The Worst Part About Your Job...

jcs17 · Sat May 16, 2009 4:27 am

Obviously, there is something that sucks horribly about your job, besides the blatant fact you aren't paid $500k bi-weekly (so don't bring up pay)!

Every Monday at 7:30AM I have a meeting with the owner/boss of my company (obviously, a small business) to discuss sales figures, what I did over the past week in terms of sales, his critiques of every part of my time spent in the office from my organization habits to my time management skills. Not only am I annoyed with the fact that I have to wake up at 5:45AM to show up to the office by 7, it's also Monday morning, and I get a full scale break-down of what I did the previous week as hazy as my notes and my memory is.

ZBBYLW · Sat May 16, 2009 4:36 am

Well you say don't bring up pay but I am sorry I am going to do that on the first post. As a pilot I am only paid for the time I actually spend in the air. I have to spend alot of time at the airport getting ready for the flight and after the flight... Without getting paid a dime. I only get paid when the engine is on but as a pilot you have to do ALOT of work before and after that.

I anticipate getting somewhere in the area of 30-35K this year which IMO is pretty bad. I know some have it worse (check the info for the Colgan drivers) but seeing how I had to spend around 70K to get all my licenses and ratings I feel that I should be compensated better. That being said for my low experience I ended up finding one of the better paying jobs in Canada. I would not work for any lower then what I am getting paid now. I would have stuck with my very good paying job and spent it flying to make myself more competitive.

On a side note I really miss working for the Military. Flying as a tow pilot in the reserves in Canada, I was getting around 55K a year, free accomodations, free food, free gym membership, travel claims, cost of living allowance (I got a cheque at the end of the year due to inflation) etc... All of that and only putting on around 30 hours a month, which was the only downside.

RGElectra80 · Sat May 16, 2009 4:45 am

Quoting ZBBYLW (Reply 1):
I anticipate getting somewhere in the area of 30-35K this year which IMO is pretty bad. I know some have it worse (check the info for the Colgan drivers) but seeing how I had to spend around 70K to get all my licenses and ratings I feel that I should be compensated better.

It's going to take a while for just about any professional (professional athletes need not apply) to have a yearly salary that's equal to the total cost of their higher education/specialized training.

WrenchBender · Sat May 16, 2009 5:38 am

My commute sucks, 8476 Miles each way.
CYYC-EDDF-OMBD-OAKN
But I only do it once each way every 4 months.

WrenchBender

MCOflyer · Sat May 16, 2009 10:09 am

I'm not complaining for I am fortunate to have a job and I work only 3hrs a day for 5 days a week. So it could be worse but its not.

KH

mwhcvt · Sat May 16, 2009 1:37 pm

When covering the lost/stolen lines when all other offices are closed and telling a customer that there is a security block on the account and they cannot have it removed for up to 11 hours when the security office opens again. Then you got the screamed and shouted at based on the fact that they are on holiday, and all you can say is sorry if you could have it removed right away you would!

That comes second only to telling someone they cannot have a credit card with us anymore

MWH@CVT

ltbewr · Sat May 16, 2009 1:49 pm

The commute to/from work. While my commute is relatively short (usually just over an hour), I have to drive to a bus stop, take a bus to NY City where traffic can cause delays, then walk to a subway, pay the fare, face more possible delays and then walk from the subway stop to my work to check in then go to my work area. Then their is the reverse going home, often with lines for the bus from NY City to home. Then there is the cost of bus, subway, car of over $200/month for the 'privilege'.

baroque · Sat May 16, 2009 2:08 pm

Doing the accounts. Other than that, naming technical photographs like this:

Big version: Width: 1713 Height: 1150 File size: 122kb

so it is still possible to make sense of them years later. And figuring out how to file thousands of them so they can be found.

After that report writing is a bugger compared with getting real data, that can be exciting, well for me anyway!

Just today my pet peeve is after about six of us agreed we needed a common numbering system so a database would work simultaneous in Greece, Spain and Aus, I discovered today someone is using non-standard numbers. Happily the cunning programmer has written checks that make the database refuse to accept incorrect numbers, but where did the wrong numbers come from???

