I am a retired clinical laboratory scientist,
“The Lab Guy” in a hospital setting. While in the Army, I also trained in histology and was a deiner- the pathologist’s assistant in performing autopsies.

The deiner function of dissection is unpleasant in general but I especially did not like working on infants. I think all would understand why.

Stupid car designs that make them needlessly complicated and difficult to repair. Case in point: a 2010 Nissan Maxima with a 3.5 "VQ" V6. I had to remove the upper intake manifold - and this after removing the wipers, windshield cowl and strut tower brace - to replace spark plugs and coils. And just wait until this engine needs a water pump. I don't like fixing them any more than customers like paying for them.

A lot of work is physically strenuous. Yesterday I put brakes on a Ford F350. Its brake rotors weigh, I estimate, in excess of 50 lbs. And on my knees, because it was so full of tools that the hoist couldn't lift it, so I had to do it on the ground. I'm 64 years old.

Having worked in desert country for many years, I seldom encountered rusted cars, but here, even though it doesn't snow heavily, I see them all the time. Some, like the Chevy Silverado whose frame was trying to fold in half between the cab and bed and had no brakes because the steel lines rusted through, I don't even pull into the shop. Check out the YouTube channels Just Rolled in and Mechanical Nightmare for examples of this and numerous other issues. I have seen most or all of those things at one time or another.

Speaking of customers, it is only 1% of them, but that one percent gives you 99 percent of your problems. Just a couple of examples: brake fluid running out between the drum and backing plate due to a blown wheel cylinder. The customer asked us to weld the drum to the backing plate so it would stop leaking. Or there was the guy who wanted me to recharge the A/C after he spliced together a broken high pressure line with rubber hose and clamps. When I refused to charge it - it wouldn't have even lasted through that process, let alone when the system was operating - he told me I was trying to "rip him off," slammed the hood down, got in the truck and burned rubber out of the bay, out the driveway and quite a way down the street. Good riddance, fuckhead.

I intend to hang it up - probably for good, though I might consider part time work - next year.

Dealing with management. I try to save them…………from themselves, and they manage to fall out of the ugly tree and hit every got damn branch on the way down. I make them livid as I’m Nostradamus calling shots. They ignore, then exactly what I said will happen, happens, and they just continue to do the same shit, over, and over, and over again.

Salespeople debating fundamentals of physics and logic.
Customers quoting Googel
Employees who argue with experiences from long time ago.
Project managers you have to think ahead for.

Aging. It’s physical labor And it’s hard to accept that I can’t physically move like I used to.

98.4829353061% of the time, my job is easy as pie. Do the right thing, practice good CRM, mitigate threats, and everything works out in the end. The job becomes convoluted, however, when the person in the left seat becomes "difficult". That can take on MANY meanings.

Case in point...I'm a very gregarious, outgoing, extroverted person. Never meet a stranger, am happy to sit down and have a beer with someone I just met, and trust to my own detriment until the person proves themself untrustworthy. This last trip, I flew with Captain Introvert. Barely said 3 words in cruise flight. Holy shit!! That just drives me NUTS when you ask someone a question about life and you get the one word answer. OK...I'll just STFU and read the Flight Manual chapter on Limitations and Immediate Action Items. WTF-ever.

To boot, pretty much EVERY Captain you fly with says something like "when it's your leg, fly the plane how you like". My reply is, "thanks...just let me know if I'm about to do stupid shit or dick something up". There are a million ways to fly a B737. Seems with this chuckle-head, though, when I wanted to do something "my way", it wasn't how HE wanted it, so I got preempted on how to do what I wanted to do. Like setting an assigned airspeed, for example. It just about f**ked up my descent and approach planning, but I managed to work through it.

He was throwin' shit at me that, as a 5-year experienced pilot in the right seat of a B737, was TOTALLY f**king me up. I can't even IMAGINE how it would implode the brain of a new-hire or a fresh transition to the B737 fleet. Makes for a looooooong 3- or 4-day trip!! JSMH.

On the plus side, I'll probably never fly with Captain Introvert again. And if he should show up on my schedule, I'll just trade for a different trip, even if it IS a money-losing trade. I will say, though, it wasn't to the extreme that I would bid to AVOID flying with him. He does possess good technical knowledge to share, but damn...be a little more interesting than 27-month old potpourri...

erj, What’s even worse is the guy who won’t shut up. At some point that shit should be assault.

The worst thing about my job managing my team, is being on a project with a 4 week schedule from kick off to complete and have everyone wait until 3 days before it's due to submit their information. Most of which was complete for weeks.

It's a bad cycle of rushing to do everything at the last minute, then rushing to the next last minute instead of getting ahead of the game where to can and buying time down the road.

