How much does work matter to you?

[IamInLoveWithBigBrother]

People lucky enough and young enough to do "what they love" in a professional setting can find some sort of fulfillment and enjoyment in their work until the harsh realities of the economy and of the workplace grind their dreams and aspirations to dust. For the rest of us it is probably reduced to the size of the paycheck. If I could earn as much as I do now stocking shelves at the Lidl next to me I'd be there. Work is a means to an end, that's all. Do as little as possible for as much as possible and never feel bad about yourself as long as you pay your bills and all that.

 

[tinka21021]

I love my work, wouldn't trade it for anything. It is very rare to enjoy what you do, just find something you find satisfying or low your expectations for yourself.

 

[Not A Bunny]

I make good money doing something that I can't imagine not doing, not because I love it, but it's because it suits my personality, skill set and knowledge base.

I also suffer from the crippling anxiety of being the token female in more of a lot of my adult jobs than not.

So, on balance, I'm comfortable, but I'm not truly happy about it.

 

[pot of sneed]

Have a pretty basic job and it's definitely the one I've most enjoyed having. I've had to work a lot over December, 10 hours a day most of the week but I'm coming up to the end of it now that Christmas is around the corner and I've gotten quite a chunky paycheck for all the hard work. It's a means to an end since I'm not wealthy at all but the convenience of the job (i.e: location, difficulty of work, good colleagues to work with) makes it quite worthwhile and I'm counting my blessings for it as I've had a lot of shitty jobs in the past so I'm really happy with what I've currently got. Definitely enjoying a bottle of cider or three after my last shift.

 

[Uncle Ted's Cabin]

I'm self aware enough to acknowledge that I care too much about my career and am a bit of a workaholic. I strongly believe in the value of diligence and I feel that hard work in itself is fulfilling. It is very much a double edged sword. I am behind in other areas of my life and now that things aren't going well for me professionally, it's having a sizable effect on my self esteem. I know that it's bad to think this way in 2024, but unfortunately I think I'm more or less wired this way and it's something that I will have to put a lot of effort into curtailing. I'm trying to be better and focus on hobbies, but it's been hard for me to stay out of negative headspace recently. I have good work life balance in my new job whether I like it or not, which is something that a lot of people would covet; for me it means being alone with negative thoughts more frequently. I think that I will end up spending the extra time either trying to make additional income and/or studying things that will make me more employable in this bad job market.

 

[Geddy Lee's Fee and See]

I put myself in the unenviable position where I actually chose the job I loved doing (in addition to liking my job and my bosses and co-workers. I just hate the town I'm in but that's fine) because it's a natural extention of what I'm skilled at, love doing and has a very good chance of actually being a good career path. I'm very blessed in that regard.


I may teeter between being stressed out and being a bit lazy at times, but I honestly feel my job was made for me and I couldn't see myself doing something similar. The costs to my social life have been great admittedly, but frankly, sacrificing superficial relationships that get you nowhere for your vocation in life is a bargain worth taking. Plus, it puts me in a position to make more long-term relationships should I play my cards right.

I really do love my job and hope to go down the road I've chosen to advance through the cursus honorum of the field I'm in. Very rare to say that, but I do feel it.

 

[conodont]

Work is the most valuable skill people have, and it's the largest contributor to discipline. Work matters a ton, especially if it's done for your local community.

 

[Eschaton Aggravate]

I'm very much a "work to live" kinda guy, never been passionate about my work, but i gotta pay those bills.

 

[Tomato flowers]

I’ve been called “mercenary” at work before and was so confused, because… yes? That is exactly what work is for, is it not? Apparently only the boss is allowed to be mercenary. Anyway, I just became the boss and contract instead of working W-2, I make way more money than the wage slaves and can just tell the company to get fucked if I really want to. But I don’t, because bills.

 

[Overwritten Tapes]

Work is just work to me. I haven't found a single thing that I was truly passionate about. I get burned out of everything within a year.

 

[Otterly]

I went into the job I have because I thought it’d be interesting and helpful, and I e realised it’s just corporate evil like everything else. I worked far too hard for the first twenty years of doing it and now feel quite burned out. I now work because they pay me and that’s it. I would love a job that I find more fulfilling, and I keep my eyes open for it.
I must also pick this up:

thanks to unqualified parents not setting me up to succeed,

Drop this as soon as you can because it will not change and it will hold you back. I’m from a generation where my parents grew up with nothing, in poverty. They gave me a home full of books as a kid, and they had no leg up for me past that because we had no spare money, and no history of university. That’s that. I’m not getting an inheritance, I didn’t get a house deposit. I didn’t expect one. I got to uni under my own ability, with tiptop grades I earned myself.
I was in classes with kids who had trust funds and jobs waiting in daddy’s company, and who had had tutors and fancy schools, one of them lived in a house the size of chatsworth. And i was living off twenty quid a week and went to a school that was rough as guts. You start comparing yourself to your peers like that and it’ll do a number on you. Let that go. Reframe it; you’re doing OK without all that. About half of those trust fund tutored kids dropped out because it was a tough course. And they went straight into the nepotism route and probably earn way more than me. It is what it is, you can’t change it and to fix on it will only do you harm. But your success will be your own

 

[Wot Zit Too Yah0996]

Initially, for me, it was making decent buck from warehouse, recycling, manual labour stuff, but I found myself pissed off over time, because of the shifts. Now, my focus is both finding a career I'm passionate about it, and also having a decent wage eventually, but also also finding an additional, relatively enjoyable job on the side, in order to build more earnings on the side, and perhaps even into my decent wage job.

 

[Demonslayer1776]

The truly sad thing about modern work environments is that people with dreams have them crushed while lazy losers are protected and never fave the consequences of their actions. The fact there are so many stories of ambitious young guys who keep getting passed up for promotions or can't land interviews is sad, and it's even sadder when you pair it with the countless stories of lazy coworkers who constantly fuck up and never show any sign of being fired. The incentive structure is clearly backwards for these 2 situations to coexist so often.

 

[Mao Hao Hao]

Chugging along in a job currently that's okay, not amazing, but miles better than the previous one I pulled myself out of. While working here, I am also setting up skills etc to finally have a job in something I've always wanted to do, so it acts as enough motivation to not just quit when stuff gets too much.
It's much easier to find a better job while currently working than it is to try the same with no job (unless have the money etc to support you while you do that).
But if I could get decent money without working I wouldn't get bored etc, I'd simply just find it much easier to progress to the stuff I actually wanted to do, since I'd have far more free time without work being in the way.

 

[WillyPete]

Work only matters for me so long as it pays the bills, company loyalty is trash and if a competitor were to offer me a better salary or benefits I'd immediately jump over. No matter what you work as, if you don't own it, the company doesn't care about you no matter how many rights you have as a worker. And on top of that you get to pay the penalty for productivity (income tax) because who else would feed the niggers and arabs if we didn't take at least 35% of your paycheck.