Why won't you move on?

change can be a very frightening thing for some people and fear can get you to accept a lot of things that you wouldn’t normally. stability is also a significant factor, the whole “bird in the hand” thing. and let’s not forget, sometimes “better the devil you know”, we always like to think if A sucks do B but B can and sometimes is dramatically worse. are they good enough reasons, not for me, I can’t blame someone if they work a crap job because they don’t want to lose their house – but eventually something’s got to give.

Some people just enjoy abuse I suppose.

My first job ever, was working in a factory that made vacuum bottles. my job was to stand at the end of an assembly line and install a top into each vacuum bottle coming down the line. this line had vacuum bottles three deep. it was a job that you had to stay caught up or the bottles would overun you. i hated that job with a passion. i pity poor people that have to do this for a living. its so boring and reputicious over and over again, day after day.after two weeks at this job and a hand full of blisters, i decided enough was enough. there had to be something better out there for john. i gave my two weeks notice and left. i then applied to The University of Tennessee. after two years of college, i met my wife and the rest is history. the point here is a person can make a change for the better in their life…....if they want to.

I think it’s usually because of money and inconvenience/uncertainty that people stick with a bad job or bad job environment. Maybe they found out they can’t make more money anywhere else, or that they won’t be able to find a job anywhere else in their field. Looking for another job takes up a lot of time and energy, especially if you’re already working 40 hours and have responsibilities/commitment after-hours. And on top of that, you have to find the time/excuse to leave work to attend job interviews, which makes job-hunting rather inconvenient.

I would say the third reason would be because of fear of change, like @wonderingwhy so succinctly put it above.

Some people seem to enjoy being miserable. I knew a woman once who worked in the Ft. Laudedale office of a client of mine. Every time I came down there, i was suffering obviously from the heat. She would commiserate, because it was so terrible there. She would also complain about her job.

Finally, I asked her why, since she had no ties to the area, if she hated it so much, she didn’t just move on somewhere else. She huffed and huffed and gave me a sort of non-answer. I was done with her though.

@Marina: Good point, in my opinion. There’s always the malcontents in this world who are never happy.

@john65pennington I wish a lot of people would have the courage you had.
@Marina, she probably heard the same thing from her mom. You know she probably would call her to whine about her job.
@Siren, true, I think some people just love being miserable but I still don’t understand why they would sacrifice their health.
@wonderingwhy, I agree many people do seem to believe its better to work for the devil you know.
Maybe its like my daughter says. They may know they are crap-tastic workers and no one else will put up with them. (yes, crap-tastic is a made up word. I just think its fits the bill with some people)

I can only think of two reason I’d suffer fools. A steady paycheck, and health insurance.

Jobs are funny.
Damned if you do damned if you don’t.

I did. I worked in my family’s business for many years while my kids were growing up[ instead of the profession I was trained for. It ultimately caused me a great deal of pain and after an epiphany while on vacation, I decided to leave. I was very fortunate to happen on a job in my original profession almost immediately that has worked out wonderfully for me.

@Silhouette Good one. Actually good health insurance is getting so hard to come by. I can see that as being a reason to be motivated to stay. The irony is that the longer you stay the more you may need that insurance and the more likely your boss will fire you for too many sick days.

@Pandora Indeed, a catch 22. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Some people are lazy too. Too lazy to look for another job. I have a relative like that. She’d rather suffer than make any effort at job-hunting. The effort’s not worth it to her. She is miserable in her job, but happy in other parts of her life. So for her, that’s good enough. Oh well.

@Siren There you go. I think you hit the nail on the head with most people. Its not usually fear, or perks, or lack of time. I think 8 out of 10 just are too lazy to make the effort. I’ve known plenty of people who say, I just don’t have the time and yet they have plenty of time to waste on stuff that doesn’t matter.

@Pandora: Yes, but let’s be careful not to generalize. Every one and every situation is different. For example, several years back I became disenchanted with my boss and decided I would quit my job. However, the timing just wasn’t right for me financially and other things were happening in my life as well which would make quitting on the spot a bad idea all around. I spent a good amount of time complaining about the job to friends and family, but when the time came (about 7 months later) I was able to get out of it. I sort of had to put up with going to work every day and being miserable, but I knew it wasn’t going to last, and that’s how I was able to cope some of the time.

Maybe the timing is wrong for some people too, and they’re stuck in their positions for a while. Gotta feel sorry for those folks.

Money, benefits, a sense of having already invested themselves in building or contributing to part of that company, lack of self-confidence, they feel too old to “start over,” they don’t want to complicate things they finally have in order like child care, fear.

I am only well known in my field which I hate, but what choice do I have, I’m 47 I just feel there is no point in changing yet I am soooo unhappy in this field good question this, as I can’t find the energy to move on.

@john65pennington do you think then, that age has no consequence?

the people that I’ve seen and heard about hating their jobs stay in them to put food on the table, a roof over their heads, and are grateful not to have to sleep in their car. In this economy, that’s what I’ve seen.

@Just_Justine In the last 2 years my husband has had two job changes. Both are similar but the second one offered advancement and a change. He has been working towards getting to know this 3rd job while at his current job. (This one is with the same employer only some of his current skills will be relevant and they love his drive) He has been so happy since being forced out of his job 2 years ago. He wasn’t that happy with it and because of his age he was afraid to try for something else. He former job was closing up shop but they were under contract. It forced him to put out hundreds of resume and I asked him not to settle. He didn’t and he couldn’t be happier today. By the way he is 49 and will be 50. He is the healthiest he has been in years. Don’t let age stop you. You only have one life.

@Pandora thank you so much, I need to keep reading that to remind myself and accept it for real for me hugs