# Overworked and underpaid...



## callmephathead

Just wondering what other people in the community do for a living? 
I'am a hotel manager, hardly any days below 12 hours, split days off, away from the family and friends when they party, a fairly low salary considering the responsibilities, and yet I like my job, It's rewarding, ever changing, always challenging...And more importantly it's the only thing I know how to do...
What about you? What do you do? And how do you feel about it?


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## ale36

Hi work for a Laser Modules manufacturer, that's right we make laser, we manufacture laser for all different kinds of applications such as car wheel alignment, Patient positioning (MRI scanners), particles analysers etc. etc.Im the Quality Controller my role is to make sure that the products we make are built up to standard and meet specification, i enjoy my job it has its ups and downs but so does every other job


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## sa80mark

Im a self employed carpenter and although I have days/weeks where I can work 18 hour days I love it, to me its like a hobby I get paid to do, im fortunate that I have some very loyal customers that keep me busy and do a lot of contract work for a big shop fitting company so for me no 2 days are ever the same, I dont answer to anyone and if I chose to do less work one week I can do  having said all that I would give it tomorrow to be back in the army that was my passion


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## aliclarke86

I work as a supervisor in retail. I don't particularly "like" the job but I have a great team and we have a good laugh 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 4


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## Wallace

I'm a full time carer for my fiancées ( will be my wife on the 19th  ) autistic 17 ( will be 18 on the 19th ) year old son. 

So I get to work from home, if you can call it work.


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## Gary Nelson

I work in IT (3rd line) I get shouted at allot, slapped on the back of the neck and my hair is going grey! but good points are that the company I work for actually bought me a big old rocking chair and a rent a big field where I can go at the end of each day and scream!!!!
Only joking.... my job is very varied so days seem to pass very quickly, yes it can be a little stressful sometimes, but I enjoy it -  I have great work colleague's and have a good laugh... when it is stressful, its nice to go home and sit and look at my tank


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## ale36

Gary Nelson said:


> and a rent a big field where I can go at the end of each day and scream!!!!


 

My work place/factory is set up in a farm barn and there are lots of field around where i could go for a scream!


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## ian_m

I was once underworked and overpaid.....not good...being bored most of the day was certainly not worth the money...


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## ale36

ian_m said:


> I was once underworked and overpaid.....not good...being bored most of the day was certainly not worth the money...


 
do you mean you where once on the dole?


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## Lindy

Before I had my daughter I had a dog grooming business. When I start to miss it I just have to visit some of my friends that are still in the business to remind me what a hard graft it is. Yes you can choose when you take your hols and days off but most self employed take much less hols than others who are employed as time away is money lost, customers waiting and hideous backlog waiting for you when you get back. I used to be booked up 6weeks in advance in the summer and 8weeks before December madness. Nightmare!


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## ian_m

ale36 said:


> do you mean you where once on the dole?


Nope, taken on by a company to do a programming job that took ages and ages to never arrive !!!


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## NattyAntlers

ian_m said:


> Nope, taken on by a company to do a programming job that took ages and ages to never arrive !!!


 

Sounds like a Government IT project.

Business travel for me right now, previously a couple of British airlines, I do miss working around LHR but to be honest I done so many different jobs yet always known that I have never found the right path.


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## ghostsword

IT Security Manager for one company, and Infrastructure Engineer for another. So yes, I work for two companies.. I can work from home, with the odd travel to places like Malta, Curacao, Sweeden, Toronto and Ireland. 

Was based in London previously, now working from South Africa. 

Overworked, but surely not underpaid.  Love it.


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## foxfish

I maintain 7 koi ponds & 4 marine tanks all of which I built before semi retiring a few years ago 
I originally left school with no qualifications at 15 years old.
I trained as a shipwright, becoming a master carpenter after 7 years but... then moved into office work & then a koi farm manager before becoming self employed around 30 years old.
I then spent the next 20 years building Koi ponds & specialist garden design projects with a small team of guys.
However I have been involved in many side lines, some profitable & some not but whatever the outcome.... it has been a good ride.
My low point was loosing 30k of koi & then getting a 5k vet bill for treatment that did not work!
My high point was a winning a 180k koi pond & landscape project, even though I only 'just' made a small profit it was a pleasure to build!


