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Some of my clients hire me to help them find their dream job. Others hire me just to help them get out of their nightmare job.
I’ve heard some stories about nightmare jobs that are real doozies. But none of them beat my dad’s story of his first job out of high school.
A Real Nightmare Job
My awesome and wonderful dad will be 82 in a few months. He still remembers his nightmare job working in a funeral home in 1955 right after his high school graduation. Back then, new and inexperienced employees were allowed and expected to perform some duties now requiring certain licenses or certifications.
There was one particular incident where the funeral director was working on a body that hand just undergone an autopsy. After the funeral director had finished embalming the body, he told my dad to finish cleaning it up. My dad says he remembers the visual of a body following an autopsy and how it nearly made him sick.
As my dad made his way toward one end of the table to finish the clean-up, he suddenly felt the body’s right arm hit him in the butt! It turns out he either bumped the table or did something to cause the right arm to fall off the table and hit him.
As soon as my dad felt the arm on his butt he fled the embalming room so fast he probably left a dad-shaped hole in the door. He said to himself, “Forget this! I’m joining the Marines instead.” And a week later he did.
Luckily being a Marine turned out to be my dad’s dream job. He spent 20 years in the military, retiring as a captain. Despite experiencing the horrors of Vietnam and now dealing with disabilities associated with his military career, he’s said to me a few times recently he’d go back and do it all over again.
I can confirm he’s never said the same thing about the funeral home job.
How to Escape Your Nightmare Job
You too may have a nightmare job you’re dying to leave. But you don’t have to run off and join the military to do so. (Although it might be a great option for some people.)
I’ve written several posts to help people like you create an escape…oops, I mean an exit strategy…from their nightmare jobs, in financially responsible ways. Feel free to check out any or all of these posts:
- How To Know If You’re In The Wrong Job
- Get Unstuck! How to Know When It’s Time to Invest in a Career Coach
- Feeling Trapped in Your Career? Here’s How to Cope
- When Is the Right Time To Leave Your Job?
- You Don’t Have To Be a Slave To a Paycheck
- How to Make Your Sucky Job More Bearable (Until You Can Leave)
- 5 Common Fears (and Myths) of Quitting a Job You Hate
- How To Make the Risk of Starting Your Own Business Doable
What’s Your Nightmare Job?
In the meantime, I’d like to hear from you.
What’s your nightmare job, past or present? Tell me about it and I’ll make sure to feature the worst, funniest, and most interesting stories in upcoming posts on this blog.
Click here to submit your story for publication, using the subject line “nightmare job.” Or enter it in the comment box below. I can’t wait to read it!
If you need help getting out of your nightmare job, fill out the paNASH intake form and we’ll set up a complimentary initial consultation.
