What would you prefer?

There aren’t enough jobs for everyone to have a “happy career.” There is too high of a demand for all the crappy work out there to get done, and someone has to do it. If you can find something that pays the bills and makes you happy then you are fortunate, but so is someone who wins the lottery. You cannot go to school for fortune, there’s no degree for it. I’ve had my fair share of jobs I couldn’t stand, in places I didn’t want to be. So over 5 years ago I decided to find work in a place I wanted to be, and I’m never looking back! Personally, I love my job, the guests we cater to, the atmosphere and the people I work for are outstanding! The paycheck won’t make anyone jealous, but I wouldn’t trade it for a higher paying job sitting behind a desk, not in a million years. In the summer, if I put in 16 hours in a day it feels like 5 hours has gone by. In the winter I only have to put in 16 hours a week, leaving me more time to pursue my hobbies, or do work not required by my budget. Maybe I’m just trying to get under Suzuki’s skin, but there is a way to find happiness in your work, and I for one would recommend it if you can find it.

I think I’m the minority here, but I’d rather have a job I like. Money is a factor, but it’s not the only factor. Don’t get me wrong, there are things about my job that I don’t like, but I dont hate Mondays. I probably wouldn’t in any job. I choose to be happy and find things I like in all aspects of life. I feel like I’m vomiting rainbows here. I must be in a good mood.

Thanks for all of the spirited and thoughtful replies everyone! Really enjoyed reading them. I know there are many limiting factors but we were forced to make it an A or B choice for purposes of making it simpler. A lot of people responded with similar takes (i.e what I love won’t pay, I want both, it depends on the situation I’m in… etc. etc.).

When I was younger and had a family to support, I took anything that would pay the rent and keep food on the table. Sometimes it was 2-3 jobs at the same time. After that was over I had a change of heart. I wised up and got out of South Dakota, moved east (MN) got a real job earning real money and never looked back. My days of $1200/min downtime are over but I lived thru it. Now comes the fun and fishing. My advice- -go for the money- – -jerr

It’s ok Sharon – grumpy old men were grumpy to start. We just get old. lol

If a person stayed single, drove a paid for truck, made their own meals, lived in a older home, bummed rides fishing with their buddies,and didn’t have credit cards you could have a great job and not make any money.

LOL Vomiting Rainbows! THAT cracked me up!

Everything is relative. What are you comparing yourself to? It’s usually friends/peers and prior personal experiences. Those comparisons have a lot to do with happiness and satisfaction. Mike’s point about city and rural residents is probably right on (though, I actually like living in St. Paul).

I’ve read a couple of times that money does buy happiness but only up to a certain point … I want to say that somewhere in the middle class income range is the glass ceiling on income making folks happy. Add income numbers to your question and I bet you’ll get a wider variety of answers.

Here you go: happiness levels off at $75,000/yr. http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/05/10/money-does-buy-happiness-says-new-study/

flanders51 wrote:

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” – Henry David Thoreau

I know I am in the minority, but I generally really like my job and I make good money. I also have a lot of education and high student loans I have to pay off. My general thought is that the more education you get, the better job you get – both monetarily and in terms of day-to-day satisfaction. I have also chosen to not work for corporations because I hated working at one. Also, I run my own small business which is successful. I have a time problem and a stress problem, but it is worth it to be on my own and on my own schedule. I don’t work for the man and I consciously made that decision. Best decision I ever made. Follow your muse.

Everyone works for the man. It is called paying your TAXES-IRS-Government whatever you want to call it.

desperado wrote:

words of wisdom from an Ol’ Sage

Now this is some good music. I have several tapes of his music that get dug out and played every now and again.

Thanks!

icefanatic11 wrote:

So I’ve been working on a very interesting project in college the last few weeks. It is a group project (blah) but regardless our topic is one that is very interesting. I thought I would pose it to the IDO nation and see how everyone responds since many of you have been out in the work force for a good time already.
Our prompt question was: If you had a choice between working a job that you loved but made very little money and a very high paying job that you disliked, which would you choose?
You might be surprised at the findings we have had so far. When polling a younger demographic more have leaned toward the high pay spectrum while the older demographic has said the opposite. Initially I thought that the great job with little money would walk away with it, turns out I was very wrong. We are still gathering opinions yet but all indications are pointing to the majority leaning towards the money and less satisfaction. And don’t worry I won’t use any of these responses, I just thought it would be an interesting discussion. So, what say you?

I’m 38 years old. I had the high paying job in the past. Along with it came high hours and stress. I am in college again to chance careers. I will be taking a pay cut but will also be taking a huge increase in stress reduction and free time for friends and family.

