tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post3016125841312719394..comments2023-12-27T14:06:50.562+00:00Comments on (Contains Mild Peril): Always Look on the Bright Side of LifeGeoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00340519450159428760noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-63781956877755046162011-12-08T21:05:49.586+00:002011-12-08T21:05:49.586+00:00They were welcoming but had nothing else to say ei...They were welcoming but had nothing else to say either to me or to each other. It didn't help that none of us faced each other. 8 hours without conversation going on is miserable.Geoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00340519450159428760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-52838467311451613262011-12-08T15:58:54.610+00:002011-12-08T15:58:54.610+00:00The sad fact is that very few jobs are going to be...The sad fact is that very few jobs are going to be a barrel of laughs in the first 3 months. I used to find a conspiracy of antipathy until they've sussed you out - went on for 18 months in my last 2 jobs.Roghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09430706557035189147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-41506451808492770292011-12-06T21:13:00.884+00:002011-12-06T21:13:00.884+00:00Looby - I'm not suited to accounts work but it...Looby - I'm not suited to accounts work but it's all I know.<br /><br />The Owl Wood - Until three years ago my previous workplace was actually a pleasant place to work. Then the bullshitters took over.<br /><br />MJ - I'm having a month off to learn more about Office. Then I'll be back on the treadmill.Geoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00340519450159428760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-51723203155708622562011-12-06T12:48:13.762+00:002011-12-06T12:48:13.762+00:00The best thing you could have done was to leave th...The best thing you could have done was to leave this soul-crushing job.<br /><br />Keep slogging through the annoying interview process until you find something more suitable and you'll never look back.The Mistresshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07109289531733623207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-36091851411778837202011-12-06T08:36:10.099+00:002011-12-06T08:36:10.099+00:00Some jobs make you wonder where the camera is hidd...Some jobs make you wonder where the camera is hidden.<br /><br />The rot became irreversible when the term "compensation" became widely used instead of "remuneration" or, better yet, "pay".<br /><br />My employers have always hated me because I won't kiss their gluteus maximii but I notice that they always wanted to keep me, at least they used to until I burned the last Data Centre to the ground and nailed the manager's fluffy white world-domination cat to his wife's forehead.<br /><br />The "high" point of my three and a half decades leading to a meteoric redundancy, bankruptcy and penury was feeling the hairs on the back of my neck rising as I worked feverishly at my terminal at 3am in a room lit only by terminal screens and the fires of Hell. I turned around and counted twenty-three "managers" all watching me fix the problem. They were in a semi-circle and had coffee cups. I suggested that it might be nice if they went away and had sex with themselves.<br /><br />To be fair, they did (go away that is).The Owl Woodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11484484539144369129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-44686424847585652562011-12-04T18:04:44.161+00:002011-12-04T18:04:44.161+00:00As Tim said, it's not a failure to find that s...As Tim said, it's not a failure to find that sort of work intolerable. That's an abnormal situation which very few real human beings could cope with for a long time.<br /><br />There are jobs (or, more usually, my own projects, which may or may not get paid) where I thrive on the pressure. But then it's because I am enjoying what I'm doing, the very process of it. Putting on my shows for e.g, I'll happily work any number of hours.<br /><br />OTOH, there are those jobs (very few, I must say) where nothing much happens, but which give you time to think, or read, or look out of the window.<br /><br />I hope you can find something that's a bit more you. But remember, it's not you that's wrong, it's the fit of you and the job.loobyhttp://loobynet.co.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-59514257341364947152011-12-04T15:18:05.782+00:002011-12-04T15:18:05.782+00:00Arabella - Thank you. Hopefully I'll thrive ag...Arabella - Thank you. Hopefully I'll thrive again. I won't stand for anything less.<br /><br />Space Hopper - Thank you. Accounts work is so unfulfilling you need a friendly atmosphere to get you through the day.Geoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00340519450159428760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-57697785970293138152011-12-04T13:47:46.500+00:002011-12-04T13:47:46.500+00:00Geoff, I can't imagine anyone who writes as el...Geoff, I can't imagine anyone who writes as eloquently as you, feeling anything other than lost in the work environment you describe. That makes you the very opposite of a loser, in my book. I hope things work out.Space Hopperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09456312973464852920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-32337115312666143192011-12-04T09:57:09.202+00:002011-12-04T09:57:09.202+00:00I hear you about the book trade.
I've thrived...I hear you about the book trade.<br /><br />I've thrived in some working environments (few) and died quickly or slowly in others (most). Tim and Annie express eloquently what I would like to say.<br />Good luck at the docs - I hope you get a true listener.Arabellanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-65416123250979235382011-12-02T21:34:08.520+00:002011-12-02T21:34:08.520+00:00Thanks, Tim. I'm hoping he's a better care...Thanks, Tim. I'm hoping he's a better careers adviser than the one I saw last month.<br /><br />Annie - Thank you. I wouldn't mind working in a bookshop but there's only one left round here and they only stock a few discounted books which nobody buys. I don't mind boring work as long as it's well-organised and I get on with my co-workers. The problem is I don't thrive under pressure and everywhere seems to be understaffed nowadays. Computerisation was an excuse to make more redundancies than was good for the wellbeing of the remaining staff. The two women who interviewed me work long hours and both said they were workaholics, as if it was a virtue they brought to the job rather than an illness forced on them by uncaring management.Geoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00340519450159428760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-23921202223061494752011-12-02T18:54:40.789+00:002011-12-02T18:54:40.789+00:00Oh Geoff. Sympathy (and empathy).
I've never ...Oh Geoff. Sympathy (and empathy).<br /><br />I've never had an easy time in the world of work and I so know what you're talking about. <br /><br />I think my worst point (when I'd lost a job and was temping whilst looking for another one) was sitting in an office, totally isolated in one of those cubicles, and nobody talked to me all day because I was just 'the temp'. Occasionally my 'boss' would ask if I could run up five flights of stairs to get him chocolate from out of the vending machine and would pull out a handful of coppers from his pocket and thrust them at me to pay for it. He clearly didn't need a secretary, he was just too high up in the company not to have one. Sometimes they might ask me to set out glasses & pour water for a meeting. Nobody spoke to me the whole time I was there, I lasted about four days too then I rang my temp agency up and told them to get me out of there because they were all cunts. (not really.)<br /><br />Afterwards I gave up looking for something that was anything like what I had been doing before,and went and worked in a bookshop. It was a much lower salary but they were lovely people and you could talk to them about music & books and stuff. I started to feel like a normal human being again and gained my confidence & sense of myself back slowly. <br /><br />Some people have an amazing knack of being able to dissociate themselves from work. They can somehow rise above. I've never been able to do that. I wish you luck my dear, don't be forced into anything that isn't good for your mental health. As Tim says, you are not a loser, work has nothing to do with who we are. It's just a necessary evil (and if you're lucky, you might enjoy it.)<br /><br />I'll shut up now.Anniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15941917503687179585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16460150.post-34028109868964789002011-12-02T15:48:38.493+00:002011-12-02T15:48:38.493+00:00I didn't think you were a loser before and I s...I didn't think you were a loser before and I still don't now. People who can thrive in that sort of deathly landscape aren't worth knowing. Hope the doc has some good ideas.Tim Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14681067872556519250noreply@blogger.com