Are you happy with the work you do?
Posted by Icy-Enthusiasm7819@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 31 comments
I've been offered a role with better pay and hours in a location I like. Sounds great but I'm not sure I want it - the role itself, while there's variety which I like, is not exciting.
In case you're wondering why I applied, I didn't give it too much thought-im currently working a zero hour contract and need something permanent.
I need to sign the contract asap and I just don't know what to do...Is liking the work itself really important when the pay and hours are better? Are you happy with the work you do?
Rowanx3@reddit
Im a chef, I’m happy with the work i do. Its surprisingly almost impossible to find a restaurant thats 1. Sells food you’re proud of 2. Has good management and 3. Doesn’t expect you to achieve the impossible. So the place I’m at now I’m very happy with.
Its busy enough that we can get bummed for 8 hours straight (which is usually my favourite part of the job) but without feeling like we can’t cope, then a Monday and Tuesday are quiet enough that we can prep great food.
I started working my current job last April when they had an awful head chef and awful reputation. It’s a gastro pub and they were chagrin insane prices for bought in food.
Got a new head chef in September and a new GM in January, completely changed the menu and bought all the prices down by £3 on average per dish, head chef was forced to keep some pub classics like pie, burgers, fish and chips but now we make the pies, make the burger buns etc. new GM puts on loads of events. He’s a top bloke, really cares about his team and the customers.
Feels like im part of a kitchen nightmares revamp and its so much fun and really rewarding seeing the reviews and and increase in customers compared to this time last year
Ok_Impact9745@reddit
How many of these gastro pubs are just reheated frozen slop?
A local pub near me has just reopened after a refurb (18th century coach house) but it's been bought over by one of those pub/brewery management chains (it's not greene king or Marston's but similar sort of corporate vibe). Menu is quite big and varied and looks very corporate so my assumption is that it's all reheated slop bought in frozen?
Rowanx3@reddit
Dunno about your area but for me, pretty much every pub in the actual city is reheated slop then all the surrounding village pubs tend to actually make fresh food.
Best indicator if they are part of a small chain is to see if they have the same menu as another of their pubs, if they do it means the chef has no control of the menu and will be following set specs from management which is usually bought. So id google whatever brand owns the refurbed pub and have a look. Id also say another red flag (not always) is when they have to include ‘home made’ on the menu. If some things day home made that means everything else is bought in, a restaurant shouldn’t have to advertise they made the food, should be a given.
TreeElfOfSpieWood@reddit
I was trapped in a job that made me so unhappy that I had 2 mental breakdowns in a year. The reason I was trapped is because it was a 40 hour contract and they are like rocking horse poop these days. It was also a management position. (It was a retail job and I was assistant manager). After my second mental breakdown, I decided enough was enough (I had already been looking around for something else) and I called a local Domiciliary Care company. For the last 20 years people have been telling me I should be a Care Worker, and that I would be perfect for the job. Unfortunately, I didn't believe in myself and I could never imagine me being able to do that kind of job, especially when it comes to poo. They told me to come in and have a chat (was very relaxed as I've known the owner for around 14 years and the Deputy manager for around 18ish, the Deputy Manager is one of the people who had been nagging me to become a Care Worker. ) the next thing I know, I'm signed up for a trial shift the next day. Honestly, from day 1, I was hooked! I am a changed person. I'm so much happier with my life, I would go as far as to say I am a completely different person. I've even managed to lose just over 4 stone (I've been trying to lose weight for so many years) and my mental health is better than it has been in decades.
So, what I'm saying is, YES! It's extremely important to like what you're doing as a job. You spend so much of your life at work, it needs to be something that will make you happy, with good work/life balance. If you're only thinking about taking this job that you KNOW you're not going to like, just because of money, I would say it's a bad move.
Either way, I wish you the very best of luck. Much love xxxx
Ok_Impact9745@reddit
My wife has almost an identical story. She was in various retail management jobs and hated it. She went into adult social care (for adults with severe learning difficulties) and she absolutely loves it.
People will say that care is a horrible job but my wife absolutely hated retail and she is so much happier now she is working in care. She was miserable in retail.
