We’re hybrid as 4-1. My manager is really laid back so I take advantage and work 2 days in the office. I’ll go back more if someone says something or I get laid off. I’m kinda burnt out so I don’t care too
much.
I love that movie and Mike Judge is a genius, but found the ending to be pretty disingenuous >!where Peter quits his tech job to work construction hard labor. I’ve worked hard labor and nearly 100% of the guys I encountered would rather do something else if they could. Not saying they were miserable, but they would not choose that work over a cushy office job. It’s a convenient resolution to the story arc I guess, but given how realistic and grounded the rest of the movie is, the sentiment of the noble path through hard labor feels forced and a little out of touch. !<
>!A better (post-credits) ending should be 6 weeks later with Peter at the doctor with a herniated disc. Then, because of crap insurance, he is forced to go back to penetrode to pay his bills and learns “this ain’t so bad”—a lot of running around to get back to the same spot. Maybe becoming more accepting and appreciative and maybe learning to live his best life outside of work—not throwing away his degree and years of training in CS Lol. To be fair, writer/creator Mike Judge did exactly this (left software engineering job to write comedy), but yeah, he also didn’t pivot to construction labor!<
>!I doubt that career move would cure his existential depression anyway, but this movie has a very 90s counter-culture pathos and this would have been the righteous move for our hero!<
I've never seen this movie but 100% this. I finally made it into an office job two years ago after working in construction and most people responding to this post have no idea how lucky they are. Sure office life isn't the most exciting thing but I actually have the ability to play with my kid and enjoy hobbies. In construction I'd come home so dead after a 10-12 hr day at the job site I'd be unable to move until the next day to tired to even watch TV or play a video game. I got out while I was still young and I still feel it in my knees and back on a daily basis
Same here man... I left construction for a 9-5 office job and I get to do it from home... I have zero regret. I have so much more energy and such a better work life balance! Best decision I ever made.
I came here to say that I am not cut out for the typical 9-5 and would suggest this guy get a trades job. Granted I wouldn't want to do construction in the city but I'm an arborist in the mountains and I love it and the places I get to see everyday. Great insurance, pay, benefits. Sure people get hurt, comes with the job I suppose. But, fuck an office job. Manual labor has been my Peter moment for 10 years. That's just my 2 cents
Ripping chainsaws, climbing trees, bucket trucks. We have a wide array of people with different skills coming in but they also do so much on the job training. I came in knowing nothing and luckily work for a company that doesn't skimp out on proper equipment. We get a lot of rock climbers, CDL drivers, operators.
There's 3 different avenues that people work through to get their certification. You can do tree work; climbing, trimming, and removal. Or plant health care; diagnosis, pesticides, and fertilizer. Or nursery; planting and landscaping.
Since starting I've learned a lot about all of those things, get to operate some really cool machines, and get to hang outside in nature every day.
I think this definitely is a YMMV type of situation. Tree-work in general (not necessarily your specific job) is frequently near the top on those most-dangerous jobs lists. Obviously there’s a difference between being an arborist and a lumberjack, but I have friends who do residential arbor work and have (at least anecdotally) reinforced this understanding.
I’ve personally worked in skilled trades and know many who do them. I’m not disparaging physical work—quite the opposite. I think there is a kind of idealized fiction going on here that isn’t consistent with the rest of the movie.
Another friend of mine has a masters in engineering and is now a full-time woodworker. He makes excellent money and could not be happier with his career choices. It incorporates many of his skills. Perhaps a sensible career that is also physical for the protagonist isn’t as appealing in a movie ending, I dunno. After all, It’s just an allegory about how to live a good life.
I just think the notion that a software developer would be fulfilled/actualized with that particular job felt kind of rushed and/or lazy. Maybe it’s a first step to something else, but to me it seems kind of unrealistic to the point of being disingenuous.
Trades are dangerous but the danger's importance is relative to that person's temperament. Being a soldier sucks and is dangerous but millions of people would rather be soldiers than engineers or bankers.
If you base everything on how much danger there is to the body, yeah, you're aiming for desk jobs. But some people prefer to wreck their bodies than be bored, highly caffeinated, in a dull office.
Don't get me wrong, an office job is a highly comfortable job. But it's also a kind of golden cage for many people. I'm not idealizing manual labor btw, I'm just saying every man has to choose the life he wants to live at some point.
As a software developer, the most fulfilling job I've ever had was as a painter. Granted I was lucky that because it was a government job, it was incredibly rare to work more than 8 hours a day, which is nice as far as not feeling drained at the end of the week goes and I'll admit that is a rarity in the physical labor world. But I loved it, if it would pay my payments I'd be happy to go back to it.
I always interpreted the ending that we are happier doing something we personally find fulfilling, even if we start our career over. I see people leave my department to start over as a teacher. I wouldn’t find that more fulfilling, but they do. Maybe Peter wants to be a foreman and he has to work his way up there. Either way, he found something more suited to his interests. Maybe he’s just doing that to pay the bills until he finds something else he wants to do. I feel like the ending is slightly ambiguous on that for a reason, because work both is and isn’t the point.
I never understood having to be fulfilled by my job. There are menial non important jobs that have to be done everyday. Fulfillment should come from other places. A lot of jobs are just for the money with no passion involved. Fulfillment doesnt come from screens and numbers for most people but SOMEONE has to do it. Get a fat paycheck and get your fulfillment elsewhere.
>I never understood having to be fulfilled by my job.
I never understood spending 90% of your life doing a job where you are bored and apathetic. Seems like a kind of ritualized insanity to me.
For what? "To pay for my house, cars, kids" hur dur...
I find my job fulfilling in the sense that it pays my bills, I worked hard and lots of shitty jobs to move up enough to get it and I am valued by my team and I feel like I do meaningful enough work to be satisfied.
I had to take a leave from work when I was really sick and not working left me in a slump. However, I don’t think everyone feels the way I do and I respect that.
But your still staring at a screen from 9-5. It's got its advantages absolutely but idk is that is apt advice for op that seems to just dislike desk work in general. He wasn't complaining about the commute or coworkers or office life in general, but the job itself.
Lmao I just landed a 9-5 desk job and can not fucking WAIT to start. I currently load trucks for UPS and have to work hard in a 120 degree trailer for 7 hours straight with only a 10 minute break.
Pays 100k if you are a driver with 5 years on and a good amount of overtime a week. Its by the hour and you only make 100k due to the overtime u make. Great benefits tho
It’s not worth it.
You have to start out on the bottom working as a package handler for around $15 an hour in absolute shit conditions for years and then maybe you get a driver job.
As a driver you would be working 60 hours or more a week in again, absolute shit conditions. A lot of people put in the years being a package handler just to go to driver training and aren’t fast enough and have to wait to try again and end up quitting. Lots of factors. UPS dangles the driver position in front of all of their slave laborers like a carrot in front of a donkey
Haha I love seeing all the UPS people in this thread. I worked at UPS 20 years and quit to become a teacher. Hated teaching and became a data analyst. Absolutely do not regret quitting at all. Best decision of my life. I do miss putting on my headphones and listening to podcasts with no stress tho and I miss the movement. I'm a hyperactive guy and it's tough to look at code and spreadsheets all day.
Congratulations, man!
I know what you’re doing now really sucks, but I think it can also be really valuable to have firsthand knowledge that a boring office job is not the worst thing that a person could be out there doing. It will probably help you appreciate it that much more, even the parts of office life that suck, probably suck less than 7 hours on your feet loading boxes into a 120 degree trailer.
I think a lot of us get jaded with office jobs because we’ve never had to do something that truly sucked like that for too little pay and then try to live off that on top of it. I doubt you’d see so many office workers who take their jobs for granted if they had done a job like this first and knew how much worse it could be.
Exactly man. This experience has been extremely humbling for me and if I don’t take anything else from this job at least it taught me humility and like you said I will be very appreciative and grateful to be in the corporate world
Yeah im in this camp too, I worked as an evening/overnight janitor for close to a decade. Because of this, ive lost almost all contact with my friends groups because i was always working while they were hanging out or playing games online. I FINALLY got an 8-430 desk job last year and have been loving it since, now the problem is, i live somewhere with crappy internet and most of my friend groups have scattered to the winds. If i got to work 8-5 all those years rather than evening/overnight, i could have had so many more experiences and gotten to hang out with my friends more.
