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Having a job can be both a blessing and a curse. A few lucky ones have managed to pave the career path they have always dreamed of, but the rest are just putting on a clean shirt and fake smile combo and barely getting through the eight-hour bender five days a week.

While having a meaningful job ranked 13th out of 29 sources of happiness in a global survey, only 40 percent of American workers say that they work in good jobs, according to this survey. Many reasons can be to blame, from poor pay to unfair treatment, long working hours, and job insecurity.

Luckily, for anyone who feels that way about their job, here is a safe place to talk about it. Welcome to the Free From Work subreddit which, according to the description, “is the right place if you hate working!” Created back in 2021, the community is still pretty young, but it already features impressive content that is “mostly memes and tweets to brighten up your day.”

Below, we wrapped up some of the funniest and most soul-soothing Free From Work posts that work like a band-aid for our overworked souls.

More people than we think have been in a position where the hatred for their job became overpowering. For some, it happened suddenly, for others it started from the first day at work, while for most employees, the sense of loathing came gradually but became too strong to ignore.

So in order to find out what to do in such a situation, how to navigate a job you don’t like or even hate, and when is it better to part ways with it, Bored Panda spoke to Christine Mitterbauer, a licensed and ICF-approved career coach based in the UK.

#4

Freefromwork

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BadCat
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's a fear and a sound one, especially if you're working to support others.

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From her experience as a career coach, people often start hating their job when there’s a clash between their personal values and the values of the company or sector they work in, Mitterbauer argues. “The longer this goes on, the more the dislike, or even hate, can grow.”

“Another common reason people hate their job is that they have a hard time with specific people, a boss or colleagues they work closely with,” she said and added, “Whether it’s better to quit or not is a matter of your life circumstances and whether you can afford to quit, but of course, it’s better to notice your dislike for your job growing before it becomes all-consuming.”

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#5

Freefromwork

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DKS 001
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

as an introvert .... I would LOVE to permanently work remote so that I could stay AWAY from everyone else's unnecessary drama

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#7

Facts

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I I
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

billionaires have 1000 MILLIONS , and Musk has 200 BILLION , it's both mind boggling and fcking sickening

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According to the career coach, there can be good reasons for keeping a job that has neither good pay nor good terms: “jobs in certain sectors, for example, the arts or education, don’t always pay well but they might give you a big sense of meaning and satisfaction.” Mitterbauer argues that “if those are values you treasure, that might be enough reason to keep the job despite the salary being low.”

#8

Freefromwork

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François Carré
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My job is not exhausting at all compared to others, and I know I'm lucky for that. But it's clearly eating up my intellectual energy. I used to draw from time to time, and write short stories. Now I casually come home at 7 in the evening with zero creativity.

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#9

Freefromwork

MrChonkers Report

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François Carré
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Start looking for all the big companies you don't really need to spend your money for on a daily basis, and thus could boycott permanently until they pay their taxes and decent wages to their employees. That seems a fair and quite satisfying thing to do.

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#10

Living Wage Has Long Lost Its Meaning

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Pumpkin Spice
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I heard that growing up, people could pay rent on a single income and work good hours. I'll never have that life. I wake up every day knowing that it's only a matter of time until I turn 15, and then I need to start working. Otherwise, I'll never afford college. I want to become a psychologist and live in a nice apartment with a cat. But the most I'll ever be is an anxious, depressed McDonald's cashier.

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When asked what to do when after years a person suddenly develops a sense of not liking their job anymore, Mitterbauer’s advice is to get clear on your values – what is truly important to you in life.

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“I often use the Wheel of Work, which shows people several aspects and values of their job, and then we discuss each in turn, how important it is to them, and to what extent it is being met now. Money, creativity, culture, creativity, etc. Through lots of conversation, you lay out on the table what values are truly important and which ones are less important.”Mitterbauer argues that if you hate your job, there’s a good chance this is because there’s a clash here. “It’s never too late to change, and you can start making small changes today,” she concluded.

#12

Freefromwork

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Cammy Cat
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah. Worked somewhere with one of these where u had the option of putting your name, and if u didn't, it was "anonymous". So a co-worker did his as Elvis, and shockingly enough, he got called in to HR about it. Told us he did it to prove it wasn't anonymous at all

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#13

Freefromwork

TechnicallyRon Report

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IcyPenguinToes
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think they actually did invent that flavor of Monopoly. To try to profit on the sadness. Doubt the board is fun enough to be flammable more than once though

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#14

The Myth Of Hard Work

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Jul Chv
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes. That! And every edgefound baby with privileges would be starving.

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#16

Freefromwork

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Philip Williams
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

With the benefit of hindsight, if there was an evacuation order then any manager who forced the workers to remain under guard should absolutely be liable for their deaths, and the very company should be sued and prosecuted out of existence. Natural disaster in reference to the storm and its effects is accurate

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#18

Facts

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Iifa A.
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

26 years? And only 78000? Where do you live and can you please get me a place like this.

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#19

Being Lazy Is Not A Thing

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Susie Elle
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't believe in laziness. I believe in inactiveness, which is usually a product of something the individual is not happy about.

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#20

Freefromwork

emrazz Report

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DKS 001
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

poor folk incentives: 1) Recommend this job to a friend. If we hire them and they stay for 3 months YOU get $100! ... 2) employee appreciation gets you a paper bag full of candy and 1 fruit

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#22

Freefromwork

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Jiska Veldhuizen
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That must be an American thing? We never gave out awards like that, that's ridiculious.

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#23

Do You Agree?

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François Carré
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And I'm always baffled by all these Hollywood movies, praised by massive audience and making billions of juicy dollars, while most of them carry very specific anticapitalistic messages that should start revolutions right away at the exit of the movie theatre.

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#24

Freefromwork

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Torsten
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be more precise it's the Calvinist/Pietist "live to work - not work to live".

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#26

Freefromwork

pseudo310 Report

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Psycho Cat
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Capitalism doesn't work, communism doesn't work, democracy doesn't work, socialism doesn't work... I think our "leaders" don't work.

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#28

Freefromwork

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I I
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

why do you think they like to keep us fighting ? so we cant unite , if we're busy fighting each other we're not waking up and fighting them , the cause of ALL our problems

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#29

Freefromwork

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KJ
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's really crappy of the employer, I will settle for getting no bonus instead.

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#30

Freefromwork

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Note: this post originally had 80 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.