I want to. I just have to have another job first and that's taking longer than I would like for it to.

Thanks for responding to me.

Because you work more than anything else in your life and if you don't enjoy it, it will bring you down and ruin you. Get out as soon as you can, get a fresh start with new people around you. I went ten years+ in this situation and it did ruin me. It seeps into the rest of your life. Glad to tell you all about it if you want.

I just ended almost 20 years of what you're describing, and am rediscovering my true self that I let get buried in nonsense with my dysfunctional co-workers for so many years. I am finding that healing is possible, and I do not have to carry such a tremendous burden each day. As imlostinlife points out, you spend most of your time with the people you work with. Many people have total breakdowns or develop ulcers because of their jobs. You are not alone. Millions of people understand what you're going through. I hope you can get a nicer job soon. I made the mistake of thinking I could change other people, and all it did was make things worse. I'll pray for you.

It's not just a job, it's this thing that occupies 40+ hours of your life every week. That's 1/2 or more of your waking existence! Don't feel guilty about hating that big white elephant! Any other job prospects?

Don't give up and just keep looking for something else. I have a different philosophy on things than most people. With all the trauma I have lived through in life it made me realize whats truly important. See most aspect of our lives are so insignificant and we invest so much into them. So many people have no clue what really important. Having nice things and a big house and money might be comfortable, but I can tell all that can be taken away over 1 night. Besides when you die you will be put into a wooden box and stuck in the ground and then the vultures will pick and steel everything you had.
Spend time with family and make them the priority in your life. We all get wrapped up in the day to day crap and forget about what really matters. Keep looking for a job that you may actually like and base it off of your own happiness Vs. a big pay check.

Best of luck.

I am SO humbled by all of your kind responses! I feel like such a failure for not being able to make it work. And at the same time I have this "hippie spirit" that says this isn't worth it! I know my family and friends are more important to me than this job...maybe, just maybe, even my own health is more important. I've had four staff members who have found out they had cancer and two are fighting mightily to live while the other two have died. I seriously doubt any of them were or are thinking, "Man, I wish I would have worked more!"

Thanks to you all, I feel totally ok about putting the job search into high gear and getting the heck out of here!

My advice is to start a side business at home, try different things that interest you and see if you can make one of them work. If it takes off then great, if it just brings in a little then it might be a stepping stone to something else or give you that extra money to quit your job and try for a different job. If you hate your job you should spend your spare time trying to get a job in something that interest you.

Well, stop flaggelating yourself because while you're feeling guilty you've diverted from hating your job.

And you need to get back to the simple core issue, of hating your job.

Hate it with all your soul. Hate it fully. Really enjoy that hatred, experience it. (I'm not taking the piss, I mean this.)

Use it all up. Experience all of that emotion. And you'll come out at the end with a diamond of understanding about it. It takes pressure to make diamonds.

So go ahead and hate it. And try to figure out what you hate about it, and when you know that, try to figure out what you can change about it.

See what you can do. You have nothing to lose.

bridgie101 This is great! I honestly never thought about it this way. I just get stuck in battle with myself over how I "should" think or feel about my job rather than just giving myself permission to think/feel what I think/feel. I know what I hate about it and it has to do with how people behave and the culture of the organization, which I cannot change. The only thing I can change is how I react to it until I find a new job.

Thank you!