It's called "Work"... NOT "Super Happy Fun Time"

There are a lot of definitions for work.  Note the negative tone in most of them.  I don't know about you, but I don't think happy thoughts when I hear words like, "Exertion", "Labor", or "Toil"...

I always tell myself that they call it "Work" for a reason.  It's not called "Super Happy Fun Time".  Seems pretty obvious, right?  Maybe not.

Last night, during a monthly dinner with my KC girls, I heard the question or was asked the question "How's work going?" more than once.  I probably heard it about half a dozen times, in fact. The response was one of the following combinations:

• "Eh.  It pays the bills."
• "It's okay.  I probably wouldn't do it if I didn't need the money."
• "Whatever."
• "I hope I get laid off so I can just get unemployment."

It made me sad.  We spend the majority of our waking hours in what's usually a pretty lame work environment.  It's typically filled with bad carpet, 80's works of art, and cubicles as far as the eye can see.  I used to be really passionate about what I did for a living.  I used to feel like I was lucky that I got to do something I like, and felt that I was good at.  So why all of a sudden all the apathy?  I've thought about this a lot, people.  I wish I had something really concrete to share with you.  Some of it is probably that I've become much more crochety in my old age.  Some of it is that the work I'm doing feels like I've taken a huge step backwards.  I couldn't leave you with such a big question to ponder without giving you some of my concrete reasons for hating the whole concept of "Work".

• Vacation Time: The US culture has a whacky concept of what's an acceptable amount of time for vacation.  Come on, people.  Let's face it: when you go on vacation, it's not like the work magically ceases and you come back with a fresh clean slate.  It piles up and waits for you, and most likely causes you to work a great deal, either before or after you go on said vacation.  So really, the company squeezes the same amount of output from you...but feels that it needs to impose its authority over you by limiting your days off to an unreasonable number...like say, 10.
• Unreasonable Authority: I don't like being told what to do. I mean, I really don't like it. Ask my mom...she'll tell you all about it.
• Politics: I especially don't like politics. I can handle any amount and type of work; Crappy work, boring work, busy work, challenging work, inefficient work, even. What I can not handle is politics. People drama literally feels like it's sucking my soul out from my eyeballs. (Read: Not pleasant)
• Alarm Clocks: I don't like waking up early. Who does, really?
• Disrespect:  Like I've said before, I'm fairly confident that I'm really good at my job.  Not only that, but I have more experience and a wider range of experience than your average bear.  That said, there's nothing I can't deal with more than disrespect.  Listen Mr. Socially-Inept Developer Man: Yes, I realize you have either mild Autism or Aspergers, but that does not excuse you treating me as though I'm some incompetent bafoon who just pushes pixels all day and makes things pretty.  Yes, you may have some prowess in coding...and good for you, I won't challenge you in your domain of expertise.  However, you should know that if you try to challenge me in my domain of expertise, you better be prepared to have your arms ripped off and be beaten with them.  Nuff said.

So that's my rant for the day.  Thanks for tuning in...