When I was young, I was about the monies. Now I’m about living.

Sign me up for the “Lower pay, love the job” vote.

Given the two choices, I’d go high pay for crappy job.

At the end of the day, money does, in fact, buy happiness. At least in terms of the “other” time that you have outside of work.

Both Mrs. Grouse and I are in the same boat in terms of we have good jobs that pay very well, but here’s the reality factor that nobody talks about in college:

A lot–maybe even the vast majority of adults–are “meh” about their jobs and careers over all. We don’t love ’em and we don’t hate ’em, we just do it to put food on the table and boats in the garage.

And there’s nothing wrong with that! I have a relative who’s a CPA and makes a load of money and she’s the first to admit that anyone who LOVES being a CPA should be admitted to a mental health institution. She loves some of the clients, some of the co-workers, but overall she says big picture it’s about as much fun as you’d think it would be. Fair enough.

Another relative of mine was a fighter pilot. Of course, most of us would think that would be about as big of a thrill-ride career as you could have. In reality, what he told me was that it was hard because there IS that thrill ride aspect to it. For about 2% of the total time on the job. The rest of it is reading, training, taking tests, doing reports, staying fit, learning about the latest electronic do-dad they just added, drinking bad coffee, etc, etc. Not exactly what most people think about as far as the job goes.

Grouse

When I got out of the service I had a job that I absolutely loved AND payed well.
I was a litho stripper back in the days when everything was done by hand with film, color seperating, shooting halftones on a camera etc… Then computers came along and I took the classes but my brain just wasn’t wired right or something and eventually I was out of the business.
I then got into a profession that drove my stress thru the roof but the money was huge. As a result I’m 54 now and retired. We have lived modestly to achieve that however. We still live in the house we paid $88,000 for in 1988 and it has been paid for for twelve years. We just built our retirement lakehome three years ago up north and will be moving there in two years when the wife retires. The proceeds from the sale of our current home will pay off the lake place.

So I guess the just of it is all the years of stress and complications that stemmed from it along with planning and living well below our means have allowed us to retire at a very young age.

Now that it’s here and the plan has worked I wouldn’t change a thing.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Given the two choices, I’d go high pay for crappy job.

At the end of the day, money does, in fact, buy happiness. At least in terms of the “other” time that you have outside of work.

Both Mrs. Grouse and I are in the same boat in terms of we have good jobs that pay very well, but here’s the reality factor that nobody talks about in college:

A lot–maybe even the vast majority of adults–are “meh” about their jobs and careers over all. We don’t love ‘em and we don’t hate ‘em, we just do it to put food on the table and boats in the garage.

Grouse

It’s hard when you expand on the initial question.

Your points are spot on. I would think most are “meh” about their jobs.

But one could argue/ask what about health? Poor mental health can lead to poor physical health. Where does all that money get a person when their mental and physical health has deteriorated?

I just speak from personal experience where the high pay eventually wasn’t worth the stress, mental strain, and negative physical effects.

i enjoy the job i am currently training for now. I would have to say that I get the best of both worlds, a good paying job that I enjoy. but easily i would have choosen the less pay for a job i would like to do everyday.

belletaine wrote:

When I got out of the service I had a job that I absolutely loved AND payed well.
I was a litho stripper back in the days when everything was done by hand with film, color seperating, shooting halftones on a camera etc… Then computers came along and I took the classes but my brain just wasn’t wired right or something and eventually I was out of the business.

That’s pretty cool Belletaine, I also started in the same profession. I was a platemaker for 3 months and then moved to the table. I rode out the electronics era by working on Scitex and Barco workstations. Then later in my career the pay grade went down from the “good old days” when employers started hiring kids right out of tech school and moved them along. Eventually I said enough was enough and went into sales for a printing equipment company. I guess I just can’t get printing out of my blood. I will say though, I’ve been pretty happy working in this profession and the money is not bad so I say its a win-win.

Hunting4Walleyes wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>belletaine wrote:</div>
When I got out of the service I had a job that I absolutely loved AND payed well.
I was a litho stripper back in the days when everything was done by hand with film, color seperating, shooting halftones on a camera etc… Then computers came along and I took the classes but my brain just wasn’t wired right or something and eventually I was out of the business.

That’s pretty cool Belletaine, I also started in the same profession. I was a platemaker for 3 months and then moved to the table. I rode out the electronics era by working on Scitex and Barco workstations. Then later in my career the pay grade went down from the “good old days” when employers started hiring kids right out of tech school and moved them along. Eventually I said enough was enough and went into sales for a printing equipment company. I guess I just can’t get printing out of my blood. I will say though, I’ve been pretty happy working in this profession and the money is not bad so I say its a win-win.