I think you need to be the right sort of person for it though.
N.b. The poo doesn't bother her now 🤣
TreeElfOfSpieWood@reddit
Care isn't a horrible job, if you work for the right person/people. The owner/manager and the Deputy manager of the company I work for are like no one I've ever worked for in my whole working life! They are kind, caring, sympathetic and definitely have a "person centred" way of doing everything. I can honestly say I have never been so happy and content, not to forget feeling valued, in a job (and I was self employed at one point 😉)
I am so happy for your wife that she also escaped the soul sucking, life stealing, thankless, corporate nightmare that is "Retail management" and found her joy! Thank you for sharing her story, I love to hear about people making their lives better and happier.
I do truly believe that if you find a job you really love, you'll never have to work another day in your life. Yes, care work is hard work, and I can end up coming home feeling physically and emotionally drained sometimes. However, being assistant manager at Poundland, was the cause of me having 2 mental breakdowns in the space of a year. I've been doing my new job for a year and my mental health hasn't been this good in decades!
I am more than aware of how easy it is to say "Your mental health is more important than money" and how difficult it is to be able to actually make the move and put yourself first. But, I was lucky enough to finally be able to. It was a real struggle and it was worth every bit of it.
Much love to everyone out there looking for their joy and the best of luck in your search 💖
Ok_Impact9745@reddit
She is a very caring person and it really suits her. She takes a lot of pride in what she does and she enjoys helping the people she works with. She has made a lot of improvements since she has got there. For example she has said that a lot of the people they care for have old tatty clothes and she has taken them to get new clothes and new bedding etc. She has helped them with diet plans etc (it does help that she prepares their meals).
I work as a maintenance engineer which I enjoy doing. It has it's moments where it's shit but I enjoy fixing things and I have a laugh with the guys I work with.
I agree I think you should be happy in your job and not just chase money. I don't think money buys you happiness but I think financial struggles are probably the biggest cause of (or catalyst for) mental health issues. I think if you can earn enough to pay the bills and you are happy at work then you will have a much better outlook on life than someone who is miserable chasing their next step up the soulless corporate ladder.
I'm a firm believer that you will only be truly happy if output of your work should be something tangible or directly helps people. I.e you care for people, you build something, you fix something, you feed people etc. Shuffling bits of paper, plugging numbers into an excel spreadsheet or having teams meetings to optimise shareholder value doesn't have any sort of meaning. It's a miserable soulless corporate existence
TreeElfOfSpieWood@reddit
You and your wife sound like my kind of people. What you just described is why both myself and my husband (before he met me) were both in jobs where we had worked our way up to middle management, like you're "supposed to" and both had the potential to go hire. I now work in one of the least glamorous and lowest paid jobs around and my husband works in the physio department of a local charity for at least a third of what he could earn elsewhere for the same job. And yet, we are both much happier with our more current situation.
summerloco@reddit
Wholesome comment. Nice to hear that it’s possible to find something you can really enjoy.
TreeElfOfSpieWood@reddit
Thank you, I just wish more people were able to find the right career that brings them joy and pays the bills.
MountainMuffin1980@reddit
How were you with the poo in the end?
TreeElfOfSpieWood@reddit
Absolutely fine as it goes, I have had no problem at all.
ItsDominare@reddit
This is one of those questions nobody can answer for you. Your best bet is to take the job, give it six months, and see how you feel. If you're so bored you can't bear it, look for another one.
leclercwitch@reddit
I’m a secretary. Mostly it’s fucking boring but I can start at 10 and finish at 4 with a 2 hour lunch if I wanted once a week because of flexi time. We get bonuses. It’s really laid back. I spend most of my time on Reddit to be honest cos there’s bugger all to do outside of the occasional email and opening and distributing post. I’d like to go remote but I wouldn’t have the flexibility I have here I don’t think.
MysticDolphin@reddit
No. What I do for work is so incredibly unimportant. Our whole department lurches from one paniced idea to the next with no measures of success.
