursue acting. For years, that was my dream.
I don’t regret not pursuing it, I do enjoy my job a lot and am good at it, but I still have dreams…they’re just different.
An office job doesn’t have to be soul-crushing - you just need to find one that fits.
For some people it is better they don’t work at their dream job, so their dream - whether it be acting, music, art, or cooking is a fun and enjoyable hobby.
Nothing is worse than a passion being turned into a soul crushing hell!
Out of a 11 year IT career, I’ve had 4 real jobs of about 3 years each.
In my experience, what seems to make the difference is the management outlook. The managers who think about managing people are the ones you want, and the ones who think about managing projects instead of people are the ones you do not want. It may sound silly, but the different focuses describe wildly different approaches to work, tasks and management.
The people managers realize and recognize that people are the real assets that the company has, and that happy people work better, harder and longer than unhappy ones. They also recognize that people require variety, work-life balance, and respect. Their approach is one of nurturing and developing talent who can solve the problems and work the projects themselves. They’re usually the ones who want you to develop your skills, work on side projects, etc…
The “project” managers view the project as the important thing, and tend to think of people as “resources”, who are more or less interchangeable within a particular skill set. As you can imagine, this is fairly soul crushing, because you’re just a cog in a machine who does a task, not a person who has unique experience and opinions.
Hey guys, just popping in to say this has been a tremendous read. I love reading the responses. I’ve decided that, for the time being, I’m going to get my Sommelier’s Certification and transfer back to working in the Front of House, hopefully somewhere really nice. If I go back to school, at least I’ll be able to afford it!
I’ve tried several times to be “cubed,” but I just can’t do it. I try to be good (responsible, steady pay check et al) but at some point I just want to go by McDonald’s & head out to the beach, so I quit. So far, no cure.
Exactly. I make heaps of money from my usually interesting/occasionally boring office job. That then allows me to enjoy my hobbies in my spare time. Best of both worlds really.