I loved printing, I would have spent my whole career as stripper given the chance. Back in thye eighties MN was second in the nation for people working in printing per capita. The kids that were born and raised on computers just filled it up and from a business standpoint I get it.
It really was a very fun job.

I work so I can afford to do the things I like to do when I’m not working.
Give me the pay, and hopefully a decent vacation package. Some jobs are more/less satisfying than others, but none define or “complete” me, and I get my soul refilled with the times I spend with my kids, hunting and fishing, and doing as many of the things I love.
I’m stealing this concept from someone else, but I don’t really want money, I just want freedom from having to spend so much of my life attaining it. I’ve long since accepted that I’ll never be rich and living a life of leisure.

This is a very interesting concept and conversation. There is no such thing as the perfect job, everything can and does become a pain in the arse once in a while. The key is which job has more good times than bad.

I currently have 2 full time jobs and love them both, but 1 is my own business which is rewarding in of itself. Yeah time is tight but I am making good money and my wife and I are on track to fully retire at 55. I also reallyenjoy working and don’t like sitting around much. Just my personality I guess. Stupid ADD

I think the more important factor in the whole situation is a person’s perspective on life. I have found more “glass half full” people who love the job they have rather than pessimists. Not really sure if the job makes them happy or if they are happy to have a job. I firmly believe it is the attitude that makes one happy instead of the job.

Now I get to talk to my brother once in a while…. He tells me everyone hates their jobs and life is just one big run towards death with nothing to look forward to. I don’t talk to him very much

Its kind of an open question because how much more money/enjoyment are we talking. I was raised with people saying you just want to live comfortably. That was the big aspiration. I soon learned as an adult, there are lots of degree of comfort. The bottom end being living check to check.

I’ll tell you at 44 I would prefer a crappy job with more money. Its tough because you work 40 hours a week at something, plus commute and how it interferes with the rest of your life. So sure I would like to at least enjoy the job. However, money can by you happiness, or maybe a better term is money buys you freedom. I can’t buy love, but I can buy something nice and romantic for my girlfriend and the more money you have the better. And when I get to play, I don’t want lack of money to limit my freedom to do whatever I want.

I didn’t go through this entire list of replies, so that is my untainted take.

To start, the definition of JOB is Just Over Broke.
unless I missed it, I didn’t see a choice as a business owner or entrepreneur.

That would be my first choice now.
When I was younger I went for the money, but now I take the job I enjoy.
too old to start my own thing.

Have a job now I love, great people, fair money and to me very interesting.

“It’s all about the money”.

Today it’s the countrys montra. The sooner you get onboard the better off you will be.

Dutchboy wrote:

“It’s all about the money”.

Today it’s the countrys montra. The sooner you get onboard the better off you will be.

That may not be true all the time.

My buddy and I have been trying new things for 20 years to put big money in the bank. Investing, rentals, chasing big money jobs, etc. It may work. However we all know I’ve significantly shifted my priorities.

His younger brother went to tech school and got a 2 year degree. Got hired on as a Corrections Officer in a prison. He puts his head down, shuts his mouth and goes to work. Puts money away in his 403B and has the pension. Saves on the side as well. No stress, no chasing crazy jobs with big bucks. No risky investments. He’ll walk away at 55 and fully retire. I think he may have the right idea.

I hated questions like this in school. The answer, as shown by the responses here, is quite personal. I majored in a degree I knew wasn’t going to make me wealthy or even give me a chance to be, but it was in something I love…usually. I’m happy with my job and my pay allows me to do the things I love. My wife had a high paying job that she hated at Medtronic. She literally HATED it. HATED IT. So much so that on Sunday’s she would start getting depressed about Mondays and having to go to work. For her it took the enjoyment out of many things. It also started to take a toll on her health. Luckily she was downsized in ’08 and she’s moved on to another career. She doesn’t love her job but she gets payed pretty well and has good benefits.

We spend so much of life at work and not doing the things we actually love. To spend all that time at a job one hates isn’t worth it, not for me. For me the correct answer is a job that I’m good at, that I can go to 5 days a week, 8 to 10 hours a day for 40 years, have my sanity, the things I need and as many of the things I want as possible.

BTW just because the assignment was choose between 2, doesn’t mean that your group can’t report the results aren’t black and white. In fact your prof is probably expecting you to report everything you find. Critical thinking is what college is about.