Work related

So, the question on my mind today is: can I stick it out?

I am so tired of my job! I am so tired of artificial emergencies, of deadlines that are so important that all other work must be suspended ~ and then when the deadline passes, and the work isn’t done, nothing happens. So tired of management that has so little grasp on the workings of the department. Tired of being delegated to and not having enough staff to pass the delegated work on to. Tired of the world of healthcare in general, and the school of medicine in particular.

Maybe I’m just tired.

I don’t actually hate my job. Most of the time it’s just a job. Nothing special but nothing odious. Lately there has been an increase in the amount of work for us to do, which happens to coincide with a decrease in staffing. Not that I would have gotten any satisfactory work out of The Malingerer, but I could have shunted some of it her way. Now, every team member is working full tilt every day. But, more new and complex stuff keeps landing on our desks.

I’m 50 years old. I have 15 years of service in at the Hill. My plan at this point has been to work until I am 55, when I will have 20 years in and then retire from the Hill and get a part time job with benefits doing something completely different. Of course, I’d rather retire and not go to a job at all, but I’m not sure that’s going to be doable. My IRA was pretty much wiped out last year and while I still have PERS and Social Security… I don’t know. It’s a scary prospect. Let’s see, if I saved a hundred dollars a month for five years and hid it under my mattress… yep, I’d still be broke when I retired.

The thing of it is, if I were to change jobs, I’d be taking home less money, contributing less money to my retirement, paying more for benefits and getting less… all in all, not a good choice. So, yeah, I’ll be sticking it out here. Not because I like it, but because I like having a job that pays the bills. In today’s economy, that’s pretty good.

But, I’m still tired of it.