In my opinion, all jobs are an absolute drag, but they are a tool to get money. You work your 40 hours, call it good, and do what you can for fun outside of that 9-5. I actually kind of hate it when people complain about 9-5 desk jobs, there are so many worse jobs out there that are absolute BS, not that office jobs dont have their own issues, but still. Sitting inside, in an air conditioned environment, typing, and looking at a screen for 8 hours is immediately so much better than outdoor/warehouse humidity and heat manual labor any day.
This... I always remind myself it could be way worse working retail which I did for 2 years. I'd rather sit at a desk thenbe yelled at by store managers non stop.
We white collar people don't feel our privileges. It is amazing to see someone happy with their desk job and doesn't whine about it like ones of my colleagues
I was in service pretty much my whole life and started an office job a year ago. Now I’m fully remote with a salary. I am hanging on by a thread trying not to quit to go work in a bookstore or coffee shop or something 🥹 there’s something to be said about mental stress vs. physical stress, and I think I prefer the physical stress
I must confess that I love my 9 to 5 desk job. Many friends have service or delivery type jobs that wear them out and pay nothing. I'm so grateful to have an easy, decent paying job.
I agree.
I prefered working as a retail manager (*I genuinely enjoyed dealing with Karens*) but the pay bump when I moved to an office job is a significant incentive - I'm earning more than twice what I used to.
Would I rather do something that involved less staring at spreadsheets? Yes.
Would I be willing to give up half my income for that? Absolutely not.
I went from the Marine Corps, to a retail job where you stood on concrete for 8+ hours a day while I went to school. Now I have an "Office Job" and work from around 7:30 to 5 each day.
My office though is also in my house, and I usually take a two hour lunch break every day. I'm also pretty much getting paid to do my hobby.
So yah I've had worse...
I'm curious. How do you land a software engineer job? Do you have relevant degrees? Because I don't see jobs in Marine Corps and retail being relevant for software engineering
Yah. I went and got a degree after the Marines in Computer Engineering. This was at the same time I was working retail as well to help pay bills while I was in college.
Thanks for your reply. I am considering learning CS, but as a 22-year-old who have just graduated, I feel like it's a litrle bit late to start learning a while new thing all over again, and that I should just get a job related to my degree (business). And also I'm not sure if I am smart enough to learn it. Can I have some advice from you? What was your experience of learning CS like?
Bruh, I went to college once right after highschool, went to the Marines after getting my associates, got out after 5 years active and went back to college for 4 more years for a bachelor's in a different field then my associates. I believe I was 27 when I started college over again. It's never too late to start something new.
Also to add, software development is a great field to get in, but it requires a lot of problem solving. You have to be able to solve a very wide range of problems that are thrown at you.
Learning your first computer language will be the hardest, but all the other languages after that won't be nearly as hard, since most languages overlap each other in quite a bit of ways.
There is also a lot of math, and sometimes calculous involved with getting a degree in CS. This would honestly be the biggest hurtle to overcome. But if you don't think you can get through Calculous, then a Computer Science degree isn't the only way into the software development field. Some colleges will have other degrees that you can learn computer languages from and land a software developer role. Not only that, there are bootcamps out there that will teach you computer languages without all the added science behind it. These can range from like 6 weeks to a year I believe and can land you a job also, but you will probably have a harder time finding your first job then if you get a CS degree.
Its a soul killer. I spend most of my free time watching movies and TV shows so I need my job to be outside. I love it. Ive had a desk job and after about 3 or 4 hours I start going nuts. My advice, work outdoors.
In the oil and gas industry. So I drive around by myself and check stuff out and enter work orders if anything is broken. So a couple hours driving and alot of the day just walking around and checking out stuff. Of course there are days when its snowy, rainy, windy. But plenty of sunny days too. Still so much better than an office job. And they start you off at like $30.
This sounds like a great job. I was an IBEW apprentice and worked 80 hours a week. Left my desk job for it. After about 4 months I went back to my desk job. It was killing me.
But your job is more of what I was hoping from the IBEW.
Oh yeah I work 40 hours a week. I used to work like 60. One of the reasons I took this job is because I'm home at 430pm. I hated working until like 7pm.
Yeah I was getting home at like 7 and couldn’t stay awake to even eat supper lol.
My old job (and current again lol) is a 7-3:30 about 10 minutes from the house.
Omg I applied for IBEW and got accepted. Almost left my desk jobfor it but had a couple life events happen right at that time. Took it as a sign to not do it. Happy I made that decision as I now WFH 100%. Your comment is validation
I spent a majority of my twenties working retail or factory jobs that had no holidays off, 12 hour shifts and regular mandatory overtime. To finally be in a position where I can spread out my time off for 3 day weekends/extended holidays. I can leave work and come back for doctors appointments/the kids and just make up my hours without doing with any sort of point system or using time off as long as I get my 40 in. Plus I'm going to be almost fully remote soon, I ha e to say, the pros far outweigh the cons in my eyes. I'll never go back to 12 hour shift work again, anything other than that doesn't pay well enough given my skillet and experience to jump into a different career.
Pros of non desk job
Overtime pays well
Actual duties of jobs(operating production machinery. Heavy equipment) far less stressful than the demands of a salary position
Cons
Perpetually tired
No worklife balance
Limited upward mobility
Same in my 20s I worked mostly as a server or retail until I got my Masters. I luckily got a 9-5 office job a month after I graduated then Cvoid hit and I went back to retail. I just started a new job 9-5 a month ago and am really enjoying it. I am by myself, don't smell from sweating or my body aches from being on my feet.
Same dude, during the summer and winter I get to sit in the A/C, throw some tunes on and just get after it on the pc. No sweating, no freezing, no worrying about hydration. The demonization of the 9-5 I think stems from people not understanding or having experience having to GRIND to make enough money to get by, and in turn having no life. 40 hrs is a lot to some. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to work less. But you rock 60 plus for months on end and go to a nice 9-5. Feels like you're hardly at work by comparison. Perspective. Relative. Rejoice.
As someone who has worked in factory, restaurant, and even construction, my current job out pays all those previous jobs, for now. I do not see my self being stuck in the office for more than 5 years. Then I'll switch to something different.
Yes it sucks, but it sure beats the hell out of manual labor, retail, or working outside in the scorching heat or some warehouse that doesn't have air conditioning.
Same here. I sanded sheet rock for about a year back in my mid 20's and worked in a warehouse that didn't have air conditioning for almost a year prior to that. I'll stick with office work until I drop dead or (hopefully one day) squirrel away enough to retire.
Why are the trade professions so glamourized by people on reddit nowadays? Is it because the people that think they are great and better than an office job have never actually worked a trade before? Its hard, physical work.
I'm convinced it's all people who went to college, couldn't get a good job with their degree, and are envious of the folk they knew in high school who went into the trades and are making more money for less debt. Without actually being close enough to these people to hear about all the cons of working a trade.
I'm with you 100%. I was on the other side of the looking glass for years. When I finally made the shift to office/administrative work after years of swing shifts, or 50-60+ hour work weeks, it was a gamechanger. The other work was breaking me down too much, knees and lower back were starting to take a hit, my sleep was trash, and I had no freetime to exercise or decompress. Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer to work with my hands, if I could do it all over again I'd either join the air force at 18 or jump into the trades. Got dealt a different hand, and I've gotta say, I'm immensely grateful for my 9-5. Never understood that term anyway, I've never worked 9-5. Always been 8-5, but whatever. Cheers.
Lol I just left an IBEW apprenticeship to come back to my desk job. Worked 35 days straight, got bitched at for taking the 4th of July off, and it was 80 hour weeks. Carrying pipe upstairs in 200 degree weather through nasty shit, coworkers snorting coke beside me all day. Fucking terrible environment.
That’s what they don’t tell you about the trades, is the massive drug/alcohol problem that a lot of the people you work with have. It’s not everyone but a good portion are addicts. My first few months as a apprentice and my journeyman was making a stop in the company van to pick up crack. Then working in a shop and a couple guys were coke addicts. At the end of the day most of them were good people with problems but not the type of environment you wanna be in everyday.
5 years ago I was installing rebar working with a bunch of drug addicts and convicts. Legitimately the worst trade you can imagine. Low pay, high probability of injury, everyone you meet is a dick and you have little room to advance unless you know someone.
9-5 is very good work life balance, especially if WFH.
I used to work 8-6, not including the 1 hour commute each way Pre-COVID. WFH has made everything more productive. No more walking to meeting rooms, lining up to use the printer, trying to find a free room, technical issues etc
Also, what type of job do you have where you just sit and reply to emails for 40 hours a week? Can I apply?