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:
erj, What’s even worse is the guy who won’t shut up. At some point that shit should be assault.

LOL!!!

Guess I haven't been lucky enough to have experienced that one and I don't think I was ever "that guy". Good thing is, this job has taught me to "read the room", so in the very few times I've gotten a quiet one (whether it's a CA now or an FO when I was CA with my former girlfriend), I know to just shut my trap and let them enjoy life in their silence.

Female executives that have no clue what they are doing and exist only to play politics. They care only what those above them and peers with more political clout think.

The worst are the non-technicals that somehow get promoted to head a technical organization that does things the executives never have.

I like my job. I like my peeps. And I've truly got a great team.
So what bugs me about mine are: 1) those who work remotely most of the time and call/email in, wanting those of us who show up every day to do things for them; 2) one who's really good help when I ask for it, but nags the hell out of me when he wants me to prioritize something of his; and 3) fear.

You ask, "fear?" Yep. Fear of the unknown. We're getting a new boss shortly, and after more than two decades with our current leader, the thought of a "newbie" coming in and wanting to make his mark has a lot of us on edge. Tension is high...

^ Went through #3 about 5 years ago when our IT director left.
Department of 3 for about 400 employees & the 2 of us ran it for a few months while they found a new director, with no input from us.

Luckily, we got lucky & our boss is a great guy & it's been a great 5 years so far. We work well together & rarely have felt the need to add a 4th to the dept.

Most difficult part of our job is dealing with simple IT troubleshooting/training for very IT-inept users. That and repeating the same policies or direction to those that it just doesn't stick with.

17 years LE (from the street cop side): Lack of MOTIVATED, participatory departmental leadership at upper levels. In my past experience, it was metastatic on a very wide scale. Dead kids. DWI lawyers. Third shift.

15 years LE academy (from the teaching cops side): Redundancy of semester work based on repetitive curricula. "Groundhog Day." I work hard to update my lesson plans in order to keep things interesting and current.

Anesthesia Provider (CRNA)

The worst part for me is the constant production pressure of go go go go.

Were we in the room on time? What was the turnover time? What was the delay reason? yadda yadda…… Its exhausting. Too many clipboard holders and bean counters.

My concern is the patient under my care first and foremost.

This combined with minimal anesthesia staffing levels makes it even worse.

That said, I LOVE my profession!

Retired Power Company Substation Foreman . I absolutely hated being Duty Foreman for a week at a time . With over 150 Substations in our service area you could count on something going wrong and my phone ringing in the wee hours . Hopefully it was something minor and I could send one guy to clear it up , but when the SHTF it could get really bad . Lights out , equipment damaged , people not answering their phones and upper management bugging you for constant updates even before you have a good assessment. It could be a week of pure misery .

quote:

Originally posted by jbourneidentity:
17 years LE (from the street cop side): Lack of MOTIVATED, participatory departmental leadership at upper levels. In my past experience, it was metastatic on a very wide scale. Dead kids. DWI lawyers. Third shift.

15 years LE academy (from the teaching cops side): Redundancy of semester work based on repetitive curricula. "Groundhog Day." I work hard to update my lesson plans in order to keep things interesting and current.

My stint at the academy was part time. Teach for a week, then back to the street. I halfway tried to get to the Range years ago, I was a little upset at the time, but if I got there, I would have worked for an asshole with the personality of a wet gym sock.
Glad that didn't work out. I don't think I can do the "lather, rinse, repeat" thing. Our academy doesn't really foster independent thought, or gives a thumbs up to making subject matter interesting.

This brings me to another point that I just LOVE about my job-
The Politics

Sooo much fun.

I can honestly say that anywhere I've been on the job, I got there by my work. (I damn sure aren't charming nor good looking) Somewhere along the way, I made friends. Some of whom were, or got to higher places. I never asked any of them to get me anywhere.
I've seen officers (because they damn sure ain't Cops) make a phone call and do whatever it took to get out of a beat car, or off the street. I've seen competent, smart, hard working Cops get dumped out of Units because a commander had to make room for their, or someone else's friend; a useless, fucktwit that can't figure out what side of the handcuffs to use.
I've watched those same useless fucktards make their way up the ranks through the use of a "phone call" and never passing a promotion test. Making it on "who" they know or have done and not "what" they know or have done.

You want to know why the Chicago Police Department is such a shitshow? (-/+) 15% of our exempt ranks (commanders and above) have passed a promotion test.

And they let those people make decisions!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: CPD SIG,

Meetings, most of which are poorly run, inefficient, time-wasting and too long. Nothing like a remote meeting with two dozen or more attendees, with 3-4 trying to talk at the same time.

Salesforce. It’s the bane of my existence and is a tool for micromanagement, doubling my workload, and passing on more and more responsibilities to me.