Does anyone else struggle day by day, week by week with work?

[SuperElectric]

Why does a collections department have 12 hour shifts? That's madness.

I used worked in a place that opened 8am-8pm and we did 8 hour shift rotations (8-4, 9-5, 12-8, etc).

The bank's taking the ****

 

[Slam62]

I’m retired now and my stress and anxiety levels have significantly reduced, I used to be a clock watcher because I became so wound up during the working day. I worked in a highly technical role where it was easy to make mistakes and I think I took it all too much to heart.
The modern world pits people against each other and makes it very clear that if you slip up you’re in trouble.

 

[Worthy]

As has been said by others, no-one sits there on Sunday evening thinking:

"Yay work tomorrow!"

Well, some of the "Live to work" crowd will but they're odd. It shouldn't be at the point where you're dreading it though, you need to change jobs. If you're doing a customer service type role, it shouldn't be too hard to find another role that you don't hate as much. I can't imagine being in a role where the person on the other end of the phone doesn't want to speak to me, I can see how that would chip away at you over time.

The modern world pits people against each other and makes it very clear that if you slip up you’re in trouble.

Very true. I'm half a step away from being at the really senior end of what I do, and I'm actively trying to resist it as it's incredibly cut-throat, but under the guise of having a team mentality.

 

[willhub]

The problem is, for my role I'm paid the higher side of 35k, and looking at jobs at least in manchester city center, equivilant jobs are much lower pay. Yuo'd think I should be happy with a relatively decent wage, but this wage doesn't seem to go far, it doesn't feel like I've got expendable income it almost feels like the new £20k, or even £18k, I'm scrimping and saving, buying the lowest tier components for my bike, getting by ona rusty chain, money just dissapears, rent nearly £1k, you get doss houses for 950 now, mtge scene is unstable, really grates away.

 

[DanTheMan]

I worked in a bank call centre in Manchester (NatWest) for 3 years and I definitely had the work dread every morning. I did 10 hour shifts and that was bad enough, nevermind 12 hours.

Speaking to people who didn't want to speak to you was a big mental drain and I found I had no energy left at the end of the day to do anything else.

I moved to the civil service 5 years ago and I honestly don't get the work dread any more. It's amazing how a better job can make your overall life so much happier.

Is there no roles internally that you can apply for that is less mentally draining? Call centre / telephone work is not something that is sustainable long term, unless you are a natural talker who enjoy that sort of work.

 

[willhub]

@DanTheMan
I used to work at Hardman Boulevard 6th floor for 4 years (left in 2016) customer svs for NW/RBS, at least they had a really good canteine and a nice subsidised starbucks.

There isn't much in the way of stepping to non customer facing unfortunatly most of that going to India.

 

[Personality+]

Bit of a bland title, didn't really know what else to type.

But just the thought of work, for example on a Sunday, generally bringing the day down and worrying about getting prepped for Monday, a gloomy day, always feels so dark and dismal.

Then the thought of the working week, it's almost as if you're looking up at this impossible to climb mountain that you have to climb but you're feeling so lethargic already.

I do 12 hour shifts Mon,Tue, Thursday, every other week do 4 hours on a Saturday, but I can't fathom why I still feel like the week is so dismal when I have more time off than people on conventional 5 day week, I get Wednesday off, Friday off and then Saturday/Sunday, Wednesday is generally the day I have to myself but just sleep to try and replenish my energy after the 8-8's. Other days I'm with the family and it's generally non-stop.

The thought of work just makes me want to run for the hills at the moment. Maybe it's the time of the year?

I sometimes think perhaps it's my job, but, every job will have some cons attached to it, mine is speaking to angry peoples as I work in a bank, and, generally quite sensitive so I can feel quite aggravated when customers start going off on one at me and know there is nothing I can do about it and I have to just sit back and take it.

You've perfectly described my Sundays. I'm currently applying for new jobs myself and getting nowhere, also trying to make money online with the free time I have everyday.

But I'm also considering getting more professional credentials dropping my work week to 3 days a week (part time, basically)

Felt the same way since the start of the year.

 

[willhub]

What are you doing to make money online?

 

[Personality+]

What are you doing to make money online?

Tiktok shop and creator program, works surprisingly well once you start making better content (and hopefully get a little bit of reach on your video) in a few discord groups, where people talk about what methods they're using to implement everything.

But obviously it's not enough to quit the day job but I'm hoping I can get it to a point where if I go down to part time hours, this will cover the difference. If you're willing to go on tiktok live and show your face etc and sell products (I am not) there's another decent money maker for some.

 

[delta0]

Also have this feeling towards work. The amount of politics and stress has gone insane. I try to make a real effort to switch off at the weekends and focus more on the things I enjoy outside of work.