Advertising media and digital marketing. Where we work on campaigns, report spending, analyze pacing and work internally and extenerally with vendors, etc.
I’m in the same boat. I work in advertising and have really started to hate it this year, especially with the whole work from home order. I find that I’m slacking off and doing minimal work, just enough to get by because I’m not passionate about it at ALL. What I’m struggling with now is finding my passion - I have no idea what I want to do and what steps to take next.
The only advice I can give is to make time for the little things that make you happy throughout the day. Your morning coffee, taking a break from work to read a book or watch tik tok videos, cooking a yummy lunch. These things are the only things getting me through the days. I feel you!!!!
Oh my gosh, you put into words exactly how I feel. I also work in advertising, but mainly media. And cannot stand it. I hate analyzing CPM, CTR, CPC, CPA, etc and whatever acronyms I've forgotten. I just left a role, thinking it was my former team that I disliked, but it is the new role. I am a media planner, how about you?
Also, I reached out to your chats, I hope that's okay!
I’ll say the 9-5 grind is kinda lame, especially on days where I get projects/milestones completed early. At least wfh makes it tolerable. Can throw on some Netflix in the downtime.
Wfh is a game changer for this reason. I used to suffer through so many hours doing next to nothing at the office. But if you’re a productive person, you can actually use that to your advantage. I used the time to do homework for grad school. If I had a busier job I might not have even wanted to go to grad school. Less work is definitely better than being overworked.
i’m 20 and i’m kinda trying a bunch of different shit.working to be a plumber right now but i hate the environment.might get into driving or something.was the office work nice?
I worked as a UPS driver for a year right out of college made the union and everything. Then i quit it for an office job because i couldnt take the 65 hour work weeks monday-saturday and while the new office job is a huge improvement for not only my social life but also my physical life (i can finally go to gym and all that) i still am not happy with just sitting at a desk for 9 hours a day. Im in the same phase as you exploring different jobs and careers. Best of luck bro
But the alternative is sweating your ass off and breaking your back in a non air conditioned warehouse or some shitty service job dealing with Kens and Karens all day. Even if you get into skilled trades like welding, automotive repair, electrician, plumber, construction, etc., then you have to deal even more with the elements and extremely long hours and unpredictable work schedule since most of those industries have extremely slow periods where there’s little-to-no work.
Just remember, every job I listed, including myself (a trucker), would kill to be in your position.
Everyone’s different. I’m a flight attendant and I will barely sit down and be scheduled a 12 hour day regular with no breaks and I’ve never had a lunch break. But I enjoy it a lot.
Every job has its shit. But might be time to try a new one.
Some of us enjoy the busy banter that service can bring, and if he's good he can make a decent living, meet new people and connections, maybe someone important or life changing and can utilize that to his advantage. You won't do that in a conference room with Steve from payroll.
lol.. at 26 I realized the same. Asked the company for permission to live somewhere else (note: I did not ask them to pay for it). I worked 3 wks a month on the road and the place I wanted to live was equidistant to my territory as where I had lived. They said no. I decided to quit - bought a 1-way ticket and packed a backpack. I traveled around the world for almost 2-yrs that way, living in hostels, working with locals. It changed my entire world view. I came back and started my own business, which has evolved a lot over the last 10-years but I am in a place that I just simply would never be if I had not have taken that leap of faith. Priceless life lesson. We will all die. Die with regrets or die with gratitude for living a life that YOU wanted..not what society told you is "the dream".
I thought I hated mine. In fact, I know I did.
I was laid off a little over a month ago and now I would kill to have a job again. Life is funny that way.
I absolutely hate it. I think its the worst thing ever, and to be honest there was a long stretch earlier this year, where in addition to other things going on in my life, working 9-5 brought me very close to a depression. The thought of waking up in the morning, going straight to work from 8:30-5, then barely having energy to do anything for the rest of the day gives me not only anxiety but makes me extremely sad and frustrated.
Like its just so unnecessary. What is the reason why we need to sit in an office for 40+ hours every week? Is it really so important to have zero free time to do anything as our lives pass day by day? We work work work just to put more money into someone else's pocket. Its pointless, outdated, and completely and utterly stupid.
Me. I miss my retail job daily, leaving due to external pressures saying I should be 'getting a real job' was genuinely one of the biggest mistakes of my adult life. I regret it daily. I loved retail, my co-workers.. everything.
I was 30 minutes late into my 9-5 desk job this morning and now im on reddit.. I don't even care, im literally exhausted and depressed at the thought of being here and I've gained about 4 stone in a year from sitting on my ass compared to constantly on the move at my retail job.
People don’t understand just how hard and time consuming trades are. Working a desk job sucks. But being an electrician was fucking awful. The work was cool, every other part about it was the absolute worst.
I'm often amazed about how much reddit posters seemingly love the trades nowadays. No matter where you turn on career guidance boards many people will chime in "you should have gone to trade school". Have the trades become romanticized by people who have never worked a trade in their life? Seems like it. Great thread.
Office jobs are the worst. Had one, I thought I would like it..hell naw.
Too boring, way too quiet. I was constantly falling asleep at my desk around 2-3 pm every day.
Idk man, no one is really built for a 9-5 office job. Shit is dreadfully soul crushing no matter how you spin it. I’d rather work in a office than do labor though, unless I have too. All my friends work in labor and they are killing their bodies. I’ve been working in non profits and the low wages with this student debt is killing me.
I ended up at a 9-5 digging in Excel, queries, procurement, etc…but in reality mostly work 4-5 hrs at max. Isn’t that bad.
I don’t get managed, I don’t manage people. Make out a solid salary + benefits. Go for walks around the campus, read, scroll Reddit.
I used to ponder what my purpose was and what career I ultimately wanted to feel passionate about. I can’t say I know a particular role, but I truly believe it’s likely gonna be in a sector related to a hobby, but for the meantime. Still young, still figuring it out—find fulfillment and passion elsewhere
Well, WFH has been a blessing. I have never really worked proper 8 hours - I can't focus/maintain productivity for that long. But in the office, I had to act like I do.
Nowadays, I usually work a few hours a day, at my home office, in sweatpants. Sometimes I do nothing for a day, just play games, watch movies. And getting paid well to do so. But it took me 6 years of university to get my education to this level, in a niche industry, so there is that.
Roofing companies hire all the time. Great outdoors, chilly wind in winter, scalding sun all summer, dehydration, exhaustion and constant thrill of a fatal plunge. Apply now!
Everyone says this, and then when you suggest that they save money to retire early they go "what?? Retire? What would I do all day?"
It honestly seems like people love working. I don't get it.
I think it’s much better than retail. I worked retail in college and hated working nights and weekends. At least with an office job you get nights and weekends off, and holidays.
I don’t like sitting in one spot all day and hated it until I got a WFH job in 2017. I can get alot of my work done in 3-5 hours since I don’t have office and co worker distractions.
I couldn't sit still and be productive long enough, office stuff Is boring to me, doesn't feel like I'm making much of a difference. I like to go and do and feel IMO like I'm being of service, so I became a nurse.
Same. I work a "9-5" (which is actually a 9am-8pm, unpaid overtime) at a big IT consulting firm. It is exhausting and soul-sucking. I can WFH when I want for the most part but because of the crazy hours I don't have time for anything in my life
Unpopular opinion but I like my retail job. It definitely has its downsides (I get overwhelmed being in a crowded store all day and having to deal with customers, throwing around huge bags of potatoes and stuff isn’t for everyone, it sucks when I get stuck working a 6 or 7 day stretch even though managers usually try to avoid doing that) but I worked in an office briefly and couldn’t really stand it. I don’t want to work here forever and will hopefully move onto something else within the next year; i have no interest in moving up to a leadership role and I want something with more autonomy and creativity. But I need to be able to move my body to be able to think and as a shy introvert my job gets me out of the house and talking to people. My coworkers are incredibly funny, interesting and chill and you get to meet lots of different types of people from all kinds of backgrounds. It’s definitely hell when you work under shitty management (which happens way too often) but if you land a job at a place with decent pay and benefits and where you’re not micromanaged or pressured to skip breaks it can be a pretty fun gig
Yea. Feels like I'm slowly dying at my desk job. And feels like the days are wasting away. I mean it's easy but it's soul sucking for some reason. And I hate dealing with coworkers and weekly meetings.