IHadAPheo · Sat May 16, 2009 3:04 pm

I have to say that for me the cry that a patient makes when she finds out that her unborn child is dead is one of the worst parts of my job. Many times patients will come in for "decreased fetal movement" in the vast majority electronic fetal monitoring shows that all is well and the patient is soon sent home. However in some case the news is the worst possible outcome. Many times even sitting at the "desk" you hear a cry come out of a room and you know what has happened as for some reason it is a very specif cry of horror and sadness that i always dread hearing.

Going to the delivery of a fetal demise is something I also dread as actually seeing the demise is something that still effects me strongly.

Before labor and delivery I spent about 15 years working in the ER and in that time seen much death and suffering (and "interesting" events). Performing CPR etc in so many people and having so many of them not make it also stays with you. Having the patient "look" up at you with glassy eyes makes you think.. "are they aware of what is going on, are they feeling the things we do?". Preparing the body for the family and finally taking the body to the morgue and placing them in "cooler" also caused me to think about life and what the world was about

IHAP

B6JFKH81 · Sat May 16, 2009 5:28 pm

My company-issued laptop. The thing is SO FREAKIN' SLOOOOOOOOOW. banghead

WestJetForLife · Sat May 16, 2009 6:35 pm

Thing I hate most about the UPS hub here in YYC is the fact we're too damn small for our volume capacity.

We have three trailer unload spots, three car unload spots and little room to roam when it comes to volume capacity and strategy. On a 'good' night, we'll have 5 trailers (three BC trailers, two YWG trailers and our local sort trailer). On a bad night, we could have double that, and our supervisors lie to us by saying we have "a good night".

The worst part about it, however, is that our unload team seems to think that the faster we unload, the faster we leave. Not true. We have two separate sides of the belt that require it to be split. We only have two splitters and that can be very ugly when they're rushing the volume. That can also add confusion and create chaos for the pickers, who can't reach their packages in time and they blow by the assigned trailers.

Another horrible thing about the UPS YYC hub is we are understaffed for our projected volume runs. We are calculated to have 31 guys on our sort: 11 load, 6 unload, 8 pickers and the others assigned to smalls, customer counter and other tasks. Right now, we only have 6 load, 3 unload, 6-8 pickers and in total, about 22 guys on shift every night. There are about 10 guys who skip consistently, yet are manager favorites and like to suck up to them.

Finally, the amount of pressure our full-time supervisor puts on our loading team. If we go below PPH (packages per hour), we get yelled at. If we achieve PPH and our box walls are shit, we get yelled at. It is physically impossible to trade off speed and safety without some sort of automatic service, but UPS is too cheap for that.

Thanks for letting me rant,
Nik

RJAF · Sat May 16, 2009 7:04 pm

I spend more than 70% of my time collecting (actually more like begging) for the premiums due. Yes, I'm an insurance broker (aviation).

TurkishWings · Sat May 16, 2009 7:55 pm

The most annoying part is not having a regular work shift... I sometimes need to wake up at 05:50 AM ( like tomorrow morning) to work between 07:00 and 15:30 or work 15:00-23:30 and even worse 23:00-07:30

It truly sucks Sad

steeler83 · Sun May 17, 2009 12:46 am

The worst part about my job:

Having 3+ people in need of a diaper/depends change, with at least two of them being hospice patients (almost entirely immoble), right at about the time you're supposed to clock out...

I had that happen today...

Oh well, that's life at an assisted living community for ya...

Oh yeah, and when co-workers and family members complain that residents aren't getting proper care (i.e: someone is not dressed right, forgot to bring them down for a meal or meds, etc)

BMIFlyer · Sun May 17, 2009 12:59 am

Hmm, i'll point out what I don't appreciate about being a Train Conductor....

1) Irregular Hours - I work on a 13 week rotating shift system!

Averages 1 week "early", 1 week "Late", 2 weeks "early", 1 week "late", 2 weeks"early", etc...

Shifts vary - early weeks can give me a start time between 05:30 and 08:00, finishing anytime btwen 13:55 and 17:00. Whereas lates can have me starting anytime between 13:30 and 16:30, finishing anytime betwen 21:00 and 23:50.

2) Unruly Pax - this usually happns on soccer match days, weekend evenings and public holidays, when alot of pax seem to travel in a drunken state. I can deal with things on my own, but there may be occasions when the Railway Police will be called, which thankfully is rare for me, but not for others in my profession.