 

[Jim99]

I always hoped that having enough time off, working from home more etc would make me suddenly not care about all the crap. But nope, even now WFH 90% of the time I still get fed up of stupid stuff happening, poor management, smoke and mirrors, politics etc.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Sometimes I struggle, and I count the minutes. I really struggle if I don't have a task. That could be something major like work on a strategy for x, or it could be as simple as fixing up a spreadsheet or something. But if I don't feel I have a task then I struggle to focus. Like right now!

 

[Beasty]

The weather / time of year certainly doesn't help in my experience. Happiness in a job is of course another big thing, the job I am in now is the least I've felt the way you are describing but the cold/dark mornings definitely made it harder and I started leaving the house later than I used to.

The first year or so in this job was brilliant and these Sunday evening blues etc were largely gone, now I've had a promotion and we are a lot busier due to growth it has crept back in a bit sometimes but nowhere near where it was in my last job when I was getting up to get the bus and then be on a train at 7am with a really poor manager and working in a really dull industry.

Sometimes in the evenings I do still look forward to going into work the next day though which is not really something I've ever experienced before this job.

 

[Lopéz]

Lately, this is becoming an issue for me. I used to love my job, but at my most recent company and projects I'm just not enjoying myself at all.

I am being used in a role that is not my usual one (PM rather than Consultant) and it's starting to wear me down. I'm not a great PM, it isn't a good fit for me, and I am investing a lot of energy in trying to make a half decent job of it with little success.

I'm starting to wake up at 4am thinking about work, which is not usual for me, and when I get to the end of the day I'm completely mentally exhausted.
I don't feel like I'm particularly valuable or effective and this is completely different to how I'm used to feeling about my job.

It's not a work life balance thing, I work normal hours, I'm not doing extra time or anything like that, I'm just not feeling mega effective while I am there.


I get paid well and I've been marked as a "key contributor" during our recent internal restructure, but I'm really not feeling it.

 

[Stu999]

I get paid well and I've been marked as a "key contributor" during our recent internal restructure, but I'm really not feeling it.

Well to be fair if other people have evaluated you that way you must be doing something right. However, if you really don't enjoy it then I see where you're coming from.

 

[Begbie]

Bit of a bland title, didn't really know what else to type.

But just the thought of work, for example on a Sunday, generally bringing the day down and worrying about getting prepped for Monday, a gloomy day, always feels so dark and dismal.

Then the thought of the working week, it's almost as if you're looking up at this impossible to climb mountain that you have to climb but you're feeling so lethargic already.

I do 12 hour shifts Mon,Tue, Thursday, every other week do 4 hours on a Saturday, but I can't fathom why I still feel like the week is so dismal when I have more time off than people on conventional 5 day week, I get Wednesday off, Friday off and then Saturday/Sunday, Wednesday is generally the day I have to myself but just sleep to try and replenish my energy after the 8-8's. Other days I'm with the family and it's generally non-stop.

The thought of work just makes me want to run for the hills at the moment. Maybe it's the time of the year?

I sometimes think perhaps it's my job, but, every job will have some cons attached to it, mine is speaking to angry peoples as I work in a bank, and, generally quite sensitive so I can feel quite aggravated when customers start going off on one at me and know there is nothing I can do about it and I have to just sit back and take it.

It definitely is, sitting in a cubicle being shouted it all day surely can't be rewarding or even difficult - both help give us a sense of purpose.

Why not change jobs? Or seek something new?

 

[willhub]

I do need to look for other jobs but its difficult, even difficult to look for a different type of job.

it's thursday as if the light is at the end of the tunnel, 2hr 40 minutes until finish and not in until the loop starts again, on Monday.

 

[Nitefly]

I generally enjoy my job but I can worry in my evenings and on Sunday etc.

‘Putting things down’ mentally is actually a skill. You have to be strict with your mind sometimes and deliberately say “OK - it’s now time to think about something else.” and actively turn your mind away. This applies to anything that repeats in a disruptive way… even if it’s unhelpful day-dreaming / fantasising. What I’m describing is why people say ‘count sheep to sleep’ - as you need to interrupt the part of your brain that won’t shut up, which is actually your brain glitching out.

What I’m about to say is genuinely a world changing life-hack, I’m not messing around…. this genuinely does work!!!: when you log off work, write ON PAPER a list of things you need to do the next day. Then leave that list on your keyboard or whatever and say to yourself “right, that’s for tomorrow”. As if by magic, you will be able to keep work thoughts at bay a lot easier.

@willhub try this ^^^

Also - do you often feel very resentful or upset about relatively trivial life things? Emptying a bin, spilling a drink, being snappy at your partner… whatever. If life can generally feel a chore at times, and has done for a long time, then it’s probably the case that there are other parts to your life that need work (e.g. how you have grown into perceiving the world). I have to work on myself all the time.

 

[OspreyO]

I've had jobs in the past which I used to dread going into. But most of the time I'm enjoyed work especially if I'm busy.

But at the moment I've lots of slack time and I dread that. Especially if it's a quiet day in the office I struggle to fill it.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Never had a job I dreaded going into, but had a number that I would have binned in a heart beat if Herself’s Lottery numbers had ever come up.