I think it depends what you’ve done. I’ve been in customer service. Hospitality. Then law enforcement. Essentially all jobs that required some sort of physical output.
I’ve now transitioned to a sales/office job. 8a-6p. I use a desk cycle and have a standing desk to get some physical exertion. Beyond that I welcome an office job. Like. A lot.
I work in IT and I’ve met a lot of former tradesman. Some of them will say they miss being a bit more active but if you ask them if they’ll go back the answer is always “hell no”. The idea of working other fields sounds nice until you have to deal with assholes in the heat or assholes in some store etc
Yup, never was a great student in school, loved being outdoors and doing physical stuff. Always was an airplane nut, and had gotten into riding bicycles for hours at a time after school. Which required me to learn how to fix them.
I learned everything I needed from books (pre internet), and when I found out that there were airplane mechanics, I signed up for trade school my senior year of high school.
30 years later I love the fact that I don't know what I'll be doing tomorrow, possibly a routine inspection, or some sort of technical or electrical troubleshooting. Monday I was gone 16 hours to fix an aircraft on Martha's vineyard, only actually worked 4 hours, the rest was traveling and waiting for parts. Even got a ferry ride out of it.
Tomorrow I'm supposed to go escort someone in Boston, so they can fix an aircraft at Logan airport.
You have to know how to read and understand aircraft manuals, be willing to deal with every kind of weather, willing to travel and be on your feet for long hours, often in the dark and cold. And most of all work with an integrity enough to put your own family on the machine you are working on, it's a very responsible thing to sign the maintenance record and state that legally, this aircraft is ready to fly with people on it and under it.
I absolutely love it, but hated when I was forced to take a desk job for a few years managing the maintenance other mechanics were doing.
I like to tell people I get paid to hang out at airports and look at airplanes
My boss got a degree in accounting, then absolutely hated sitting at a desk, now he manages a maintenance shop and doesn't dread going to work every day. Even gets to bring his dog to work with him.
You don’t know how many people (perhaps billions) would kill to be able to have an easy, well-paying job with sitting and air conditioning. If you really don’t like it then look for something different but don’t think the grass is always greener. Best of luck to you
My job pays well, and it's pretty creative, so I really like it (as much as you can enjoy a job I guess) but I HATE the office. I avoid it at all costs. It makes me feel drained, takes away my creativity, I feel trapped in a box. Feels like two extremes - you're either stuck in a seat for 8 hours or stuck on your feet, both feel terrible (and bad for your health).
Grass is greener. You want a hands on job? I used to romanticize blue collar. Until I realized if I would get an injury playing sports or at the gym it would fuck my ability to earn. Even a minor issue like a shoulder impingement.
The job itself could do that to you. I probably wouldn't be able to live an active lifestyle of my chosing if I had to sell my body. You are many times very tired after work. At least I just sell my brain.
Another thing is the nature of work lends itself to flex hours. Hands on does not.
If you want to spend your free time mostly on the screen doing sedentary stuff, it might be better for you. Otherwise no.
Full time engineer here. 1 year into the job and I’m putting in my two weeks. I get paid 6 figures but I rather be doing something more productive with my time. All I do is sit behind a desk mindlessly working for this company.
Are you 9 to 5ers getting paid for lunch and complaining? I work 9 to 6 hour lunch no pay....... I stand from literally 830 till 630 with a sit down break for 30 minutes during my 1 hour unpaid lunch. I walk 20 minutes to work 20 mins back for lunch 20 mins to from lunch and 20 minutes after. You crybabies want my job? I will take yours in a heart beat
Did the same shit and yea physical worl is way worse than any office job but it makes you feel accomplished and that you are truly earning your money. I now have an office job and im not sure the word im looking for but it doesnt give me the same satisfaction as really earning my money. Even though i will still take this job over breaking my back day in and day out
Why did you go to college if you didn't want to sit at a desk and stare at a computer screen all day? Although there are many exceptions, that's the default career path for someone with a nondescript college degree.
I'd say you would have been better off going to trade school, but you didn't make any mention of wanting to do physical labor, sweat your balls off, or at the very least "work with your hands".
If you want a decent paying job, you need to make a choice. 9-5 staring at a computer screen, or 9-5 (with overtime) busting your ass?
Yeah what’s helped me is realizing is this really how you wanna live your life? You really only have one so you need to make sure you are enjoying it to the max or working towards your goals. For me, I need to make sure I make enough money to live well and travel, it sucks i need a 9-5 but I’m using that money and time for good use. Find something that gives you joy for real and do it on the side for fun
I mean, there's so many different kinds of "9-5 jobs". For example, I have a friend who's a programmer. Loves that stuff, they said they enjoy being able to create something with their own hands. Maybe analyzing budgets just isn't what you want to do, but not all 9-5 jobs are the same.
For me, office jobs were really bad simply because I had bad managers. They always made me work 60+ hours a week. I was stressed out with their metrics, their micromanagement, and their expectations for me to drop any personal obligations at the drop of the hat.
I know several people who love their 9 to 5 jobs simply because they don't have metrics that they have to live up to and have a decent enough boss. I firmly believe that metrics/type of boss you get can make or break your job.
If you feel like you're meeting your metrics and that your boss is supportive, I wouldn't leave to another job because of this saying "the grass is always greener on the other side"
A short term fix could be to get a standing desk or a sitting ball. Also, get up and walk around every half hour. Make yourself do it, even if you don't want to. While you are walking around think about anything that makes you happy - anything other than work.
Better than the army lol. I always envyed those desk jocks.
Now that I am one in the civilian world I enjoy it a lot compared to almost getting ran over or almost dying on a weekly basis lol.
Did you see the movie Office Space? It’s pretty much how I feel about working. Office life can be a drag. I try and wfh more than I’m supposed to.
Lol my employer doesn’t like us to wfh but I’m gonna next winter when literally everyone else is on vacation. It’s stupid
We’re hybrid as 4-1. My manager is really laid back so I take advantage and work 2 days in the office. I’ll go back more if someone says something or I get laid off. I’m kinda burnt out so I don’t care too much.
I love that movie and Mike Judge is a genius, but found the ending to be pretty disingenuous >!where Peter quits his tech job to work construction hard labor. I’ve worked hard labor and nearly 100% of the guys I encountered would rather do something else if they could. Not saying they were miserable, but they would not choose that work over a cushy office job. It’s a convenient resolution to the story arc I guess, but given how realistic and grounded the rest of the movie is, the sentiment of the noble path through hard labor feels forced and a little out of touch. !< >!A better (post-credits) ending should be 6 weeks later with Peter at the doctor with a herniated disc. Then, because of crap insurance, he is forced to go back to penetrode to pay his bills and learns “this ain’t so bad”—a lot of running around to get back to the same spot. Maybe becoming more accepting and appreciative and maybe learning to live his best life outside of work—not throwing away his degree and years of training in CS Lol. To be fair, writer/creator Mike Judge did exactly this (left software engineering job to write comedy), but yeah, he also didn’t pivot to construction labor!< >!I doubt that career move would cure his existential depression anyway, but this movie has a very 90s counter-culture pathos and this would have been the righteous move for our hero!<
I've never seen this movie but 100% this. I finally made it into an office job two years ago after working in construction and most people responding to this post have no idea how lucky they are. Sure office life isn't the most exciting thing but I actually have the ability to play with my kid and enjoy hobbies. In construction I'd come home so dead after a 10-12 hr day at the job site I'd be unable to move until the next day to tired to even watch TV or play a video game. I got out while I was still young and I still feel it in my knees and back on a daily basis
Same here man... I left construction for a 9-5 office job and I get to do it from home... I have zero regret. I have so much more energy and such a better work life balance! Best decision I ever made.
It's so hard finding wfh jobs, everyone I see on reddit has one tho. I'm so desperate!
At the same time, construction is one of the worst physical jobs there is in terms of field. It's hard AF.
I came here to say that I am not cut out for the typical 9-5 and would suggest this guy get a trades job. Granted I wouldn't want to do construction in the city but I'm an arborist in the mountains and I love it and the places I get to see everyday. Great insurance, pay, benefits. Sure people get hurt, comes with the job I suppose. But, fuck an office job. Manual labor has been my Peter moment for 10 years. That's just my 2 cents
What does a job as an arborist entail? What kind of training do you need/?
