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I hate this
9 years ago
Improvement stage has been in full swing. Been working through the exercises from my lesson plans and seeing some progress already, and really falling back in love with art.
Going back to work in retail has reminded me why I stopped in the first place, though. I. Hate. It.
I forgot that working a job you hate is like working 8hrs a day and then coming home and being stressed counting down the hours until you have to go back. Feels like you are literally never off of work because even on a day off you've got that thought in the back of your mind "but you have to go back after this!!"
It's really just solidified for me that this isn't what I want out of life. Spending 8hrs a day constantly walking behind people and cleaning up shit so it can get messed up again later and selling people stuff they don't need is not stimulating for me and frankly it just feels like a waste of my time, I'm sure a lot of you can relate.
Honestly this whole experience has reminded me that even though there were days making art felt like a total struggle, it's still monumentally more satisfying than working a job you dread every day.
I worked out the numbers and it turns out I was actually making more money working with you lovely people than I'm making now, so I've really been considering quitting and coming back to commissions full time. I hate the idea of quitting anything just because I don't like it, but financially (among everything else), it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me to continue.
SO YEAH... I'll definitely be weighing out my options while I'm at work today lmao. I know a lot of you have put up with jobs you absolutely hate for long periods of time and I genuinely hope you guys can find something you enjoy. It really pains me to know that people need to endure shit they hate for such a huge portion of their time. FEEL FREE TO VENT HERE
Going back to work in retail has reminded me why I stopped in the first place, though. I. Hate. It.
I forgot that working a job you hate is like working 8hrs a day and then coming home and being stressed counting down the hours until you have to go back. Feels like you are literally never off of work because even on a day off you've got that thought in the back of your mind "but you have to go back after this!!"
It's really just solidified for me that this isn't what I want out of life. Spending 8hrs a day constantly walking behind people and cleaning up shit so it can get messed up again later and selling people stuff they don't need is not stimulating for me and frankly it just feels like a waste of my time, I'm sure a lot of you can relate.
Honestly this whole experience has reminded me that even though there were days making art felt like a total struggle, it's still monumentally more satisfying than working a job you dread every day.
I worked out the numbers and it turns out I was actually making more money working with you lovely people than I'm making now, so I've really been considering quitting and coming back to commissions full time. I hate the idea of quitting anything just because I don't like it, but financially (among everything else), it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me to continue.
SO YEAH... I'll definitely be weighing out my options while I'm at work today lmao. I know a lot of you have put up with jobs you absolutely hate for long periods of time and I genuinely hope you guys can find something you enjoy. It really pains me to know that people need to endure shit they hate for such a huge portion of their time. FEEL FREE TO VENT HERE
That said, my current job sucks because the AC is broken and no one seems interested in fixing it. You know it's bad when even the customers outside the lab can feel the heat. So we have like 2 fans going, and the boss comes in adn unplugs them saying it costs money. It's like, "I don't care what it costs, because it'll cost more to pay for the medical bill when ppl start dropping dead in the lab from heatstroke!"
Worse still is that I largely don't feel like part of the team; they treat me like the new guy and not like a human ;.;
I actually love my job working for my local Dollar tree. And my dream is to actually OWN my own retail store one day. Albeit not a dollar store, but still.
I hope things work out for you!! Hopefully with a little more time you'll begin to fit right in.
My dreams have nearly died. It's a slow, long death of my art career.
The feeling of quitting a crappy job is ridiculously liberating in my opinion, it felt like this massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders, even if I lost my only source of income. Over the next week I also realized just how the constant dread had impacted me physically mentally. Despite my job not being physically demanding, I felt like I had so much more energy, I felt happier, it was just an all around improvement in every way.
And that's why I urge you to quit your crummy job as soon as possible, doing something you hate every day isn't just sucky, it's plain unhealthy for you mentally as well as physically.
Hoping for the best for you no matter what you decide to do!
Words are hard! xP
Thank you and likewise!! <3
Second job through university summers was at the local grocery store. It was small and I usually could go through the backstock in under 2 hours, meaning that the other 6 were made up of walking the 6 aisles looking for things that were out of place and working the milk, dairy and frozen when needed. Working cashier also sucked when you were on the lotto desk for 9 hours and the jackpot was the highest it could go. The 4pm-10pm Christmas Eve shift was the most busy (many of us giving up half of our breaks to make sure things went smoothly) but oddly gratifying shifts I'd done. The New Years eve and New Years Day ones not so much. My coworkers and bosses were really good, so that made it better but I'm never going back to retail.
If you can support yourself off commissions, all the power too you! The fact that you can making more money doing it is pretty amazing actually.
So I totally can relate and I still sort of envy Your 8 hours :C some people get it worse, alwasy remember that I guess xD and You indeed are lucky to be able to support Your work with commissions ^^ I think that's a great thing that most people don't have.
So cheer up and endure, or just quit and fuck them all :D
If you offer commissions and have no trouble getting them then you can raise your prices (possibly significantly), struggles mean improvement which deserves higher pay. :3
Back to the OP, retail (and food) were wretched experiences for me, too. Way too many customers treat you as a subhuman. I've been told I was the worst server because I couldn't read a lady's mind and know her definition of "everything" on a burger was different than the button in the menu. I was helping a couple at a crafts store and solved a glitch with their order. The response? "You're smarter than you look" with some fauxpology tacked on.
