How dedicated are you to your work?

I loved my old work but these days I have had a return to paycheck needs only, so no, zero dedication, but, I am very dedicated to my personal interests. It was great to really love my work for many years, but the older I get now I am just not motivated to market myself or impress anyone. Just leave me alone to get the job done and let me get back to my free time. haha

I am recently retired.
When I worked for AT&T, I was pretty dedicated. I put in a lot of overtime, and often planned out approaches to different job functions while I was off work.
I would go to work in the middle of the night when my company dispatcher called with problems.
Did I feel unappreciated and/or abused? Absolutely. Was it justified? I don’t know.

@Coloma and @filmfann Man, I know how that feels. I was so into it that I would come home more energized than when I left. Sometimes I felt appreciated, sometimes not. It didn’t matter. There was nothing else I wanted to do. I was like a fucking bird dog; made for it.

Disaster work was the niche that I found in nursing that was supposed to get me through my elderly years without feeling bored or useless. When the body got old, I’d know how to organize, implement, and manage Ground Zero. Loved triage. But one tiny little heart attack knocked me out of it all. What a pain in the ass. I as just in Haiti and, although I am fine with only a little asymptomatic A-fib, they wouldn’t touch me with a ten foot pole. They don’t like sending Americans home in boxes and won’t risk it. Not even the Peace Corp or my old friends at Partners in Health. They know I don’[t give a shit, but they are afraid of the PR fallout. Policy. Pisses me off. Now I have to get over it and it’s hard. Lost the passion.

I enjoy my job quite a bit, because even though I am dedicated to it and put a lot of thought and effort into it, I still have time – such as right now, for example – to take a few minutes to browse Fluther (and Facebook) to see what interests me. And then back to the figurative grindstone.

—But I’ve also had plenty of jobs just for the paycheck. So, I know what being unappreciated and what it’s like to have an abusive boss. You don’t work for 45 years and expect to get out unscathed, especially in a unfriendly worker environment such as America where law is weighted overwhelmingly on the side of the corporation.

I just rejected a 3 hour “working” interview for a shit salary yesterday. Are you kidding me? You want 3 HOURS of my time for FREE and you are low balling me in an industry that commands double your offering? I think not! lol

I do enjoy my job and I’d probably do it for less money, but I’d definitely prefer to keep my current salary. This was the job I was looking for when I was about to graduate from college, so yes, it’s my intended “career.” I probably won’t be here forever, but I have no plans to leave in the next few years. I don’t feel under-appreciated or abused at all – these people like to feed my ego; the only one critical of my work is me.

I don’t have a problem leaving my work behind when I go home and I don’t study at home to get better at my job, though. I’ll admit the paycheck is the biggest motivation to be here everyday, but this is the only job I’ve ever had that I didn’t hate, so it’s a definite improvement. I’m currently a legal assistant working for education attorneys. One day I’d like to work for a criminal defense attorney, as that’s the type of law I focused on in school. I have no plans to go to law school, but I’m not adverse to getting my paralegal certificate one day – but only if it’ll help me make more money.

Wellll given that I’m currently Fluthering from work you can probably guess how enthusiastic I’m feeling.

It’s just a summer internship, so I’m trying not to jump to conclusions about my chosen field (computer science), but jesus this job is boring. I hope I find something better suited to me when I start full time work after next year. I’ve been worrying lately about whether I chose the right major. Ugh.

I loved my job. Gave my heart and soul to it. I loved my students. I created many different new procedures because I could. They couldn’t have access to the internet, so I started building an offline dictionary. It was in Excel, complete with links. They just clicked on a word or phrase they wanted to look up, and it took them to the descriptions, which I had copied and pasted from Wikipedia. In the description I often had other links to other items of interest. Hours and hours of work.

I also created a way for them to do home work offline, back in their cells. Printed off and updated the lessons from the teaching program we used. Hours and hours of work.

When I left, all of it, everything I had done, was completely dismantled because my replacement, and my boss, were afraid of computers. They didn’t understand any of it at all.

Had a small construction company, did projects from $5000 to $750,000.00. Had several going each year for the last 17 years. Before that worked for others doing essentially the same thing. Burned out. Got tired of trying to beat other general contractors, each trying to undercut the other to get one of the few jobs out for bids; trying to survive long enough to bid the next job when some idiot (and there was always one, you can’t beat stupid) won the bid with a ridiculously low bid that even he knew he could not do it for; having owners and architects take that bid figuring they would “make” him do it for that price; watching the school districts and universities revise their bidding requirements so that only the big boys could bid the jobs or hiring a single firm as a “construction manager” to sub out all of their work; cajoling subs into doing what they contracted to do in the timeframe the agreed to do it in; arguing with materials suppliers over why what they said would be there was going to be late; dealing with petty city officials, each of whom had their own take on the regulations and inspection requirements; babysitting new architects (and some old ones) who had never had to try to make their own plans work; pinching pennies to make a profit; breaking even and being glad to do so. Finally called it quits.

I made some changes, am not really retired but not working a “real” job either.

Wife wants me to do what I did on a consulting basis.

I probably could but I really don’t want to do it anymore. I thought about working for Habitat for Humanity but I need a change. I will find one eventually.

Are you there just for the paycheck and looking for something more?_
No, I’m here because I feel like my coworkers need me and I like the job itself.

Do you like your job, but feel unappreciated or even abused?
I feel unappreciated. The owner is a jerk.

If given the opportunity, would you not work for someone else, and if so, what would you like to be doing?
…what?

Do you work in your intended occupation?
For now, yes. But once I get a degree I plan on teaching.

Do you love your work and would do it for less pay under the right conditions?
Love-hate relationship. I don’t think there’s much you can do to keep me here anymore, though, because I’m running into too many problems.

Do you study or read about your work in your off-hours in order to do it better?
Yes. My owner breaks all the rules and I’m checking the fine print to make sure my ass doesn’t get it if there’s a legal problem.

Do you find it hard to leave your work behind at the end of the day?
Yes. I keep having to check in like I’m on call 24/7. The hardest part will be finding the courage to leave for good, which will hopefully happen next week.

You go @dxs~

I love my job. I’m right where I want to be for now and working toward the next step. Most of the people I work with are great. Being in the medical field and in school requires me to constantly stay up to date with new information, so reading when I’m not at work is required.

I love my career and helping my patients. The bureaucracy and the administration’s attitude that they can treat employees like dirt, and the employees should be glad they have a job is what makes me hate to get up in the morning.

I am incredibly dedicated to my work. It is physically exhausting and doesn’t pay much at all but, whenever these things bother me, I have to remind myself that is am doing what I dreamed of doing for years. Not only am I dedicated to my work but also the individual company I work for. Sometimes it feels like I am the only one who cares this much but I will do everything in my power to make it work. The only down side to the level of dedication I have to my job is that I can’t leave it behind when I finish for the day and I do find myself still working when I should be having time off.

I’m semi retired and teach English over Skype to people in Japan. Love the job and my students, but the hours are awful. The boss is great.

In the past I have worked in a health food store (I loved my boss and she loved me). I would like to again, but I doubt I’ll find as good a boss as the one I had then.

I used to own a cleaning business for 30 years. I was my own boss. It has its ups and downs, but it’s great because if you want time off, you just do it.

Do you love your work and would do it for less pay under the right conditions? I have worked for free many times because I could see it was a job that had to be done, and I wanted to give a gift to my friend.

Do you study or read about your work in your off-hours in order to do it better? I have done so in the past, and I’d do it again if necessary.

Do you find it hard to leave your work behind at the end of the day? Sometimes, but mostly not.