Desk jobs: a rant

no_steeze

Active member
[RANT] so this summer i'm interning in new york city to get a taste of the corporate world and just for a good resume and shit, all fine. so what i do all day every day is sit on a computer and do research/nothing, and so do the other 100 people in my office. i just don't understand this, the mindlessness, doing the same thing every day for so long. this is my second week working and i can't wait for it to end, each day feels like a week, each hour feels like a day. sitting around in this fucking chair, adjusting positions so my ass doesn't go numb, and trying to kill time on NS. now i may sound like a spoiled little shit, but why should anyone have to do this? we only live once, so why fucking waste every day sitting at the same desk in the same office on the same computer doing the same thing, eating at the same lunch places, riding the same elevator, going in the same building? it doesn't make sense to me, and okay, money and security, what would you rather, making money and being miserable for 30 years and then retiring when you're too old to have a good time or using your youth, your good days and go skiing and do all the shit you want to do? to me, its so much more important not to be subjected to this torture every day for years than it is to not have to eat ramen noodles in a shitty apartment while skiing every day and tuning skis every night. some people love it, some people have reasons, but i just don't understand.
one example is a lady sitting next to me, every day she brings the same lunch, does the same thing, watches conan o'brien, and knits the same color thread doing the same things, i just can't stand the repetition, it's fucking terrifying. i hate the bitter reality of this world because that's the way you succeed, that's the main way you achieve security and feel comfortable so that buying a pair of skis doesn't make it so that you can't eat for a week. but no matter how much it offers, to me it's just not worth sitting in the same fucking cubicle day after day for years looking forward to leaving for 10 minutes to get lunch. all the people around me are telling me "cherish the good years, this sucks, the real world is awful" and then i'm expected just to go make a living doing this?
so to all you people getting ready to hate, this is not me complaining, i don't feel sorry for myself, i just feel sorry for all these people doing the same thing every day, fucking robots doing all the same shit for so long. i'm not some radicalist here, i got to prep school, i'm living an environment that's setting me up for this life i'm dreading but i just don't want to be subjected to this, i want an alternative, i want the impossible, something fun that also provides security
so i'm sure we've all felt this, so post here if you agree with me or if you strongly disagree, i want to hear reasons why people should keep going [/RANT]

sparknotes: read the post
 
okay, yes, that was bitchy, i'm sorry it's just i don't feel i can summarize that post

SPARKNOTES: the corporate world is a repetitive bummer and i hate seeing all these people having to do the same thing every day
 
Well at least you are giving yourself options. It is better to have a steady job and hating it than wanting a steady job because you are hungry and poor. Also, you can knock yourself a few notches on this ladder we live on, and get a halfway decent job that gives you more time to actually live.

-At the end of the day, YOU are the only one living your life, not your parents, not anyone you know, no one.

-Don't feel like you have to live up to these bullshit standards that some feel they must achieve.

And remember, this is an internship, not all of your cards are on table yet. If anything, you are learning exactly what you don't want to do as a job.
 
All true, why I will never work for a corporate desk job.

Id rather be out digging holes and mowing grass tuning out to music and speaking broken spanish with mexicans.
 
"i'm living an environment that's setting me up for this life i'm dreading but i just don't want to be subjected to this, i want an alternative, i want the impossible"

So go for it. No one is stopping you. You don't have to worry about why other people do it. You don't have to worry about why you don't want to do it. Just know that you don't, and you can strive away from it.
 
dude i hear you, i have 2 jobs, one of which is a desk job. i am the only one who does the desk (i'm like the receptionist at the office) and you can totally tell when i'm on shift because i'm on NS for hours straight. if anything, i hope this makes you rethink your job choice, your career, and this resume of yours. do what you love and fuck the rest.
 
there ya go big guy, and I guess people just need to make them dalla dalla bills yo.

and yeah, it must be shitty, but it sounds like easy money and not bad a pay. its gonna be boring because its not what you like to do but for some people its their cup of tea. to each his own i guess.

i couldnt stand it thats for sure
 
My step dad works for a relocation company and yes, he started out low in the company. Desk job in a cubicle. Right now he has the best job he ever wanted working for the same company. I dont know how much he makes but my mom said its a pretty good amount of money for what he does. Basically what he does is wake up at 12 because thats when his job starts, brushes his teeth, goes in our office upstairs and goes on the computer looking at email and doing project files because no one can get into the files they need but him. The thing is though, for the other people in the company, it takes them about a week to get those files while it takes him a day. But they dont know that. He has a TV set up in the office for when he has to take conference calls. That next to that TV is over 2,000 movies and a playstation hooked up. He puts the calls on mute with his ear piece and watches movies and plays playstation untill he has to say something. I actually walked over to him and was like man, I know your still working but can I use the computer upstairs to edit something? He's like yeah sure, go ahead. I dont feel like working anymore. He starts his job when he wants to and ends it when he wants to. And he says its the best job ever. Took him 10 years of corporate slaving but it was worth it
 
that's exactly it, the most valuable thing i've learned in this internship is that i don't want a job like this
 
So don't do the job...

I have an internship this summer. I write software for a small company here that makes this machine that inspects hot steel as it rolls through the steel mill. Every day I learn something new and I've done some stuff that I didn't think was going to be possible. My point is, not all desk jobs are bad. I come in whenever I want to in the morning, leave whenever I want, wear whatever I want, and they gave me complete freedom over my project. When I'm done, steel mills all over the world will use software that I wrote. Thats kinda cool. If you don't like the job then don't do it. Some jobs suck. Some don't.
 
I know exactly what you're saying and I agree with you. I also agree with the point that not all desk jobs are bad, but I did something really similar last summer, and it was terrible. Sure, I learned a lot, but I would have much rather been doing something else. Each day would be the same and it made me miserable. I guess you just have to deal with it sometimes, but I definitely couldn't see myself working a job like that for more than a summer.

What company are you working for/what are you doing exactly?
 
theres no reason why you have to be an ant with everyone else in the world and work desk jobs and shit. this crosses my mind everyday, trying to decide if i want money or just to screw around and have a blast the rest of my life. i say if you want to have fun, go do it. as long as you have fun then you'll be happy. you dont need a desk job like everyone else
 
i personally don't hate this job and i totally know that all jobs are different, some are shitty, some are sick it's just this certain chain of doing nothing jobs really get to me and scare me, it's just the idea of doing nothing every day for so long it's a waste of a life, a complete waste, i feel as though if you're having fun, keep it that way but don't do the norm if it's something you really don't want to do
 
I assume you were at your desk job when you wrote this. this is why I don't want to end up at one. Or, if I do, I want to be making mad bank off of it.
 
Back
Top