Do you remember what it was like when you were still at school and the weekend started to wind down? At around 3pm on a Sunday you started to feel sad, your eyes were drawn to your school bag which still needed to be packed and you might have started to dread what the maths teacher had in store for you over the coming week. It wasn’t a nice feeling. You think it will be better when you finish school and perhaps for a brief period of college it is. Then, a few years down the line, you look up after reading the Sunday papers, realise that it’s 3pm and you have to go to work the next day. You feel sad, your eyes are drawn to your briefcase and you start to dread what your boss has in store for you over the coming week.

Does it sound familiar?

Logic tells us that any job is better than no job, especially with unemployment being the way it is. But hating your job, as over 80% of working people do, takes a huge emotional and psychological toll which often manifests in physical illness (real, feigned and imagined).

The effects are not only felt in people’s personal lives but also in the corporate environment. People who hate their jobs simply aren’t as productive as those who love their jobs, or feel more or less neutral about going to work every day. Job haters tend to use all their available sick days in a given year, they take long coffee breaks, gaze out the window and generally seek distractions. The quality of their work is also often poor because they lack the motivation to put in the effort required.

Of course, quality of work doesn’t suffer as much when the boss is something of a demon.

Horrible bosses are able to suck the joy out of even the most satisfying jobs. Countless people who are passionate about their career paths stumble in the face of a boss with absolutely no people skills. Horrible bosses come in all forms. There are those that micromanage every single process, that are weak and unable to lead, that take all the glory and shrug off all the blame, that delegate everything, that lose their tempers and shout, that are hypocritical, that gossip, that express overt favouritism … the list goes on.

The sad truth is that the perfect boss doesn’t exist. Even bosses that seem decent for years can turn on a dime and make life impossible. It’s up to you how you decide to handle it. Some people have a very basic philosophy: they won’t work for anyone who doesn’t respect them. Other people don’t have that luxury. Mortgages, kids in school, car payments, insurance, pension plans and medical aids are all very effective at keeping people miserable in jobs they hate.

Tips to survive the job you hate

  • Talk about it. It’s not just enough to complain to your friends and family about how much you hate your job; you also have to talk to someone in your HR department. The people in the HR department are there for their ability to solve people-problems. They’re trained to help you manage stress and deal with internal hassles all while maintaining confidentiality. If the problem is a big one, like sexual harassment, then they will ask your permission before taking the matter further.
    If you work for a very small company without an HR department then you’ll have to bite the bullet and try talk to your boss or immediate manager.
  • Get a hobby. As difficult as it sounds you need to make a concerted effort to leave your work problems at work. The best way to do this is to distract yourself with something that you love, or to try different things until you unlock your secret passion. Many community centres and libraries offer classes and groups for a range of activities, such as pottery, pencil drawings, scrapbooking, writing, yoga, pilates and aromatherapy. A lot of places will let you try out a lesson for free to see if you like it before committing yourself to the class. Find out about local sports clubs in your area, even if it’s just bowls or hiking. Alternatively, research some hobbies on the internet. You’ll find information and tutorials on anything from bird watching to knife making.
  • Save the best for last. People have a tendency to leave the worst for last, but, thinking back to you childhood again, do you remember saving the best food on your plate for last? Remember holding breath while bolting the broccoli and then savouring the mashed potatoes? Revive this childhood tradition in the workplace. Rather than procrastinate and leave the most tiresome and dreaded assignments or tasks for the end of the day or the end of the week or the last minute of the deadline, get them done first. Having the worst behind you allows you to savour the bits of your job that you still enjoy. Otherwise, even the fun bits are tainted by the awful bits looming over your head.

If nothing helps and you still feel like crying in the car on your way to work every morning you should think very seriously about putting your CV on some job sites and expanding your horizons. In the end, no job is worth your self-esteem, dignity and sanity.

Sandy writes for a number of different blogs, on a number of different topics, including job posting software, advertising, travel, technology and the environment.