I'm lucky that my other job in the military teaches me how to control "anger", etc.

3) Fare Evasion - I get quite alot of pax who think they are entitled to travel for "free", or even travel in 1st class when they have only paid the "coach" fare. "Wouldn't do that on a plane would you?" I ask..... "No", they reply. Oh, well there you go!

That is pretty much it.

lhr380 · Sun May 17, 2009 1:24 am

Forgetting what day of the week it is, and just living by a roster with no days of the week.

At least once or twice a month I will totally forget its another Sunday at work until I walk past WH Smith and see the News of the World paper (only out on a sunday)

At least I don't get Monday morning blues, I aint got a clue of the day of the week lol

StarAC17 · Sun May 17, 2009 1:34 am

Quoting Jcs17 (Thread starter):
Obviously, there is something that sucks horribly about your job, besides the blatant fact you aren't paid $500k bi-weekly (so don't bring up pay)!

If you were getting paid that and your boss was as nit-picky as you describe it would still annoy you just as much. One thing my business prof said in University is that money doesn't motivate someone to work harder and if you are pissed about it making peanuts you would not be any happier making millions.

Quoting Jcs17 (Thread starter):
Not only am I annoyed with the fact that I have to wake up at 5:45AM to show up to the office by 7, it's also Monday morning, and I get a full scale break-down of what I did the previous week as hazy as my notes and my memory is.

Everyone has to deal with this and the only thing I can tell you about this is that you have to kiss ass until you can kick it, and by kiss ass I don't mean be a suckup but make sure that you do as your told and accept the criticisms my smiling an nodding even though you think your boss is dead wrong. I'm sure you know all this but it is the same reality that I have to deal with as well and I am absolutely thrilled that I have to put of with a 13+ hour day Tuesday next week. sarcastic

.

fritzi · Sun May 17, 2009 2:43 pm

I would say the worst part about my job is when I first work the night shift and then the afternoon shift. First I start at 22:15 and finish at 07:45. By that time I've usually been awake for 24 and finally get to bed at around 9. Then I have to get up at 14 and work from 14:45 to 22:45. It pretty much feels like you went out drinking last night and only sleeping for 3 hours, but without the headache.
The next to last worst thing is that the hotel is located in a part of the city where the crime rate is higher and where a lot of weird people wander around at night. I've had to deal with burglary, robbery, fights, criminal organizations, threats and people collapsing from intoxication and heart attacks right in front of me. One thing I've learnt is that you should never say that its a calm night and you have nothing to do. If you say or even think that, then any of the above mentioned scenarios will happen...

ajd1992 · Sun May 17, 2009 3:07 pm

The worst part of my job is I don't have one.

Great hours though Wink

wilco737 · Sun May 17, 2009 3:12 pm

The worst Part of my job?

Well, I'd say the different timezones. Makes it very difficult to sleep sometimes or being awake as well.

wilco737

VonRichtofen · Sun May 17, 2009 3:25 pm

Quoting WestJetForLife (Reply 10):
Thing I hate most about the UPS hub here in YYC is the fact we're too damn small for our volume capacity.

They will be building a new facility for you guys soon no?

The worst part about my job(s)?

Full-time job - sometimes it can get a bit boring. Often there is literally nothing to do but hang on to the work phone incase we get a call from AC Maintenance.

Part-time job - Not much to complain about here. I'm paid very well for a part-time job and I get to play with airplanes (ramp lead). I guess the only drawback is working outside when the weather is crap.

andz · Sun May 17, 2009 5:45 pm

Quoting WrenchBender (Reply 3):
CYYC-EDDF-OMBD-OAKN

Please don't use 4 letter codes, the mouse over doesn't work with them. Either spend the extra few keystrokes to type out the city name or use the 3 letter codes that provide an explanatory pop up. Thank you.

I suppose in my job the thing I dislike the most is the "instant crisis". I work for an electromedical equipment company and an ordered, peaceful day will be disrupted by some unreasonable request by a customer or one of our sales reps. They will have known about a budget deadline, or an upcoming equipment trial for a good period of time, then they wake up at the last minute and all hell breaks loose.

wilco737 · Sun May 17, 2009 5:55 pm

Quoting Andz (Reply 21):
Please don't use 4 letter codes, the mouse over doesn't work with them. Either spend the extra few keystrokes to type out the city name or use the 3 letter codes that provide an explanatory pop up. Thank you.

