Same. I work in a university setting, where you'd think they know better because the education levels are very high and the need for professionalism, but the dumb things they say and do causes me incredible pain.
Think about this when you feel bad about something you have to do at your work.
The worst day at work is still better than the best day on disability. I never get a day off. I had a career I loved and had studied hard to learn what I needed to know so I could do it well. I would much rather be able to work.
As an urban teacher, I deal with mouthy, rude, sometimes violent kids every.single.day. When you are called a b*tch every day by someone half your size, it does tend to wear you down. Mnemonic, temporary disability, when I was out of work for a few months, was like a vacation to me by comparison.
I also get tired of my profession being constantly badmouthed by the general public and the talking heads. Don't get me started on our workload. Most people would run away screaming from what I have to deal with on an average day.
I get it. I have witnessed first hand a change in my lifetime from parents supporting teachers to blaming them for their children's behavior. I had amazing teachers as a kid, even one who gave a whole weeks lessons on critical thinking. And that was a remarkable thing to be taught when you are raised Mormon. He wasn't. Didn't last long at the school though.
Most kids are decent. The bulk of my career has been spent dealing with very toughened urban kids. There are a few nice ones in every class but the majority are dreadful to one degree or another. I attribute it to a lack of parenting.
I agree that temporary disability can seem like a vacation, but I've been disabled for 15 years. Only recently have I gotten a handle on my problems enough to think that I MAY be able to investigate something part time. If things keep progressing I could be looking for a job early next year.
I'm in the richie rich school. Two richest zip codes in my metro area feed into my school. I did my student teaching in an inner city school.
Yes, it's the parenting.
Also +1 on the "teachers are crap" line. I am sick and damn tired of hearing how flaky, inept, delusional my colleagues are. Yes, there are a FEW crappy teachers in my school (and everywhere.) But most really like their jobs, like the kids and care about what they're doing. They really care about the idea of a future and helping prepare the next generation. I know I do.
Worst part of my job? Calling parents. Also, sitting with a kid during detention--so boring. Also, I hate being observed. Awkward and uncomfortable. Fortunately, it only happens once or twice per year. Actually, most parents I call are pretty supportive. But I still don't like to be the bearer of bad news. You never know if they're going to go off on YOU!
Sit all day long. It's literally killing me. I'm not even convinced that a good strenuous workout, including resistance training, can undo a career of sitting at a desk for 1/3 of your day.
Office politics can also suck, but are usually fleeting incidents, and for the most part, I am very fortunate to have a very good job with decent, kind, intelligent people to work with. I'm very appreciative -- it's a good gig. It's just super bad for your health to sit all. day. long. (Yes, I get up and move around, but it's not enough.)
I don't get to decide what kind of desk I get. The company sets you up in a crappy cube farm; that's what you've got to work with/sit at. I work in the client's office and at least we've got new furniture and better chairs, but there's no "Can I have a treadmill desk please?" Seriously. And no way I could afford to set on up in my work-from-home office.
I try to stand as much as possible, and I get up and move around at least once an hour, but still.
My job largely involves reading and writing reports - many kinds. I get the information for these reports from reading things that my MA-level colleagues have written. These are native speakers of English, but their writing is much less comprehensible than my Spanish-speaking colleagues who have learned English as a second language.
Compounding this, some of them send me important information via their iPhones, which have that AutoCorrect feature that mutilates everything they write.
A sample sentence from yesterday:
"I attacked and for your review is the above [document name]."
Seriously.
And some of them get really upset when you change a single word of their enlightening prose, because "YOU don't know what I meant! YOU don't have a Master's Degree!"
(Maybe not, but I still know that if you are writing bullet points, they should not be single paragraphs that take up half a page and have six-line run-on sentences.
I have had much worse jobs than this, and I feel lucky to have a job that makes good use of my skills, but...come on.
and have for almost 30 years. I actually really don't mind my job even after all these years. It can be really interesting or really boring. I can work at home or in the office. I mostly work at home these days.
I didn't think of what Athena said. You wouldn't believe the stuff I deal with as far as how doctors speak, dictate, etc. Some are incomprehensible and lazy. We actually do have to fix their errors and read their minds, and if we don't, we get the "error," not them. I have a very cynical view of the medical community.
One of the things that is really, really annoying is when they EAT when they are dictating, suck on a lifesaver, chew gum. It is disgusting.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2014 10:07AM by cl2.
Is it the applicants who submit falsified documents and otherwise lie to get what they want, the huge amount of BS to be tolerated before anyone will allow calling the liars on it, or the office politics?
As a tax professional, I dread being judged by the business I support because of the incompetency of the tax authority. Sorry, but it is not my fault when the appraisal district creates a duplicate property tax account for property we are already reporting and paying taxes on. Fortunately I report to other tax people! I also detest getting notices because AP cannot make a payment correctly. It creates more work for my team to handle the notices.
I live in Houston and work at one of those big box garden centers. The single worst thing I have to deal with is the extreme heat and humidity. The second is rude customers. Most of them are fine, but the ones who scream, yell and curse at me? I just walk away.
Incarcerate deserving methamphetamine distributors when they have kids who beg the court for mercy. Dad knew the risks, harmed other people, and deserves his sentence. His kids are part of the tragedy. They love him.
quinlansolo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Does this mean you work every day? I am disabled every day and never get a break from my problems.
Worst part about my job (besides "work") is expense reports. For some reason I just LOVE to put that off and put it off etc etc. etc then I'll get to it later.
Then because I'm so late, the anxiety kicks in and it gets put off till tomorrow or the next week.
Then I get a nasty gram from accounting.
But I will say this - whenever I feel like "oh, god this again", I realize how insanely lucky I am to have a job, and a fun one to boot.
Tell a mom of three that her husband had been killed in a helicopter accident. I had to do it because the president and owner of the company, James Burr, was a coward and wouldn't face her.