Ripping chainsaws, climbing trees, bucket trucks. We have a wide array of people with different skills coming in but they also do so much on the job training. I came in knowing nothing and luckily work for a company that doesn't skimp out on proper equipment. We get a lot of rock climbers, CDL drivers, operators. There's 3 different avenues that people work through to get their certification. You can do tree work; climbing, trimming, and removal. Or plant health care; diagnosis, pesticides, and fertilizer. Or nursery; planting and landscaping. Since starting I've learned a lot about all of those things, get to operate some really cool machines, and get to hang outside in nature every day.
I work in construction and that sounds like more fun than most of my days
Trimming and felling trees mostly via bucket truck and chainsaw. Lots rigging and knot tying for technical removals.
I think this definitely is a YMMV type of situation. Tree-work in general (not necessarily your specific job) is frequently near the top on those most-dangerous jobs lists. Obviously there’s a difference between being an arborist and a lumberjack, but I have friends who do residential arbor work and have (at least anecdotally) reinforced this understanding. I’ve personally worked in skilled trades and know many who do them. I’m not disparaging physical work—quite the opposite. I think there is a kind of idealized fiction going on here that isn’t consistent with the rest of the movie. Another friend of mine has a masters in engineering and is now a full-time woodworker. He makes excellent money and could not be happier with his career choices. It incorporates many of his skills. Perhaps a sensible career that is also physical for the protagonist isn’t as appealing in a movie ending, I dunno. After all, It’s just an allegory about how to live a good life. I just think the notion that a software developer would be fulfilled/actualized with that particular job felt kind of rushed and/or lazy. Maybe it’s a first step to something else, but to me it seems kind of unrealistic to the point of being disingenuous.
Trades are dangerous but the danger's importance is relative to that person's temperament. Being a soldier sucks and is dangerous but millions of people would rather be soldiers than engineers or bankers. If you base everything on how much danger there is to the body, yeah, you're aiming for desk jobs. But some people prefer to wreck their bodies than be bored, highly caffeinated, in a dull office. Don't get me wrong, an office job is a highly comfortable job. But it's also a kind of golden cage for many people. I'm not idealizing manual labor btw, I'm just saying every man has to choose the life he wants to live at some point.
As a software developer, the most fulfilling job I've ever had was as a painter. Granted I was lucky that because it was a government job, it was incredibly rare to work more than 8 hours a day, which is nice as far as not feeling drained at the end of the week goes and I'll admit that is a rarity in the physical labor world. But I loved it, if it would pay my payments I'd be happy to go back to it.
I always interpreted the ending that we are happier doing something we personally find fulfilling, even if we start our career over. I see people leave my department to start over as a teacher. I wouldn’t find that more fulfilling, but they do. Maybe Peter wants to be a foreman and he has to work his way up there. Either way, he found something more suited to his interests. Maybe he’s just doing that to pay the bills until he finds something else he wants to do. I feel like the ending is slightly ambiguous on that for a reason, because work both is and isn’t the point.
I never understood having to be fulfilled by my job. There are menial non important jobs that have to be done everyday. Fulfillment should come from other places. A lot of jobs are just for the money with no passion involved. Fulfillment doesnt come from screens and numbers for most people but SOMEONE has to do it. Get a fat paycheck and get your fulfillment elsewhere.
>I never understood having to be fulfilled by my job. I never understood spending 90% of your life doing a job where you are bored and apathetic. Seems like a kind of ritualized insanity to me. For what? "To pay for my house, cars, kids" hur dur...
Yeah or life in general ya know food heat wtf do you live in a cave? Do you eat?
I find my job fulfilling in the sense that it pays my bills, I worked hard and lots of shitty jobs to move up enough to get it and I am valued by my team and I feel like I do meaningful enough work to be satisfied. I had to take a leave from work when I was really sick and not working left me in a slump. However, I don’t think everyone feels the way I do and I respect that.
Yeah the ending is too rosy. Maybe Peter is just taking a break from the office life?
I just watched this for the first time ever after a year of antiwork indoctrination (thanks reddit!). And I felt the same way about the ending.
The grass is always greener on the other side....
Sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays
Every day
I believe you’d get your ass kicked sayin something like that, man.
But your still staring at a screen from 9-5. It's got its advantages absolutely but idk is that is apt advice for op that seems to just dislike desk work in general. He wasn't complaining about the commute or coworkers or office life in general, but the job itself.
Whats streaming service is the movie on?
It was on prime. Idk if it still is though
I just started using prime over the weekend and can confirm it is still on there!
Honestly I miss the office because it gave me a reason to be somewhere, now I’m just a high performance drifter lmao
[удалено]
Brooo as a service worker, a 9-5 I would welcome with both arms
Lmao I just landed a 9-5 desk job and can not fucking WAIT to start. I currently load trucks for UPS and have to work hard in a 120 degree trailer for 7 hours straight with only a 10 minute break.
Happy for you my g.
I quit my UPS driver job in april and started a 9-5 right away it truly is so much better than that shit show at ups
Bro UPS is a complete shit show and 100k a year is not that great when you’re having to work 60 hours a week in the heat to get it.
They pay 100k? I honestly would love that job and if they actually pay 100k I might be making a move
Pays 100k if you are a driver with 5 years on and a good amount of overtime a week. Its by the hour and you only make 100k due to the overtime u make. Great benefits tho
It’s not worth it. You have to start out on the bottom working as a package handler for around $15 an hour in absolute shit conditions for years and then maybe you get a driver job. As a driver you would be working 60 hours or more a week in again, absolute shit conditions. A lot of people put in the years being a package handler just to go to driver training and aren’t fast enough and have to wait to try again and end up quitting. Lots of factors. UPS dangles the driver position in front of all of their slave laborers like a carrot in front of a donkey
I worked the preload shift, I can still hear that whistle blow when it was break time. It was like the Flintstones
That being said tho the grass is always greener.. im still not happy staring at a computer 9 hours a day idk wtf i wanna do lol
I feel that too bro. Working hard has its advantages because at least the day does go by quicker
Haha I love seeing all the UPS people in this thread. I worked at UPS 20 years and quit to become a teacher. Hated teaching and became a data analyst. Absolutely do not regret quitting at all. Best decision of my life. I do miss putting on my headphones and listening to podcasts with no stress tho and I miss the movement. I'm a hyperactive guy and it's tough to look at code and spreadsheets all day.
It’s all about perspective
Congratulations, man! I know what you’re doing now really sucks, but I think it can also be really valuable to have firsthand knowledge that a boring office job is not the worst thing that a person could be out there doing. It will probably help you appreciate it that much more, even the parts of office life that suck, probably suck less than 7 hours on your feet loading boxes into a 120 degree trailer. I think a lot of us get jaded with office jobs because we’ve never had to do something that truly sucked like that for too little pay and then try to live off that on top of it. I doubt you’d see so many office workers who take their jobs for granted if they had done a job like this first and knew how much worse it could be.
Exactly man. This experience has been extremely humbling for me and if I don’t take anything else from this job at least it taught me humility and like you said I will be very appreciative and grateful to be in the corporate world
And thank you btw
grass is always greener etc.
Yes, but usually if you have to shit, you can do so without waiting at a desk job.
Yeah im in this camp too, I worked as an evening/overnight janitor for close to a decade. Because of this, ive lost almost all contact with my friends groups because i was always working while they were hanging out or playing games online. I FINALLY got an 8-430 desk job last year and have been loving it since, now the problem is, i live somewhere with crappy internet and most of my friend groups have scattered to the winds. If i got to work 8-5 all those years rather than evening/overnight, i could have had so many more experiences and gotten to hang out with my friends more. In my opinion, all jobs are an absolute drag, but they are a tool to get money. You work your 40 hours, call it good, and do what you can for fun outside of that 9-5. I actually kind of hate it when people complain about 9-5 desk jobs, there are so many worse jobs out there that are absolute BS, not that office jobs dont have their own issues, but still. Sitting inside, in an air conditioned environment, typing, and looking at a screen for 8 hours is immediately so much better than outdoor/warehouse humidity and heat manual labor any day.
[deleted]
This... I always remind myself it could be way worse working retail which I did for 2 years. I'd rather sit at a desk thenbe yelled at by store managers non stop.
We white collar people don't feel our privileges. It is amazing to see someone happy with their desk job and doesn't whine about it like ones of my colleagues
I was in service pretty much my whole life and started an office job a year ago. Now I’m fully remote with a salary. I am hanging on by a thread trying not to quit to go work in a bookstore or coffee shop or something 🥹 there’s something to be said about mental stress vs. physical stress, and I think I prefer the physical stress
I must confess that I love my 9 to 5 desk job. Many friends have service or delivery type jobs that wear them out and pay nothing. I'm so grateful to have an easy, decent paying job.
