30 Funny And Relatable Anti-Work Posts For Anyone Who Hates Working, As Shared On This Online Group
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.
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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.
Every other first world country on the planet has this .. except the US.
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.”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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
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
I don't believe in laziness. I believe in inactiveness, which is usually a product of something the individual is not happy about.
That must be an American thing? We never gave out awards like that, that's ridiculious.
Yep. And if you’re out more than 10 total days your parents get a scary letter in the mail about how important education is and how we wouldn’t want the authorities to get involved now would we. Dude, my daughter is suffering from an unknown medical condition that has her constantly at every doctor I can find. Send your goons to my house and you leave in a body bag. Sorry, still salty about that one.
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This is actually the UK (or Australia or New Zealand etc) not the US (hence "primary school"). They definitely do this in the UK, those who achieved 100% attendance in my school were rewarded with trips to the cinema/bowling at the end of the year, those of us who had conditions requiring frequent hospital appointments or days off ill got sweet FA.
Your country needs more robust labor laws. After COVID is now the time to unionise and advocate. Your peers and your children - maybe your grandchildren - will thank you.
And as a teacher in that elementary school we have to do MORE WORK to call in sick than to just suffer through the day. It takes at least 2-3 hours writing substitute lesson plans which are never followed. So, instead, we come to school sick and get those around us sick.
From what I understand the school districts in America (or at least in California) get so much funding per student showing up to school per day. So instead of giving the children and parents consideration for the days that they cannot attend due to illness or family emergencies, etc. We are meant to feel ashamed when that assembly comes around and our child does not get a reward for "perfect attendance". It's awful. I have 3 kids at 3 different schools that can bring home whatever bug is passing through their particular school and then passing it through the family.... it's a domino effect and I refuse to feel bad about keeping my child home when they are ill.
I don't know! I always feel pretty bad when I have to call in sick like I'm letting everyone down, even though my boss is amazing and would never gripe at me about it. I call it "Past Job PTSD." I've told my boss too that I have issues calling in sick (so if I do just know that I'm dying) because I've worked for some real jerks in the past.
in my company, we have 99 days sick leaves per year. you can call in sick without doctor note. just call and no further question asked other than saying 'get well soon'. btw I'm not from America
My best friend was constantly in the hospital because od some serious medical issues and the teachers regarded her "bad" grades to her parents divorce. Because i was always with her and had slightly better grades on average (she was better than me in math and physics) they tried to talk me out of my friendship with her because she was bad news... B***h in high school we had the same grades, literally the same. We're so similar people mistake us for sisters So yea doesn't matter how many sick days you get in school the only thing that matters is the final grade
I worked for a guy that had a little b*tch fit because I called in sick. Actually told me he wanted a doctor's note. Seriously? Have you MET me? "Um, Jon? I'm a grown a*s f*cking woman & if I tell you I'm sick, then I'm sick, and I sure as hell am not going to the doctor's office so you can have a note like I'm six. Should I just have my Mommy call you instead?". Stupid f*cking twat.
The only ones of us who feel that guilt are the hardest workers. We know we are, we know our supervisors know we know, so if we're not there, all hell breaks loose. And we come back to a huge pile of b******t WE have to fix.
We (Americans) can thank the Brits for that one. Commonwealth nations (and later the U.S.) started public education campaigns to train children to become obedient FACTORY WORKERS during the industrial revolution/gilded ages. This carried over into modern public schools. Think about it. Penalties for absences. Bells ringing to end/begin the day/class/breaks. Penalties for just about anything "nonconforming". Rigid adherence to rules regardless how antiquated or unnecessary. Public education needs not only full funding, but a ground up overhaul to keep pace with a changing world.
That changed once Covid came along, now they shame you for going to work with allergies and treat you like you have the plague lol.
I worked for 15 years without calling in sick or taking a personal day... stupid The world kept spinning when I finally said WTF? and took my days.
It was messed up. I used to get shamed so bad for being sick/absent in school. I had multiple surgeries and was very sickly. I got horrible grades and it was somehow my fault for not trying hard enough. Even though I was never offered any extra help for missing so much for being sick and/or in hospital
Yes absolutely! I remember getting awards for always being at school. And later being shamed for calling in at work, and being guilty for taking vacation. That's crazy!
I was in high school from '82 to '86. I never missed a day, so I won the iron mascot award-- a statuette about the size on an Oscar, made by the shop classes. In order to win this thing, I went to school with any number of colds and at least one bad flu. My Grandfather died in '86. The school secretary was kind enough to check how many hours I could be out and still get credit, so I was able to go to the funeral.
I mean it's good to be productive and where you're supposed to be when someone hires you. No one is being programmed in a bad way. Developer good habits. If you find yourself wanting to call in sick then the job is the problem. Because I miss work on the weekends. Truly miss working. That is a thing.
Definitely ingrained from childhood. I was so upset once because I got violently ill 3 weeks before the end of school, and had to miss one day. I didn't get the coveted perfect attendance award that I had been waiting the whole year.