Calgary-Frankfurt-Dubai-Kandahar Big grin

or YYC-FRA-DXB-KDH

wilco737

pawsleykat · Sun May 17, 2009 6:10 pm

Quoting Ajd1992 (Reply 18):
The worst part of my job is I don't have one.

Great hours though

ROFL! Exactly my point too. Best hours in the world :P

I definitely need a job soon though =/

JG Yeah sure

WrenchBender · Sun May 17, 2009 6:18 pm

Andz,
Sorry, we work in ICAO codes here at work it's a habit thats hard to break. Maybe Airliners should update the Db to work IATA and ICAO Codes for mouseover. eek

LHR380,
I like working like that, we are on a 6 day cycle so all you ever worry about is which day of your cycle you're on. It also makes time fly before you know it it's vacation time. bigthumbsup

WrenchBender

andz · Sun May 17, 2009 6:22 pm

Quoting WILCO737 (Reply 22):
Calgary-Frankfurt-Dubai-Kandahar or YYC-FRA-DXB-KDH

Thanks.

kevi747 · Sun May 17, 2009 6:29 pm

The worst part? Hmm, hard to decide:

Demanding passengers; pilots who are jerks; mechanical delays; weather delays; crew legality delays; ANY delays; working with crazy-ass, and/or just plain evil flight attendants; 16 hour duty days; 8-hour layovers; INOP stickers; performing individual lessons on how to use those stupid entertainment devices in the premium cabins; long sit times at the airport; BEING ON RESERVE; airport standby; running out of entree choices while taking preferences in Business or First Class......and much, much more. Wink

Actually, while all these things annoy me, I still LOVE my job, most of the people I work with, and most of the passengers as well. And I feel very lucky to be employed with a good company. Big grin

sunshine79 · Sun May 17, 2009 6:59 pm

I'm just training at the moment but I know the worst part of my job will be the long 13 hour days on a weekend and not getting many weekends off. Only time will tell whether I will like it, but I'm not holding my breath.

WestJetForLife · Mon May 18, 2009 5:09 am

Quoting VonRichtofen (Reply 20):
They will be building a new facility for you guys soon no?

Yeah, but because of the economic downturn, it's delayed by...5, no sorry, 6 months now.

Hasta la pasta,
Nik

fxramper · Mon May 18, 2009 5:18 am

Using the head at 35,000 ft on a 35 year old MD-10. I so wish I hadn't eaten that meatball sandwich before we pushed from the gate! vomit

DocLightning · Mon May 18, 2009 5:35 am

Quoting Jcs17 (Thread starter):

Every Monday at 7:30AM I have a meeting with the owner/boss of my company (obviously, a small business) to discuss sales figures, what I did over the past week in terms of sales, his critiques of every part of my time spent in the office from my organization habits to my time management skills. Not only am I annoyed with the fact that I have to wake up at 5:45AM to show up to the office by 7, it's also Monday morning, and I get a full scale break-down of what I did the previous week as hazy as my notes and my memory is.

Oh, that's my life, too.

A complete lack of respect, a complete lack of any adult treatment. I get a breakdown on every tiny little mistake I've made, from forgetting to document some minute and unimportant component of a patient's note or history to my time management skills. The time management skills are particularly rich.

My boss will tell me that HIS doctor sees a patient every 15 minutes. Oh really? I suppose HIS doctor doesn't have to present every patient he sees to his boss. I suppose HIS doctor doesn't have to spend 20 minutes documenting every patient he sees. I suppose HIS doctor, when he needs to do a pap smear, has someone to set up the tray, doesn't need to go running all over begging and pleading nurses to chaperone the examination, and doesn't need to spend 10 minutes labeling specimens and filling out the requisitions for the lab (a pap smear, in and of itself, should take 5 minutes of a doctor's time, 10 if the patient is a young woman unaccustomed to the procedure, but in our clinic it takes a good half hour by the time I do all the necessary scut work).