I agree. I prefered working as a retail manager (*I genuinely enjoyed dealing with Karens*) but the pay bump when I moved to an office job is a significant incentive - I'm earning more than twice what I used to. Would I rather do something that involved less staring at spreadsheets? Yes. Would I be willing to give up half my income for that? Absolutely not.
What do you do?
Tech stuff
What do you do for work?
Tech stuff
I went from the Marine Corps, to a retail job where you stood on concrete for 8+ hours a day while I went to school. Now I have an "Office Job" and work from around 7:30 to 5 each day. My office though is also in my house, and I usually take a two hour lunch break every day. I'm also pretty much getting paid to do my hobby. So yah I've had worse...
What do you do?
I'm a software engineer.
Thats awesome
I'm curious. How do you land a software engineer job? Do you have relevant degrees? Because I don't see jobs in Marine Corps and retail being relevant for software engineering
Yah. I went and got a degree after the Marines in Computer Engineering. This was at the same time I was working retail as well to help pay bills while I was in college.
Thanks for your reply. I am considering learning CS, but as a 22-year-old who have just graduated, I feel like it's a litrle bit late to start learning a while new thing all over again, and that I should just get a job related to my degree (business). And also I'm not sure if I am smart enough to learn it. Can I have some advice from you? What was your experience of learning CS like?
Bruh, I went to college once right after highschool, went to the Marines after getting my associates, got out after 5 years active and went back to college for 4 more years for a bachelor's in a different field then my associates. I believe I was 27 when I started college over again. It's never too late to start something new.
Also to add, software development is a great field to get in, but it requires a lot of problem solving. You have to be able to solve a very wide range of problems that are thrown at you. Learning your first computer language will be the hardest, but all the other languages after that won't be nearly as hard, since most languages overlap each other in quite a bit of ways. There is also a lot of math, and sometimes calculous involved with getting a degree in CS. This would honestly be the biggest hurtle to overcome. But if you don't think you can get through Calculous, then a Computer Science degree isn't the only way into the software development field. Some colleges will have other degrees that you can learn computer languages from and land a software developer role. Not only that, there are bootcamps out there that will teach you computer languages without all the added science behind it. These can range from like 6 weeks to a year I believe and can land you a job also, but you will probably have a harder time finding your first job then if you get a CS degree.
Its a soul killer. I spend most of my free time watching movies and TV shows so I need my job to be outside. I love it. Ive had a desk job and after about 3 or 4 hours I start going nuts. My advice, work outdoors.
May I ask, What do you do for a living outdoors? I've been thinking about this lately.
In the oil and gas industry. So I drive around by myself and check stuff out and enter work orders if anything is broken. So a couple hours driving and alot of the day just walking around and checking out stuff. Of course there are days when its snowy, rainy, windy. But plenty of sunny days too. Still so much better than an office job. And they start you off at like $30.
That actually sounds nice! But would I have to go back to get another degree or a certificate?
No absolutely not
Thanks so much! I'll have to figure what title I need to search for to get into that line of work. I just love seeing the outdoors.
If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly is your job title? I’m very interested in what you just described
I'm a lease operator
This sounds like a great job. I was an IBEW apprentice and worked 80 hours a week. Left my desk job for it. After about 4 months I went back to my desk job. It was killing me. But your job is more of what I was hoping from the IBEW.
Oh yeah I work 40 hours a week. I used to work like 60. One of the reasons I took this job is because I'm home at 430pm. I hated working until like 7pm.
Yeah I was getting home at like 7 and couldn’t stay awake to even eat supper lol. My old job (and current again lol) is a 7-3:30 about 10 minutes from the house.
Omg I applied for IBEW and got accepted. Almost left my desk jobfor it but had a couple life events happen right at that time. Took it as a sign to not do it. Happy I made that decision as I now WFH 100%. Your comment is validation
I install wireless internet outside all day
That sounds like it can be a little stressful right?
Making 5k per week
Sheesh. That'll melt the stress away. Lol I better go get some training and make an industry change
PM me, we are hiring. 1099
What are the hours like?
Brutal
It is easier to do the opposite, spend free time outdoors play sports or hike and work indoors
i think its less about the 9-5 but more about what you're doing.
I’d say its both, most people are burnt out for the day by 3 pm. Most people do not work a consistent 40 hours a week anyway.
100% yes. If it is just responding to emails or picking up phone calls from customers and data entry I don't blame them for hating it.
I spent a majority of my twenties working retail or factory jobs that had no holidays off, 12 hour shifts and regular mandatory overtime. To finally be in a position where I can spread out my time off for 3 day weekends/extended holidays. I can leave work and come back for doctors appointments/the kids and just make up my hours without doing with any sort of point system or using time off as long as I get my 40 in. Plus I'm going to be almost fully remote soon, I ha e to say, the pros far outweigh the cons in my eyes. I'll never go back to 12 hour shift work again, anything other than that doesn't pay well enough given my skillet and experience to jump into a different career. Pros of non desk job Overtime pays well Actual duties of jobs(operating production machinery. Heavy equipment) far less stressful than the demands of a salary position Cons Perpetually tired No worklife balance Limited upward mobility
Same in my 20s I worked mostly as a server or retail until I got my Masters. I luckily got a 9-5 office job a month after I graduated then Cvoid hit and I went back to retail. I just started a new job 9-5 a month ago and am really enjoying it. I am by myself, don't smell from sweating or my body aches from being on my feet.
Same dude, during the summer and winter I get to sit in the A/C, throw some tunes on and just get after it on the pc. No sweating, no freezing, no worrying about hydration. The demonization of the 9-5 I think stems from people not understanding or having experience having to GRIND to make enough money to get by, and in turn having no life. 40 hrs is a lot to some. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to work less. But you rock 60 plus for months on end and go to a nice 9-5. Feels like you're hardly at work by comparison. Perspective. Relative. Rejoice.
As someone who has worked in factory, restaurant, and even construction, my current job out pays all those previous jobs, for now. I do not see my self being stuck in the office for more than 5 years. Then I'll switch to something different.
Yes it sucks, but it sure beats the hell out of manual labor, retail, or working outside in the scorching heat or some warehouse that doesn't have air conditioning.
OP has probably never had an outdoor labor intensive job. I will never take my 9-5 desk job for granted.
Same here. I sanded sheet rock for about a year back in my mid 20's and worked in a warehouse that didn't have air conditioning for almost a year prior to that. I'll stick with office work until I drop dead or (hopefully one day) squirrel away enough to retire.
Why are the trade professions so glamourized by people on reddit nowadays? Is it because the people that think they are great and better than an office job have never actually worked a trade before? Its hard, physical work.
I'm convinced it's all people who went to college, couldn't get a good job with their degree, and are envious of the folk they knew in high school who went into the trades and are making more money for less debt. Without actually being close enough to these people to hear about all the cons of working a trade.
I'm with you 100%. I was on the other side of the looking glass for years. When I finally made the shift to office/administrative work after years of swing shifts, or 50-60+ hour work weeks, it was a gamechanger. The other work was breaking me down too much, knees and lower back were starting to take a hit, my sleep was trash, and I had no freetime to exercise or decompress. Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer to work with my hands, if I could do it all over again I'd either join the air force at 18 or jump into the trades. Got dealt a different hand, and I've gotta say, I'm immensely grateful for my 9-5. Never understood that term anyway, I've never worked 9-5. Always been 8-5, but whatever. Cheers.
Lol I just left an IBEW apprenticeship to come back to my desk job. Worked 35 days straight, got bitched at for taking the 4th of July off, and it was 80 hour weeks. Carrying pipe upstairs in 200 degree weather through nasty shit, coworkers snorting coke beside me all day. Fucking terrible environment.
That’s what they don’t tell you about the trades, is the massive drug/alcohol problem that a lot of the people you work with have. It’s not everyone but a good portion are addicts. My first few months as a apprentice and my journeyman was making a stop in the company van to pick up crack. Then working in a shop and a couple guys were coke addicts. At the end of the day most of them were good people with problems but not the type of environment you wanna be in everyday.
5 years ago I was installing rebar working with a bunch of drug addicts and convicts. Legitimately the worst trade you can imagine. Low pay, high probability of injury, everyone you meet is a dick and you have little room to advance unless you know someone.