Our work contributes nothing to the organisation and if it weren’t for all the fucking meetings no one would ever know what we did since they certainly never feel the impact of it.
However my job is easy, I’ve learned enough about playing the game to be seen as an asset. So I’m quite secure and well paid. Can’t complain too much.
buginarugsnug@reddit
I don't love my job, but I don't hate it either - it can feel repetitive at times. What I do love are the benefits, which make it very easy to be happy with it considering I don't really mind it.
A lot can be said for a job you don't mind with good work/life balance.
MountainMuffin1980@reddit
I would take boring contracted work hours over unstable zero contract ones. I don't mind my work, I like my manager and the people I work with, I've never had the Sunday scaries people talk about. But if I won the lottery tomorrow I'd probably only ever log again to do the proper process for handing my IT stuff back in
sakmentoloki@reddit
Yes I like it. Would I prefer to not have to work at all? Yes but given that is not possible it's the best possible thing I could be doing
MidnightRambler87@reddit
No, I hate it.
Got moved sideways in my current company because my ex-boss bullied me out of my position (she’s got the MD and his wife around her little fingers), so no.
I have never, and won’t ever have belief in myself that I can do a good job because all I’ve ever done is admin/grunt work and as far as I’m aware in my working life you get shat on from a great height repeatedly.
peppermint_aero@reddit
Try it? You're not marrying it. If you hate it, move on in six months. But it's easier to change jobs when you have one - and the stability in terms of hours/money will be very beneficial.
mumwifealcoholic@reddit
Yes. It pays the bills and lets me pursue my hobbies. I do not get my self worth from a job.
Polz34@reddit
I think until you give it a go you don't really know if you'll like it or not. By the sounds of it this offer is more secure, and pays more so guess I'm wondering why you wouldn't give it a go? If you get there and are bored then you can ask for additional work or if you can do some professional development (like shadowing another department)
bishibashi@reddit
I am now. I work non-teaching management in a high school and it’s such a nice environment compared to the corporate IT world I floated around for the previous 25 years. Took a huge pay hit but 10 minute cycle to work and I get school holidays and local gov pension scheme. The decades of being paid pretty well before starting make it a lot easier I must admit.
kittykat7931@reddit
The stability will be a bonus for you and surely that is important? Until you start doing it, do you really know what opportunities are there for you? However you do need to take some enjoyment from the work you do as you spend an awful lot of time doing it.
Theviolette13@reddit
I’m a teacher.
No one teaches because of good hours (despite what some people say!). Holidays are a massive bonus of course but I teach because I love it and I could not do anything else.
infinitewowbagger@reddit
My work is eh, I go in, I do my job and hang out with my colleagues, I go home and forget it exists.
It pays fine, I can leave it at the door and allows me to me do things that I want. Other than that it's not a big part of my life.
genxerrr@reddit
Look at it as a step in the right direction. Will you be better off in any way or will it be worse?
JennyW93@reddit
Yes, but I’m at the top of my salary band and it looks like no room for promotion. I’ve just been asked to make a lateral move to do mat cover for someone at my level, but their job is so tedious that if I accept, it will make me hate my job. If I don’t accept, I will look like I’m not a team player and the possibility of a promotion will be even further away.
So, yes. But I guess it’s time to leave.
WatercressCrafty3350@reddit
Yeah, mostly I really do. Not every day but in general - yes. I have a lovely manager who is incredibly supportive. I have an amazing team that I manage which has its ups and downs but is made up of good people who care about the work (I am in the NHS) and great colleagues.
I also have worked other places where this hasn’t been the case and have experienced in another job, a bully of a manager. I’ve also been in bleh jobs that I didn’t love or hate and bored me.
It makes life better when you enjoy the job and the people in the job but it isn’t the end of the world if you find yourself in a dull but functional job. Life is what we do outside work. You don’t need to enjoy it but it does make life easier given how much time we spend at work
Unless you really enjoy your current job, I’d say it’s worth it
AdvanceAlive2103@reddit
I love my job - I work in substance abuse nursing with addicts. Not for everyone, that’s for sure, but I bounce into work every day :)
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