I mean the bells ringing to tell you to get to class were taken straight from the factory bells
The school where I taught had an awards ceremony, giving awards for academic achievement, perfect attendance, and other things. The ceremony was in the evening. The perfect attendance winners almost never showed up. They might have shown up if they were also getting an academic award, but interestingly that was a very rare combination.
Because sickness is Nature's punishment for committing an offence against god (your employer)… lol (Yes, some idiots actually do think this way!)
My dad worked at Peter Paul for 17 years, never missed a day , and worked every Saturday overtime. When the plant closed in 1984, he was too young to retire and they didn't even kick him in the a*s for a good bye present.
At my daughter's high school, they gave out end of the year awards for "perfect attendance" but not for straight As all year.
I always missed over my allotted 10 days due to being sick. The teachers and office ladies would always say mean comments to me about it, even at just 10 years old. Almost always had a doctor note. And to top it off, I still had an A average in every subject. So, you're gonna threaten to fail me because my immune system sucks, even though I have doctor notes and I've got a 97 average? I still have hatred towards those office ladies. Only was mad because schools get so much money a day for each student. If the student is absent, the school looses money.
My school did awards. We didn't get attendance award, we got Active Participation and Helping friends. This was given to anybody who came to school, participated in class, helped others when needed, and it didn't matter did you miss school days or had bad grades. You were praised for willingness to try and learn, and celebrated for not giving up, you didn't get punished for being sick.
I went to high school sick so many days just so I wouldn't break my streak-- they didn't even give awards for 100% attendance!
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.
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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Something I learned later on in life is that an interview or job offer is just as much you deciding if you want to work there. So ask questions. Ask how long people have worked there (it tells you A LOT if people quit after a short time), ask what's expected of you, ask what's in it for you. Is it possible to advance? Do they offer development in your field? If the pay is off you tell them, if you don't agree to any of the terms - tell them. You can negotiate now, just accept whatever is a thing of the past. OFTEN they will change/work with you on whatever is off if you tell them BEFORE you sign or agree. They are interested in you - that's why they offer the job and recruiting is expensive and hard. If they picked you it means they need you and if they won't agree to what you expect (in reasonable amounts) someone else will. This goes especially if you have education and experience. And never settle for less than you've had before.
Im gonna start my own business probably and have a small farm so i can sell things at the farmers market i think it's an okay idea
That's a huge trend to do exactly that right now! Check out the number of young people selling sustainable goods at your local farmers market to find your community
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Minimum wage shouldn't be an absolute value. It needs to be connected to the inflation index and updated monthly. It needs to rise and fall based on how well the economy is doing. Salaries need to be flexible as well.
I was recently told about a woman who resigned because she wanted $19 an hour instead of $16. Her employer said that the extra $3 per hour wasn't what she actually needed. They said that she needed benefits and that they couldn't provide them. They didn't fire her. I'm fascinated by that interaction.
Most of these had valid points, but the payroll deduction for the gift card was misleading. I've had gift cards given as a bonus. There is the amount of the card added as income before taxes, then a deduction from net pay. This is done to pay taxes on the gift card. Is that fair? No. But neither is making misleading memes. Misinformation is misinformation, even I agree with the sentiment.
Something I learned later on in life is that an interview or job offer is just as much you deciding if you want to work there. So ask questions. Ask how long people have worked there (it tells you A LOT if people quit after a short time), ask what's expected of you, ask what's in it for you. Is it possible to advance? Do they offer development in your field? If the pay is off you tell them, if you don't agree to any of the terms - tell them. You can negotiate now, just accept whatever is a thing of the past. OFTEN they will change/work with you on whatever is off if you tell them BEFORE you sign or agree. They are interested in you - that's why they offer the job and recruiting is expensive and hard. If they picked you it means they need you and if they won't agree to what you expect (in reasonable amounts) someone else will. This goes especially if you have education and experience. And never settle for less than you've had before.
Im gonna start my own business probably and have a small farm so i can sell things at the farmers market i think it's an okay idea
That's a huge trend to do exactly that right now! Check out the number of young people selling sustainable goods at your local farmers market to find your community
Load More Replies... Minimum wage shouldn't be an absolute value. It needs to be connected to the inflation index and updated monthly. It needs to rise and fall based on how well the economy is doing. Salaries need to be flexible as well.
I was recently told about a woman who resigned because she wanted $19 an hour instead of $16. Her employer said that the extra $3 per hour wasn't what she actually needed. They said that she needed benefits and that they couldn't provide them. They didn't fire her. I'm fascinated by that interaction.
Most of these had valid points, but the payroll deduction for the gift card was misleading. I've had gift cards given as a bonus. There is the amount of the card added as income before taxes, then a deduction from net pay. This is done to pay taxes on the gift card. Is that fair? No. But neither is making misleading memes. Misinformation is misinformation, even I agree with the sentiment.