And the kicker is that, in spite of the fact that I'm a board-certified pediatrician, this is all done "for my education." And I have to put up with three years of this if I want a certification in adolescent medicine, which really shouldn't take more than a year. :/

aznmadsci · Mon May 18, 2009 6:09 am

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 30):
when he needs to do a pap smear, has someone to set up the tray

Did you have to mention pap smears? vomit

The worst part of my job and cloning? If I don't get the clone I want, I've got to do the same procedures at least a million times to finally get a "possible" clone. knockout

ShyFlyer · Mon May 18, 2009 6:12 am

Hmm, difficult to pick the worst aspect of my [former] job.

Maybe it was the fact that my supervisors couldn't make up their mind about my performance. I was either exceeding their expectations or the scourge of the office. Some of my coworkers weren't any better, either. I'd ask them if they needed help with anything and they'd respond that they didn't. Then I'd get chastised by my boss for not helping them.

Working in a mental health office just about drove me crazy. <-- I wish that was a joke.

DocLightning · Mon May 18, 2009 6:16 am

Quoting AznMadSci (Reply 31):

white Did you have to mention pap smears? vomit

Yup. And believe me, they are NOT the worst part of my job. They are not my favorite part by any means (I don't want to be down there at a happy time!) but I don't really mind them.

Soku39 · Mon May 18, 2009 7:09 am

Big version: Width: 1600 Height: 1200 File size: 333kb

As a flight instructor at a university I HATE everything on the left side of that line... the right side of it... unbelievably fulfilling.

itsjustme · Tue May 19, 2009 3:11 am

Delivering death notices. Chances are, when a police officer (actually 2 being that it's my department's policy to send 2 uniformed officers on these types of runs) comes knocking on your door, it's not for a good reason.

flpuck6 · Tue May 19, 2009 3:16 am

Mine :

* that people the people who need shaking up are never shaken up
* that the people are don't need shaking up are shaken up
* that the incompetency of some colleagues seems to go unnoticed
* that the competency of those who are performant goes unnoticed

airxliban · Tue May 19, 2009 6:40 am

I guess I ought to be fortunate that I have a job, however what I really don't like about it (i'm a consultant) are the unpredictable hours and the travelling back and forth to unpleasant places. I typically end up working 7 days a week because I live in Dubai and my project is in Saudi. Week in Saudi is Saturday-Wednesday, in Dubai it's Sunday-Thursday, so I inevitably end up working the Saudi week, flying to Dubai, working on Thursday, and then flying back to Riyadh on Friday. It's 5 hours door to door traveling in each direction and quite frustrating...and I do this every week.

747m8te · Tue May 19, 2009 9:43 am

Quoting LHR380 (Reply 15):
Forgetting what day of the week it is, and just living by a roster with no days of the week.

Quoting LHR380 (Reply 15):

At least I don't get Monday morning blues, I aint got a clue of the day of the week lol

LOL, Exactly same here, I only go by the date, not what day of the week it is, as days are meaningless now, as are working hours, some days I might have a 3am start, others I finish at 2am, I have no sleeping or eating pattern but...

Its a good thing I enjoy my job, get to go play at the airport everyday Big grin

mwhcvt · Tue May 19, 2009 10:01 am

Can I change my mind, I've just been told that although I did the decent thing and have provided cover for the night shift for the last four weeks, now that they need to find someone to take the shift on for six month's secondment I have to apply for the job, as it would not be fair to the entire staff to just offer me the job.

Not that any other fu.... Angry

person offer to change their plans and get the management out of deep excrement when they had 60 minutes to find some cover.

banghead

MWH @ CVT

BMIFlyer · Tue May 19, 2009 2:40 pm

Quoting FXramper (Reply 29):
Using the head at 35,000 ft on a 35 year old MD-10. I so wish I hadn't eaten that meatball sandwich before we pushed from the gate!

LMAO!

Quoting Sunshine79 (Reply 27):
I'm just training at the moment but I know the worst part of my job will be the long 13 hour days on a weekend and not getting many weekends off. Only time will tell whether I will like it, but I'm not holding my breath.

What you up to now then?

TylerDurden · Tue May 19, 2009 3:02 pm

Anything and everything related to the administrative side of being the managing partner/owner of a business (signing checks, approving invoices, auditing books, etc.). I had no idea when I started how much bureaucracy would be involved---and I only have 11 employees.

