MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: Ok, I'm asking for all you loonies for life advice

This may sound loony, but that's why you're in the bin, right? If you hate your job, you have three options:

Suck it up. This sucks, because you'll be depressed every day, and if you have a family, you'll come home feeling depressed and consequently make their lives suck, too. However, it may be the only workable option depending on your circumstances.
Demand better treatment. Whether this is workable or will deliver results depends greatly on your circumstances.
Quit and find a better job. It's actually not as difficult as it might seem.

When I was young and naive, I took option 1 for far too long. I kept trying to convince myself that things would get better, and the company's fortunes would pick up, and I just needed to prove myself by putting in hard work. But it didn't. My wife knew I was depressed, and it weighed her down, too. On top of that I was getting fat.

Eventually I quit. I had a car loan, rent to pay, a wife to feed, and no job lined up to drop in to. But I had about six months' worth of pay (at my admittedly poor pay rate) in the bank. I only applied for jobs that looked interesting, and I was upfront about my demands in interviews. I was unemployed for about three months. I worried a bit, but I got to spend more time with my wife, and lose some weight, and had plenty of time to think.

I did get a better job that paid almost twice as much. I last a couple of years before I felt like I was getting screwed around more than I thought I should have to deal with, and started looking for other opportunities. This time I didn't quit first, but things weren't as bad as they'd been the previous time. I did find opportunities, and I took one.

I'm still in that position, and I'm treated with a good deal of respect. The company realises I'm very good at my job, and they can't replace me overnight. They also realise that when I got sick of getting tooled around in my two previous jobs I really did take option 3 (quit and find something better). This puts me in a good position if I need to pull option 2 - if I talk about leaving, they know it's not a hollow threat. If I'm not happy, I will have the head of department, head of HR, regional general manager and a board member coming to see how they can make things better for me.

So in summary, I guess I'm telling you to go out on a limb. If you're not being treated properly, quit and find something better. Do this until you're in a position where you can play the cards to your advantage. Remember the company doesn't own you - without employees they cease to be anything at all.