I was the lone liberal in an office full of Bush worshippers. Bush could have murdered a group of kids and they would be like "well, that is great news, he is looking out for us". I think in the end, my liberal attitude, killed me. I actually had a heart and those I worked with only cared about getting ahead, backstabbing, greed etc. I am better off. I could only wish I ever found an environment like you describe. Mine has been either bad or awful. Right now, I am a one man team trading my own stuff. I guess I can sexually harass myself and not have any consequences...lol.
Footnote- The job I described lasted 1 year. I quit for the search of more cash. After that, all my other experiences have been mediocre *at best* all the way down to awful.
I know what you mean about the glass half full. The thing I learned that surprised, saddened and worried me, was that if you were in a position that didn't have officially delegated power, criticizing anything openly ,or questioning a policy or project would ruin your chances there ,and you would be pushed out. The people were all a little more phony than I was accustomed to. The women were often too much like working for someones mean mother .Think Nurse Ratchett from One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest. America is turning into that Big Ole Nanny State.
I hate saying things like "people are stupid" but really, where do these people come from? The fun part is no matter who you are a large mass seems repulsive to you.. but we're all right about everyone else. Still, I believe the thoughts expressed in this thread are the right ones, who are all those people that make work hell for the rest of us?
The perfect job for each person is a job that he/she loves. I know a guy I used to work with that has always wanted with all his heart to be cop. But, because he believed that in order to support his wife and kids he needed to take a corporate job, he's suffered for years in crappy organization after crappy organization. I've encouraged him to step up and chase his dreams--he's seen firsthand what my chasing my dreams has done for me (I quit my job and became a full-time daytrader, and I can't stop smiling, even when I lose money!) So, he's been going through the academy and will take the leap in about six months. Not that police departments don't have a stupid amount of politics and frustrating policies, but if he loves being a cop, that stuff will just bounce off him like water off a duck's back. On the flip side, I've known people who loved working for corporations and worse, non-profit organizations. They loved the politics, the paperwork, and the hierarchy. For them, the rat race is the perfect job. So, just do what you love to do (that makes money--lying on a tropical beach doesn't count), and that's your perfect job. Looking at it that way, perfect jobs aren't rare--there's one perfect job for every person, if only they a) have the acuity to identify what their perfect job is, b) are open-minded enough to believe it possible, and c) have the courage and determination to pursue it.
I agree. Not long ago, my parents and I would argue over the fact that I never had a "real job" working for someone else. They say that it will build discipline and responsibility out of me. I would've loved to tell'em that trading is probably one of the most demanding jobs when it comes to discipline and responsibility, but I know they'd just turn their head away. cm69
i believe all of you are more in symmetry than you know: since it is psychological type which determines an individual' s relative happiness in the corporate world. given an acceptable level of intelligence: if you are of extroverted type, you will love corporate america; if, however, you are introverted in nature, corp-am will be the gulag ... i think it is interesting that corporate america demands you accept the limitations of "team" in all aspects of work: in socializing, in responsibility, certainly in compensation ... whereas non-prop trading is the ultimate act of mercenary capitalism: you get paid precisely what you are worth. No politics. No games. No tribal affiliations. No passing the buck I could not imagine doing anything else.