The good news is that I don't have to answer to anyone. The flip side to this is that you are really working 24/7 when you work for yourself---you're never really off the clock.

andz · Tue May 19, 2009 3:40 pm

Quoting MWHCVT (Reply 39):

Rule number 1: NEVER volunteer!

Cadet57 · Tue May 19, 2009 4:06 pm

Without going into detail. I'll give you a hit. I work at a funeral home, nuff said biggrin

DC10extender · Tue May 19, 2009 4:15 pm

Quoting Itsjustme (Reply 35):
actually 2 being that it's my department's policy to send 2 uniformed officers on these types of runs

We actually send two officers to almost all calls.

I hate those so much. Take my Saturday. I had to tell five kids under the age of 8 that their mommy was going to be ok even they were doing CPR. She died (My record is like 1 for 16 when it comes to CPR). I hate the parts where we deal with death or a PI accident and then get yelled at by some asshole who doesn't want a ticket because he was going 20 over the limit all the while remembering the accident we just came from where someone died because someone was speeding or ran a stop sign.

I get sick of being labeled either too mean or not strict enough depending on what I do (rarely get anything right in the eyes of the public). I am tired of the pig jokes, the donut jokes, people telling me to go bust real criminals.

Even as I write this though, I realize that this is still the greatest job in the world minus complaints listed and I would never in a million years do anything else.

Revelation · Tue May 19, 2009 4:28 pm

Quoting ZBBYLW (Reply 1):
On a side note I really miss working for the Military. Flying as a tow pilot in the reserves in Canada

Towing what?

Quoting ShyFlyer (Reply 32):
Maybe it was the fact that my supervisors couldn't make up their mind about my performance. I was either exceeding their expectations or the scourge of the office. Some of my coworkers weren't any better, either. I'd ask them if they needed help with anything and they'd respond that they didn't. Then I'd get chastised by my boss for not helping them.

Yep, the arbitrary nature of reviews sucks.

I mostly work for one manager 3000 miles away so we only interact during teleconferences.

The guy who does my reviews sits 30 feet away but almost never interacts with me.

We get reviewed once a year. You never know if you've been doing the right things till after the review is over, since you get so little feedback during the course of the year.

In my company, reviews are big things, since they determine how big your bonus is and where you are on the ranking list used when they need to do cutbacks, so you can't blow them off.

Quoting TylerDurden (Reply 41):
Anything and everything related to the administrative side of being the managing partner/owner of a business (signing checks, approving invoices, auditing books, etc.). I had no idea when I started how much bureaucracy would be involved---and I only have 11 employees.

The good news is that I don't have to answer to anyone. The flip side to this is that you are really working 24/7 when you work for yourself---you're never really off the clock.

Thanks (?) for the flashback.

As bad as corporate life can be, I much prefer it to running my own business, which I did for a decade or so.

At least now when work is done for the day, it's done for the day, period.

And yes, I hated anything to do with accounting or corporate duties.

ShyFlyer · Tue May 19, 2009 5:16 pm

Quoting Revelation (Reply 45):
Yep, the arbitrary nature of reviews sucks.

Ha! Arbitrary doesn't even begin to describe it. I poured my heart and soul into the job, I wasn't performing to their standards. I give up and just merely "exist" at work, and they said they were so proud of me that I improved my performance. Then they fired me saying I didn't seem to be improving.

I felt like this guy most days:

TylerDurden · Tue May 19, 2009 5:32 pm

Quoting Revelation (Reply 45):
At least now when work is done for the day, it's done for the day, period.

I haven't mastered that yet.
My mind is always trying to figure out either a) how to grow the business (we've doubled every year for the last four years)...or b) thinking about a case I have pending.

I 'enjoyed' corporate life for three years and was a quick study in understanding that I would never be happy with working for anyone other than myself (I'm greedy as shit, too....but that just helps!).

WESTERN737800 · Tue May 19, 2009 5:42 pm

The hours at my job can get kinda long. I kinda split working outside and inside the winter, so the winter gets to take a toll on me. Good crew to work with though.

Wolverine · Tue May 19, 2009 6:05 pm

The worst part of my job is the morning shifts. I have to get up at 4.30, and to get enough sleep, I would have to go to bed at around 8 in the evening. But at this time, I'm not tired at all, so I need to take sleeping pills to be tired enough an hour later. And in the morning, I feel stone tired, and struggle to stay awake.

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