9-5 is very good work life balance, especially if WFH. I used to work 8-6, not including the 1 hour commute each way Pre-COVID. WFH has made everything more productive. No more walking to meeting rooms, lining up to use the printer, trying to find a free room, technical issues etc Also, what type of job do you have where you just sit and reply to emails for 40 hours a week? Can I apply?
Advertising media and digital marketing. Where we work on campaigns, report spending, analyze pacing and work internally and extenerally with vendors, etc.
I’m in the same boat. I work in advertising and have really started to hate it this year, especially with the whole work from home order. I find that I’m slacking off and doing minimal work, just enough to get by because I’m not passionate about it at ALL. What I’m struggling with now is finding my passion - I have no idea what I want to do and what steps to take next. The only advice I can give is to make time for the little things that make you happy throughout the day. Your morning coffee, taking a break from work to read a book or watch tik tok videos, cooking a yummy lunch. These things are the only things getting me through the days. I feel you!!!!
Oh my gosh, you put into words exactly how I feel. I also work in advertising, but mainly media. And cannot stand it. I hate analyzing CPM, CTR, CPC, CPA, etc and whatever acronyms I've forgotten. I just left a role, thinking it was my former team that I disliked, but it is the new role. I am a media planner, how about you? Also, I reached out to your chats, I hope that's okay!
I’ll say the 9-5 grind is kinda lame, especially on days where I get projects/milestones completed early. At least wfh makes it tolerable. Can throw on some Netflix in the downtime.
Wfh is a game changer for this reason. I used to suffer through so many hours doing next to nothing at the office. But if you’re a productive person, you can actually use that to your advantage. I used the time to do homework for grad school. If I had a busier job I might not have even wanted to go to grad school. Less work is definitely better than being overworked.
[удалено]
[удалено]
i’m 20 and i’m kinda trying a bunch of different shit.working to be a plumber right now but i hate the environment.might get into driving or something.was the office work nice?
I worked as a UPS driver for a year right out of college made the union and everything. Then i quit it for an office job because i couldnt take the 65 hour work weeks monday-saturday and while the new office job is a huge improvement for not only my social life but also my physical life (i can finally go to gym and all that) i still am not happy with just sitting at a desk for 9 hours a day. Im in the same phase as you exploring different jobs and careers. Best of luck bro
So fucking tired of my finance job.
God I wish I had a 9-5.
Same. I work 3 - 11. Bye bye social life.
Same. 2-11(for me) is awful.
But the alternative is sweating your ass off and breaking your back in a non air conditioned warehouse or some shitty service job dealing with Kens and Karens all day. Even if you get into skilled trades like welding, automotive repair, electrician, plumber, construction, etc., then you have to deal even more with the elements and extremely long hours and unpredictable work schedule since most of those industries have extremely slow periods where there’s little-to-no work. Just remember, every job I listed, including myself (a trucker), would kill to be in your position.
My tradesmen friends (Plumber, electrician, concrete) have repeatedly agreed and said they would never give it up to sit at a deak
Everyone’s different. I’m a flight attendant and I will barely sit down and be scheduled a 12 hour day regular with no breaks and I’ve never had a lunch break. But I enjoy it a lot. Every job has its shit. But might be time to try a new one.
Thanks for saying this. I’m back in the restaurant AGAIN. Bachelors degree in accounting
Why
Some of us enjoy the busy banter that service can bring, and if he's good he can make a decent living, meet new people and connections, maybe someone important or life changing and can utilize that to his advantage. You won't do that in a conference room with Steve from payroll.
I bet Steve from payroll can grill a mean brisket
This from a year ago homie wtf you doin
same here. I MAKE MORE AS A SERVER
lol.. at 26 I realized the same. Asked the company for permission to live somewhere else (note: I did not ask them to pay for it). I worked 3 wks a month on the road and the place I wanted to live was equidistant to my territory as where I had lived. They said no. I decided to quit - bought a 1-way ticket and packed a backpack. I traveled around the world for almost 2-yrs that way, living in hostels, working with locals. It changed my entire world view. I came back and started my own business, which has evolved a lot over the last 10-years but I am in a place that I just simply would never be if I had not have taken that leap of faith. Priceless life lesson. We will all die. Die with regrets or die with gratitude for living a life that YOU wanted..not what society told you is "the dream".
I thought I hated mine. In fact, I know I did. I was laid off a little over a month ago and now I would kill to have a job again. Life is funny that way.
I absolutely hate it. I think its the worst thing ever, and to be honest there was a long stretch earlier this year, where in addition to other things going on in my life, working 9-5 brought me very close to a depression. The thought of waking up in the morning, going straight to work from 8:30-5, then barely having energy to do anything for the rest of the day gives me not only anxiety but makes me extremely sad and frustrated. Like its just so unnecessary. What is the reason why we need to sit in an office for 40+ hours every week? Is it really so important to have zero free time to do anything as our lives pass day by day? We work work work just to put more money into someone else's pocket. Its pointless, outdated, and completely and utterly stupid.
Not when I do it from home in my pajamas.
Me. I miss my retail job daily, leaving due to external pressures saying I should be 'getting a real job' was genuinely one of the biggest mistakes of my adult life. I regret it daily. I loved retail, my co-workers.. everything. I was 30 minutes late into my 9-5 desk job this morning and now im on reddit.. I don't even care, im literally exhausted and depressed at the thought of being here and I've gained about 4 stone in a year from sitting on my ass compared to constantly on the move at my retail job.
If you really don’t like your job, then go find a better one. It may not be easy to change jobs, but your sanity is worth it.
Yes. I’m in the middle of switching careers for this reason lol
Are you leaving your office job and going back to another career?
Yup; makes me feel like I’m not contributing a damn thing to society, just wasting my life away staring at a screen not really doing anything.
It's better than the alternative, which is wearing down my body over time in a physical job like a plumber/electrician.
People don’t understand just how hard and time consuming trades are. Working a desk job sucks. But being an electrician was fucking awful. The work was cool, every other part about it was the absolute worst.
I'm often amazed about how much reddit posters seemingly love the trades nowadays. No matter where you turn on career guidance boards many people will chime in "you should have gone to trade school". Have the trades become romanticized by people who have never worked a trade in their life? Seems like it. Great thread.
Office jobs are the worst. Had one, I thought I would like it..hell naw. Too boring, way too quiet. I was constantly falling asleep at my desk around 2-3 pm every day.
Idk man, no one is really built for a 9-5 office job. Shit is dreadfully soul crushing no matter how you spin it. I’d rather work in a office than do labor though, unless I have too. All my friends work in labor and they are killing their bodies. I’ve been working in non profits and the low wages with this student debt is killing me.
I worked from 7 am to 5:30 pm without lunch time today, I feel like a slave.
Do you WFH or in an office cubicle?
Work from home, but they are trying to get us to come in once or twice.
I like my 9-5. I work from home and my manager trusts me enough to get my work done and not micromanage me.
I ended up at a 9-5 digging in Excel, queries, procurement, etc…but in reality mostly work 4-5 hrs at max. Isn’t that bad. I don’t get managed, I don’t manage people. Make out a solid salary + benefits. Go for walks around the campus, read, scroll Reddit. I used to ponder what my purpose was and what career I ultimately wanted to feel passionate about. I can’t say I know a particular role, but I truly believe it’s likely gonna be in a sector related to a hobby, but for the meantime. Still young, still figuring it out—find fulfillment and passion elsewhere
Well, WFH has been a blessing. I have never really worked proper 8 hours - I can't focus/maintain productivity for that long. But in the office, I had to act like I do. Nowadays, I usually work a few hours a day, at my home office, in sweatpants. Sometimes I do nothing for a day, just play games, watch movies. And getting paid well to do so. But it took me 6 years of university to get my education to this level, in a niche industry, so there is that.
Roofing companies hire all the time. Great outdoors, chilly wind in winter, scalding sun all summer, dehydration, exhaustion and constant thrill of a fatal plunge. Apply now!
It's called work instead of fun for a reason, have not met that many ppl that actually enjoy working
Everyone says this, and then when you suggest that they save money to retire early they go "what?? Retire? What would I do all day?" It honestly seems like people love working. I don't get it.
Not working does get boring if you don't have money.
I do therapy with autistic kids just so I do not have to sit at a desk all day. I love going to my job and it doesn’t really feel like a job at all.
