I’m currently at a job I have decided is making me depressed. I am almost always grumpy and angry and negative and low-energy after work, which is unfair to the boyfriend I come home to (who loves his job, and I am internally resentful even though I am so happy for him), and results in my non-work time being wasted by dreading my return to work. I won’t get into the reasons why, but after reading several articles and blogs this morning, I see that I am not unusual, that I need to get out of this job ASAP and am justified in pursuing one I really want, even though I have only been here for a few months, because the cost this is taking on my well-being is not worth it.

Also, I agree with what you said above: I’ve found that my best days were ones where I lifted my own spirit by doing something, however small, nice for someone else, usually a stranger. It felt good to do something nice for someone else, to bring a small ray of sunshine to their day, and that actually brightened my mood.

That being said, I wanted to offer “fun” ideas (even though this blog entry is years old!). My boyfriend works at a videogame company, an industry in which I am very interested, and they have a very fun workplace. For example, several xbox360 consoles to play together when on breaks. This is excessive and more common in the videogame industry, but they also have various Nerf guns with which they have impromptu battles. At the end of a busy and productive week and a successful game patch, they all went out to a pool hall where they unwound and had fun, even a competition across all seniority levels. Fun is oftentimes dependent on a dynamic within the workplace among the coworkers. Since I don’t have that in my job, I usually do something for myself at lunch (which I insist on taking outside), like watching a TV episode on Netflix on my phone while eating, or shopping at Nordstrom Rack across the street before returning my work.

I also think you need to address the miraculous way in which The Corporation has convinced several generations of young people that they should put off the contentments of family or forget family altogether in the name of – what, exactly? I think happiness at work comes from the kind of give-and-take relationship so many people would like to have with their employer so they can balance work and family. Right now the corporation is getting a free ride. Young people are working too hard just for the right to have a job. People are putting off childbearing until their 40s when it is much more difficult. They receive little help or understanding from their employers in most places. Then the corporation gets its next generation of consumers regardless.

pyjamas – pajamas :o)

I love the idea anyway! The office ninjas made my morning!

Therefore a re-gruntling will replace them.

He’s also developed a Mad Scientist alter-ego who is regularly called upon to present seminars on various initiatives and information sessions for both his department and the admin branches.

His website is here: http://www.200ok.com.au/team_random/

You’ll note further down the page where he’s convinced his manager to join him on t-shirt ninja day.