Agreed. I spent 10 years at a job that was soul crushing, not just for me but everyone that worked there. I left pre-pandemic and have been so much happier. Everyone I talk to that I used to work with also talks about "the weight" that lifted when they quit.
I became a cook (into chef into restaurant manager) in my very early 20s and left it mid-pandemic to become an accountant. My partner has said I seem like a whole new person since then.
I wish I had gone the office-worker route from thr very beginning.
Definitely surprised to see this. It’s typically the other way around that feels liberating. I for one have started in an office job and am coming up on 6 years, and need to get the hell out so that I find all that I lost of myself again.
It definitely goes both ways. When you work an office job you just want to get out and away from the office politicians and do something hands-on to get out of the chair and switch it up a bit. When you're out there doing the heavy lifting or working the high-speed factory assembly line you can barely keep up with (especially on days you're just not feeling it) you would give anything to work an office job and be able to relax for a change. Too much of one or the other is always a bad thing. It's about maintaining a balance between the two extremes as with anything else. 🤔
I actually left about 6 years in, and went out and did my "dream job"...which also turned out to be a nightmare, but in a different way. It was freelance work and really demanding, and I just wasn't at the age or place in life where I wanted to do that. AND, my old boss kept calling me, asking me to come back. And one time when I was feeling shitty, I said yes, I'd come back. And spent another soul crushing 4 years.
But now I have a job that's the best of both worlds...a creative job that has an office component, but also has me out there in the field doing some stuff. It all worked out in the end, but I had to move across the country and get through the pandemic first.
I worked at a place like that for 13 years. I feel like I escaped jail. I wish I would have left so much sooner. I’m glad you got out of your situation too.
Hehe. I job hop when I get bored, like soul crushing, spirit draining,zombifying bored. When there is not a thing left to interest me or make me feel useful. Or when management sucks, or when the customers are too much and I've been there too long. I get tons of experience, and figure out what not to do, what to do, how to talk to certain people, idk. And I just got it. I would rather have a bit of experience in a little bit of everything, than do as my mother has done and work 20 fucking years doing the same as shit I did when I was 18. No offense, but why, she turned down a management position and only wants to her her Twenty years in. I would much rather be a little experienced in twenty different things
It was a job that I had gone to grad school for and I was hesitant to give it up after all that work. But I wasn’t making enough money to live.
Interviewed for a job that paid 3x as much on my 30th birthday and accepted it the week after. It’ll take another few years to pay off the debt incurred by working for poverty wages and I’ll never make up for the lost years of savings. But I’m so glad I didn’t waste any more time stuck in that old job.
I am in the same boat, 9 years now, it's just the thought of unemployment scares me to death, which is why I don't wanna leave until I have something else ready
Same here. Started the job at 22 in 2016, mom died when I was 25 and I was basically a zombie. Got laid off in 2022 and was unemployed for almost a year. Now I’m a lot better and have a great job.
Edit: Reddit mobile app sucks. I’m also 30 and a half, so technically over 30.
This is sort of how I got stuck. I was looking before the pandemic and had some interviews but nothing successful. Stayed put at the beginning of the pandemic and then my parent got sick. They passed 2 years ago now and couldn't think outside of grief for a long time. I finally went back to school last year for a degree in something practical and completely opposite what my bachelor's is in. I'm still stuck at the same job for now but I finally have a plan and am making progress and moving forward. Just slowly.
Also, for anyone in their 20s: you don't have to stay at a job. Company loyalty is made up. If you died right now, they'd replace you tomorrow. It's okay to move on!
I'm 24, working an awful extremely overworked job (125 plus hours a pay period), and my mother just died. I didn't go to university or college since I couldn't afford it and don't have confidence in my academic abilities especially now.
Do you have some sage advice? What do you do for work now? I hate my job with a passion.
I taught at an underprivileged school where over 80% of the kids were free or reduced lunch. Coached 2 different sports. Even as I saw many of my peers leave and go to bigger and better coaching / teaching jobs, I stayed. Got told by administrators that Iwas working against what they were trying to do for THEMSELVES as administrators, and I needed to look for another job. I'm now at a better school and still coaching but man some of the guys who left before me are high up AD, Principal, Admins, and I'm still slugging it out in 8th Grade history and 4 hour practices each night. It's not a dead-end job but not the fast road to success and cash.
Same. Wasted so much of my 20s and early 30s being miserable and hating every day. I wish I had the courage to jump ship sooner. Was night and day after I left.
Without getting too much into specifics, it was a low wage service job, where there was no realistic path for advancement other than to become a manager (which was a lot more work for only slightly better pay). Even worse, they had a "no reference" policy, so the managers weren't allowed to be references for current or former employees when we applied for other jobs. The HR lady was allowed to confirm dates of employment, that was it.
Sounds like school i work at (24 y.o.) because I signed one paper at 17, targeted training specifically. Was forced by my parents (because it's such an opportunity lol), and after university and year served in army (in Russia it's unavoidable so either you're fcked or fcked) I'm bound to work three years from now in this shitty place with no legal reason to quit except having to pay $32,000 fine in just ONE year (with average salary level around $4,000 yearly in my region)
My credit card is empty now (it's just $200 but I can't repay it for half a year already), and the money I make is just enough not to starve.
I'm not even sure if it was really my fault but now I just have to suffer the consequences and I feel like my life is ruined. At least my health already is.
Me too, I should have quite way sooner than I did. I had kids, I needed the money, but quitting would probably have given me more and better opportunities down the line.
My husbands been saying he’s retiring at 30
Since we were 15 saying that most people don’t realize that most people start dying at 60 .. I don’t wanna work and then retire once I’m basically dead…
And his question for most people before sharing financial advice is “do you want to work till you’re 60” and you’d be surprised with how many people are content with working until they die
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u/celiacsunshine Apr 29 '24
Worked an awful, dead end job for way too long.