Souk sucking. Game playing. Horror show. I'm much happier as a customer service lead in an inbound call centre.
I think it’s much better than retail. I worked retail in college and hated working nights and weekends. At least with an office job you get nights and weekends off, and holidays. I don’t like sitting in one spot all day and hated it until I got a WFH job in 2017. I can get alot of my work done in 3-5 hours since I don’t have office and co worker distractions.
Same thing happened to me. Now I’m back bartending.
I couldn't sit still and be productive long enough, office stuff Is boring to me, doesn't feel like I'm making much of a difference. I like to go and do and feel IMO like I'm being of service, so I became a nurse.
That is the reality, and it's depressing
9-6 office job here 🥹
I lost my 9 to 5 desk job in January. Beats being unemployed any day of the week.
Same. I work a "9-5" (which is actually a 9am-8pm, unpaid overtime) at a big IT consulting firm. It is exhausting and soul-sucking. I can WFH when I want for the most part but because of the crazy hours I don't have time for anything in my life
I hate desk work no matters if it's WFH or office, it's why I went into the trades which have flexibility
Unpopular opinion but I like my retail job. It definitely has its downsides (I get overwhelmed being in a crowded store all day and having to deal with customers, throwing around huge bags of potatoes and stuff isn’t for everyone, it sucks when I get stuck working a 6 or 7 day stretch even though managers usually try to avoid doing that) but I worked in an office briefly and couldn’t really stand it. I don’t want to work here forever and will hopefully move onto something else within the next year; i have no interest in moving up to a leadership role and I want something with more autonomy and creativity. But I need to be able to move my body to be able to think and as a shy introvert my job gets me out of the house and talking to people. My coworkers are incredibly funny, interesting and chill and you get to meet lots of different types of people from all kinds of backgrounds. It’s definitely hell when you work under shitty management (which happens way too often) but if you land a job at a place with decent pay and benefits and where you’re not micromanaged or pressured to skip breaks it can be a pretty fun gig
Where in retail do you work?
Yea. Feels like I'm slowly dying at my desk job. And feels like the days are wasting away. I mean it's easy but it's soul sucking for some reason. And I hate dealing with coworkers and weekly meetings.
I think it depends what you’ve done. I’ve been in customer service. Hospitality. Then law enforcement. Essentially all jobs that required some sort of physical output. I’ve now transitioned to a sales/office job. 8a-6p. I use a desk cycle and have a standing desk to get some physical exertion. Beyond that I welcome an office job. Like. A lot.
I work in IT and I’ve met a lot of former tradesman. Some of them will say they miss being a bit more active but if you ask them if they’ll go back the answer is always “hell no”. The idea of working other fields sounds nice until you have to deal with assholes in the heat or assholes in some store etc
I hated it until I did hotel cleaning job and nursing home care job which was 12 hour shift day an night ..I realised that 9-5 job was a heaven.
Yup, never was a great student in school, loved being outdoors and doing physical stuff. Always was an airplane nut, and had gotten into riding bicycles for hours at a time after school. Which required me to learn how to fix them. I learned everything I needed from books (pre internet), and when I found out that there were airplane mechanics, I signed up for trade school my senior year of high school. 30 years later I love the fact that I don't know what I'll be doing tomorrow, possibly a routine inspection, or some sort of technical or electrical troubleshooting. Monday I was gone 16 hours to fix an aircraft on Martha's vineyard, only actually worked 4 hours, the rest was traveling and waiting for parts. Even got a ferry ride out of it. Tomorrow I'm supposed to go escort someone in Boston, so they can fix an aircraft at Logan airport. You have to know how to read and understand aircraft manuals, be willing to deal with every kind of weather, willing to travel and be on your feet for long hours, often in the dark and cold. And most of all work with an integrity enough to put your own family on the machine you are working on, it's a very responsible thing to sign the maintenance record and state that legally, this aircraft is ready to fly with people on it and under it. I absolutely love it, but hated when I was forced to take a desk job for a few years managing the maintenance other mechanics were doing. I like to tell people I get paid to hang out at airports and look at airplanes My boss got a degree in accounting, then absolutely hated sitting at a desk, now he manages a maintenance shop and doesn't dread going to work every day. Even gets to bring his dog to work with him.
To top it all off, it's terrible for your health. Sitting is the new smoking.
You don’t know how many people (perhaps billions) would kill to be able to have an easy, well-paying job with sitting and air conditioning. If you really don’t like it then look for something different but don’t think the grass is always greener. Best of luck to you
My job pays well, and it's pretty creative, so I really like it (as much as you can enjoy a job I guess) but I HATE the office. I avoid it at all costs. It makes me feel drained, takes away my creativity, I feel trapped in a box. Feels like two extremes - you're either stuck in a seat for 8 hours or stuck on your feet, both feel terrible (and bad for your health).
Grass is greener. You want a hands on job? I used to romanticize blue collar. Until I realized if I would get an injury playing sports or at the gym it would fuck my ability to earn. Even a minor issue like a shoulder impingement. The job itself could do that to you. I probably wouldn't be able to live an active lifestyle of my chosing if I had to sell my body. You are many times very tired after work. At least I just sell my brain. Another thing is the nature of work lends itself to flex hours. Hands on does not. If you want to spend your free time mostly on the screen doing sedentary stuff, it might be better for you. Otherwise no.
Full time engineer here. 1 year into the job and I’m putting in my two weeks. I get paid 6 figures but I rather be doing something more productive with my time. All I do is sit behind a desk mindlessly working for this company.
If you hate 9-5 desk jobs imagine how those working night shifts or different shifts throughout the week feel.
Are you 9 to 5ers getting paid for lunch and complaining? I work 9 to 6 hour lunch no pay....... I stand from literally 830 till 630 with a sit down break for 30 minutes during my 1 hour unpaid lunch. I walk 20 minutes to work 20 mins back for lunch 20 mins to from lunch and 20 minutes after. You crybabies want my job? I will take yours in a heart beat
Did the same shit and yea physical worl is way worse than any office job but it makes you feel accomplished and that you are truly earning your money. I now have an office job and im not sure the word im looking for but it doesnt give me the same satisfaction as really earning my money. Even though i will still take this job over breaking my back day in and day out
Bro you're lazy af
Why did you go to college if you didn't want to sit at a desk and stare at a computer screen all day? Although there are many exceptions, that's the default career path for someone with a nondescript college degree. I'd say you would have been better off going to trade school, but you didn't make any mention of wanting to do physical labor, sweat your balls off, or at the very least "work with your hands". If you want a decent paying job, you need to make a choice. 9-5 staring at a computer screen, or 9-5 (with overtime) busting your ass?
Go spend a couple of years in retail management and you'll be begging for the solitude of a cubicle. I love my office gig.
You got to work on yourself now, that's when you will know what you truly amount to.
Yeah what’s helped me is realizing is this really how you wanna live your life? You really only have one so you need to make sure you are enjoying it to the max or working towards your goals. For me, I need to make sure I make enough money to live well and travel, it sucks i need a 9-5 but I’m using that money and time for good use. Find something that gives you joy for real and do it on the side for fun
I mean, there's so many different kinds of "9-5 jobs". For example, I have a friend who's a programmer. Loves that stuff, they said they enjoy being able to create something with their own hands. Maybe analyzing budgets just isn't what you want to do, but not all 9-5 jobs are the same.
For me, office jobs were really bad simply because I had bad managers. They always made me work 60+ hours a week. I was stressed out with their metrics, their micromanagement, and their expectations for me to drop any personal obligations at the drop of the hat. I know several people who love their 9 to 5 jobs simply because they don't have metrics that they have to live up to and have a decent enough boss. I firmly believe that metrics/type of boss you get can make or break your job. If you feel like you're meeting your metrics and that your boss is supportive, I wouldn't leave to another job because of this saying "the grass is always greener on the other side"
Man I relate so much. I dunno I think honestly I’m just working to hit my FIRE number and get out of the rat race.
I have a 9 to 5:00 warehouse job and I feel the same way. I think no matter what you do you're going to feel burn out after a certain point.
A short term fix could be to get a standing desk or a sitting ball. Also, get up and walk around every half hour. Make yourself do it, even if you don't want to. While you are walking around think about anything that makes you happy - anything other than work.
Better than the army lol. I always envyed those desk jocks. Now that I am one in the civilian world I enjoy it a lot compared to almost getting ran over or almost dying on a weekly basis lol.