People don't like working...imagine that

I personally love my job. I knew what I wanted to do so I earned my degree and climbed my way up the ladder to my current position. Would I rather stay home and write all day? Sure, but that's just not realistic for me...

As for the "new generation" --- I'm with the ones who state the work ethic has fallen. Talk about individuals who want everything handed to them on a silver platter---high salary, perks and bennies with little to no effort. I guess it comes from having it all handed to them (cell phones, iPods, etc. etc.). Most of our 'interns' would stand around gossiping if they could get away with it. Just one perspective but that's what I've observed........year after year. Hopefully they'll prove me wrong!

Williebee said:

I've brought this up before, I think, but Mike Rowe, of Dirty Jobs, has an interesting take on this, from Ted Talks.

From the description:

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Thanks for posting that, I really enjoyed it.

As for job satisfaction. I think that it's difficult for teens with very little life experience (and rarely any introspection) to not only figure out what they'd like to do with the rest of their lives but also what they'd be good at - and enjoy while they do it. Consequently they go into careers that may have more social cachet, but ending up boring them silly, rather than go into a career that is not particularly "cool" but might hold more interest for them.

This is not totally the kid's fault either. When I went to high school some were steered towards academics and university and others toward the trades. There was also a noticeable stigma towards students who weren't "smart" enough for academics. Guess who's laughing now?

Also, Imo, your body craves both physical and mental work to be in balance and while it would be ideal if your job did this for you, most often it won't so you need to right the imbalance during your off hours and if you don't you will hate your job.

In addition you need to feel satisfaction from a job well done, and you need see the accomplishments of your hard work. Many times (as in working in some office jobs for example), you are a cog, and while what you do has great importance, you don't ever get to see the result of your work. There is definitely no job satisfaction in that.

Rowan said:

Hopefully they'll prove me wrong!

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They will for they too will bemoan their younger generation's degeneration.

I hate my job cause we get paid peanuts to do a shitload of work and the women in my team are a bunch of cranky old cougars. Its a deadend job but the work itself can be mildly interesting...and my bosses can be okay sometimes...they allow me to go to university to study creative writing and gave me time off to go to Japan in novemeber...I'm still not happy there though. Its so boring there! I kept staring out the window at the river today watching people jet ski and hang glide and wished I was out there doing it too. I think one of the reasons people hate their jobs is boredom.

Wait, we're supposed to enjoy work? When did this happen? Or have I leapt into some alternate reality? I thought work was just shit you did because you have bills to pay.

William Haskins said:

i don't know, mac.

case in point: was in the grocery store today buying many, many packages of powdered gravy when i saw a woman struggling to load a 144-pack of coca cola onto her buggy. as she grunted, i noticed a child just sitting in the front of the buggy, watching her and blowing spit bubbles.

this generation of toddlers will bring doom to us all if they don't get their shit together.

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Just as a counter anecdote to bring a little hope to everybody

On Sunday I was at the grocery store with my 6 week old baby...we were checking out when he started fussing, eventually crying.

The checker told the bagger to help me to my car. I waved them off and said I was fine, but they insisted so I could get the baby in the car.

The bagger was high school age and chatted pleasantly while we walked to the car, he loaded my groceries with a smile even though it was about 5 degrees outside.

I was impressed with the kid. I know it's his job but he did it without being all huffy or cranky about it.

Although I like my job quite a lot, I don't like to work. The thought of getting up every day and spending 8-10 hours doing things that other people think I should do just rubs me the wrong way. Nevertheless, I do it because I need money to do the things I want to do.

But I do have a goal, a Mission Statement for my life, as it were.

At one point, my employer sent me to a rah-rah, management seminar. The speaker wanted us to create a mission statement for our lives. Here's mine:

"I want to earn more and more, for doing less and less, until I get everything for nothing."

So far, it seems to be working out.

dclary said:

The depression generation worked hard because if they didn't, they'd die. Then the government gave them Social Security.

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The government gave this nation Social Security so that the aged would not have to end their lives on poor farms, at the poor house, or on the charity of their relatives or in a mental institution or in abject poverty.

Old age was not a good life stage long ago; Social Security was never intended to make "retirement" cozy and comfy, just to provide some supplemental income to make it less difficult.

johnnysannie said:

The government gave this nation Social Security ...

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Interesting wording.

Roger J Carlson said:

Interesting wording.

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...and on the seventh day, government rested. And it was good.

Don said:

...and on the seventh day, government rested. And it was good.

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Selah!

LOG said:

If the whole world depends on today's youth, I can't see the world lasting another 100 years. –Socrates

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Was that before or after he met Bill and Ted?

I guess I read a different article. Mine talked about job satisfaction and that workers are dissatisfied with their jobs.

Nowhere did I read that it said they didn't want to work.

-- The soaring cost of health insurance has eaten into workers' take-home pay.

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Hmm. I wish the government would do something about that.

Shadow_Ferret said:

-- The soaring cost of health insurance has eaten into workers' take-home pay.

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Hmm. I wish the government would do something about that.

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They will. They'll tax you if you don't pay it.

dclary said:

Was that before or after he met Bill and Ted?

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After. That's why it's a comedy.

dclary said:

Was that before or after he met Bill and Ted?

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Before. For obvious reasons.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I guess I read a different article. Mine talked about job satisfaction and that workers are dissatisfied with their jobs.

Nowhere did I read that it said they didn't want to work.

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I think I read that article, too.

Not wanting to work, and wanting job satisfaction are two different things. The latter is a perfectly reasonable expectation.

Celia Cyanide said:

Not wanting to work, and wanting job satisfaction are two different things. The latter is a perfectly reasonable expectation.

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According to a lot of people, including plenty of people I work with, it's not. Their view is "suck it up and deal." Um, whatever. I'm not willing to jeopardize my health and well-being in a misguided effort to prove that I can take it. They can have their divorces and ulcer meds and blood pressure meds and whatever other meds they're on. When being unhealthy is seen as a badge of honor, I don't think it's unreasonable to conclude that the job/career sucks and that it's time to move on.

LOG said:

This.
So many horrible events have occured because of machoness...or stubborness.

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But you see, what we may view as idiotic machoness or stubborness is viewed by others as dedication, and they view people who don't want to be that "dedicated" as slackers. That's why I'm skeptical when people accuse others of not having a good work ethic or who think that wanting some degree of job satisfaction is too much to ask for. It's almost as if they're trying to justify the choices they made and impose their (warped) values on others.

I have a former co-worker whose work habits are giving him health problems that no 35 year old should have, yet the people he works with don't think he's working hard enough. I fear he's going to die before he hits his mid-40's unless he grows a spine and leaves that place. But his view is that all jobs suck, so why bother looking for something better? That's really sad.

Bubastes said:

I'm not willing to jeopardize my health and well-being in a misguided effort to prove that I can take it. They can have their divorces and ulcer meds and blood pressure meds and whatever other meds they're on. When being unhealthy is seen as a badge of honor, I don't think it's unreasonable to conclude that the job/career sucks and that it's time to move on.

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QFT.

LOG said:

This.
So many horrible events have occured because of machoness...or stubborness.

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Or masochism, or the unwillingness to ask for and tell the whole truth at work, politics, bureaucracy, etc.

I like working. Even my job as a janitor was fun and interesting.

It's all the stuff wrapped around work that sucks the fun out of it; the ego games, the power games, the politics. It's why I regard the modern working world as not all that different from the Versailles of Louis XVI. Courtiers rule.