This is a guest post by Lloyds Apple of deathrattlesports.com and leniche.com. While I obviously disagree with the overall conclusion here, his view is prevalent enough to warrant some airtime and hopefully some thoughtful response.
As much as I hear about how people “hate their jobs,” I can’t help but wonder what would happen to these folks if, you know, they really had to work. What do I mean?
Well, from my experience, the people that complain about their jobs the most are usually the ones that really suck at their jobs and the ones that are doomed to stay at their go-nowhere-job and their go-nowhere-position for life. That or they are the ones who will soon get fired, only to take another position they despise just as much. After all, it’s easier to complain than come up with a semi-original idea.
I grew up in a small go-nowhere town listening to people complain endlessly how bad it was. Now, when I make me once-a-year Christmas vacation to see Grams n’ Gramps, I see those same people who never left.
Some folks actually had a real gripe when it comes to their jobs. Take the majority Navy Men in submarines from World War II, for example. They not only had to spend months in tight corridors with other smelly men but they also camped out in an underwater vessel that was laced with airborne asbestos. And it was not only those in subs, but also battleships, aircraft carriers and so on.
Fast forward 20+ years and many of our military veterans who risked their lives to defend our right to bitch about our jobs were diagnosed with the cancer resulting from asbestos known as mesothelioma.
Going back further, could you imagine being the guys who had to clear the American landscape westward so we could do what we do? Mosquitoes, snakes, bears, alligators and so on must have been a real bummer.
I wonder if they at least had the opportunity to write in a journal that, “Geez, this job blows.” So it’s true that many of our jobs really do suck. When I see someone towing my car, for example, the first thought is, “I hate your job” or “your job sucks” or “you suck”.
But the reality is if your job really does suck then change it. If you don’t rest assured we’ll sit back and mock you. Because if you work a job that sucks, you suck at the job and your attitude about your employment experience sucks than you my friend suck.
By Lloyds Apple
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Jenny // Jun 25, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I think I’ve been in the same kinds of places as the guest author because I tend to agree with him here.
I mean, it’s all about control isn’t it… If you feel like you’re in control of your work, your career, then it doesn’t matter if the job sucks. You’re still going to get something out of it and use that experience positively in your next gig. But if you feel like you don’t have any control in your work or career, then every job sucks.
Thing is, for people to leave jobs that suck, they have to believe there is somewhere for them to go. If you don’t believe there’s anywhere to go (because, you know, all jobs suck), then you’re not leaving your sucky job until you’re pushed out of it. I tend to believe the people who complain the longest and loudest are also the ones who feel least in control of their work and think there’s no one else who would hire them if they left. It’s really a classic pattern in abuse cases — often abused people won’t leave abusive situations because 1) they know what to expect and 2) they believe they’ll wind up in a worse situation later if they leave.
Anyway, thanks for opening the topic.
2 Rachel // Jun 26, 2008 at 4:44 pm
So let me apply Apple’s logic: I end up in jobs where I have nothing to do because I suck! Strange thing is that my evaluations don’t reflect this - people praise my work - and I have never been fired for not doing anything (that in 10+ years). The logic of Lloyds Apple that a job sucks when we suck at the job seems to not hold up well… And that’s where the logic feeds into Jenny’s point: Because we tend to blame the victim (the person with the job that sucks), we assume that they simply must suck at their job. We in those sucky jobs then internalize that (if we’re not careful) and feel nobody else would hire us anyways… So we’re stuck. And THAT sucks!
3 Freddy // Jun 28, 2008 at 3:23 am
I don’t like my job and I just finished writing my letter of resignation. I am in no way bitter towards anybody there. I just hate working in a cubicle. Its depressing when your office has no windows. Im leaving this week and I am totally excited about the upcoming job hunt.
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