Between that and the unsympathetic nature of big businesses, I have all the respect for people who can stick it out and all the empathy for people who have to bow out.
I know the feeling all too well. Every job I've had (food and retail) has had me dread going every day. Already i feel dry in the new job i got last month. I was supposed to be cashier but opted out because it was too much to handle and the training was awful, so I'm now pushing carts, cleaning, etc instead. I'm not that big of a guy as I'd like to be, so I'm always tired when i come home after even a shorter shift. Idk if I'd rather be mentally tired and go for cashier, but sometimes i am mentally dead after because of the management. Already they have yelled at me over our phones multiple times for almost nothing, which is dumb considering I'm so damn new there. Then they proceed to back me into a corner and ask me weird questions all the time (ex there was a communication error and they blamed me for it) . They also got pissed because i missed 1 day because of a bad migraine.
So yeah retail is a black hole full of assholes. Especially hurts because i have to keep it for now. All that plus the fact its 25 minutes away. I really want to find a job that won't drive me crazy, but i feel stuck in my situation.
I'm dragging this out too long. Thanks for the vent opportunity.
I refuse to be miserable any longer in my life. I was for a majority of my life, even from a young age because of family, so i wont do it again.
Sadly, my partner is facing this issue. He just got done with school for his bachelors in IT and Web design and he knows how to build computers, fix them etc. He works a very hard working, labor job, for 12+ hours a day, 5 days a week, where they dont appreciate his hard work and just push the work onto him that slackers there wont do. Hes miserable and its awful seeing it make him actually depressed (let alone see it affect our relationship) when hes such a happy go lucky person. He rarely gets mad at anything but this job.
Hes been searching for something that he can do with his computer skills now, and its too hard to find around here so were just going to move.
Happiness is far more important and as long as we have means to go for that, we will. Even if it requires a tight budget, wed still be happier than working jobs we hate and having a bunch of spare cash to blow on items.
If i could manage to get popular and actually had time to advertise properly, to where i could do my art for even at least consistent 40/hr a week PT earnings, id be so happy. Hell, if i could even pull 200$ a week, id be happy.
Its usually more around 200-400 a month though so in order to help move and him get a less paying job that makes him happier, ill be doing my art AND a PT min wage job thatll probably piss me off but hes been supportive with me for 2 years and its time i do the same for him. =]
I work at a Safeway near me and they literally string me along only throwing me hours they have to.
Which not livable hours.
I had a grand total of FOUR HOURS for an ENTIRE week not to long ago. The paycheck for that came to $35 and some change.
I've asked countless times for more hours because I can't live with the ones they're giving me, and I've gotten spurned.
In fact in seems the week after I ask I get LESS hours than normal.
And worse there was a month where one week they'd give me 6-10 hours and then the next they'd suddenly decide 20 hours.
Idk what's even up with these people but I'm definitely in search for a better job.
Safeway has made me hate retail when it'd originally what I wanted.
I should have joined this site back in 2008 when I first started anthro art. By now I'd have enough watchers to take commissions full time, but hardly any of my watchers view my art. Guess I'd better get a third job.
I worked for a while in a pizza restaurant washing dishes. It sucked, it was boring, stressful, shit hours, minimum wage stuff. I hated it. Quit one day after they fucked up signing my holiday forms, moved home. Currently looking for work in London. Job hunting is its own special hell.
BUT - Working in the pizza place did teach me a lot about working, about living, about dealing with shit. Also having a crazy italian pizza chef wave a knife at you and say "don't let this place get you down! Make your art! get it out there! never give up on your dreams!" was possibly the most inspiring thing I've been told in my life!
I currently work as a janitor. The pay sucks, but it is a WAY better job. I work at an elementary school. The teachers are really super nice (and sometimes leave me treats) and the kids are absolutely adorable.
Cheered me up at least! Keep at it!
That said, I know you can find balance, you've done it before and I'm confident that you can again :)
Sucks to hear that you're hating your job though, a common issue nowadays sadly, I do hope you can move to something that makes you happier :)
IMHO settling for just surviving, at a retail job is what you do if you try, really try to live your dream and it doesn't work out.
When I started hanging around this Fandom, the idea of supporting oneself on Furry art was the impossible dream, now the fanbase has grown large enough people are actually starting to do it... it's not stable (yet) but one can pay the bills doing it, one year, and the next, and the next, and then maybe a "career" in art is when you someday look back and realize you've been doing this for 40 years, 40 years from now. So get your ass out there and go for it!
Anyway, for what it's worth, I'll definitely hop in line again if you decide to fall back on supporting yourself via your magnificent art. I'm rooting for you, whichever route you go. Just have trust in yourself. And in the Heart of the Cards.
Like you, I sit there on the weekend, feeling helpless about getting anything done because I'm just counting the hours before I have to go back to work and come home nice and tired. I would get out of work on Friday and would say that I go to sleep Friday night and when I'd wake up, it'd be Monday morning and I got up for work.
I say to people you can't work in retail, whether it'd be in a store or a warehouse, and have time to do art or anything else that pleases you.
Your job becomes your life and that's all there is. Just sleep and work.