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## OllieNZ

Wallace said:


> I'm a full time carer for my fiancées ( will be my wife on the 19th  ) autistic 17 ( will be 18 on the 19th ) year old son.
> 
> So I get to work from home, if you can call it work.


Harder work than alot do if my 6yo autistic daughter is anything to go by.
As for me Im an aircraft engineer and currently studying for my B1 licence. Not over paid but love my job and work with a great bunch of lads, kind of a paid hobby really


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## Wallace

OllieNZ said:


> Harder work than alot do if my 6yo autistic daughter is anything to go by.



Thanks, for the most part he isn't hard work at all. Then there are those days when it seems like whatever it is that he doing, he's doing on purpose to wind me up. I know that he isn't, although sometimes he does and I just feel like screaming. 

The one bonus that comes out of it, is that I get to maintain my tanks without it interfering in general family life.


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## Curvball

I work as a web designer & front end developer. For me it is all about the user experience. Work is quite varied from normal websites through to mobile applications.


Posted from the comfort of my iPhone...


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## Samjpikey

Fully employed mainly installing double glazing and conservatories/ fascia guttering decking cladding / amongst other things . 
Have been with the same company for 10 years now and thoroughly enjoy it. Working in a different place most days and the majority is local .Putting up a conservatory is like A big meccano set  
I'm looking into fully installing solar panels as well  
Cheers 


Sent from my mobile telecommunications device


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## RolyMo

Enterprise Software Sales guy - Selling numerous infrastructure management solutions to medium and large companies. Job is great, getting to meet different people and listening to the challenges they face. Pressure is not great, targets etc. combined with 3 girls in the house.


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## Nutty

R&D Analytical Assistant for a well known analgesics brand. Main job is performing rather un-glamorous stability work, but lately been getting into some interesting investigations with developing new products and also getting into producing the submission required for applications. Some long days, but it worth it when you see a product you've work on on the shelf in Asda!


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## Martin cape

Lab supervisor at a very well known facility in Cumbria lol. 

Analysing various products from the plants on site. Starting on 6 cycle shifts in 2 weeks. Can't wait


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## Aquadream

I am self employed. Owner of the Nexus Metal Detectors brand. Manufacturing is hell most of the time, but this gadgets is what I do best.
www.nexusdetectors.com


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## Alastair

Self employed fitness instructor, PT, nutritionist and all round tank addict 24/7.


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## Lauris

it may sound bit unusuall but I have 3roles at the present.. service professional, quality controll and backup Team Manager in technical support of Microsoft product Xbox. And I love it. lol

erutangiS klatapaT now Free


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## Ian Holdich

I'm a clinical educator in the nhs, specialising in hearts and lungs...


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## AverageWhiteBloke

Managing director and owner of http://www.excel-ils.co.uk dry lining, partitioning and suspended ceiling company. Apologies for the website! 
No holidays, no life. Planted aquarium and my daughter are my only joys.


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## DrRob

GP partner. Most hated of the daily mail.

One of these days I'll see some of the money they think I earn and I'll be able to buy another tank.


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## aliclarke86

Ian, what exactly is a clinicle educator?

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


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## Ian Holdich

aliclarke86 said:


> Ian, what exactly is a clinicle educator?
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk




We are there to (try) ensure everyone is up to date with clinical practice within the NHS, and help to develop people. I also looks after student nurses, I have recently drawn up some mapping documents for them in specialised clinical areas. I've also just recently had some input into a national competences in tracheostomy care. 

I'm sure your all getting board now lol.

The daily mail also hates us.


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## DrRob

aliclarke86 said:


> Ian, what exactly is a clinicle educator?
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


They teach useful things.


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## stu_

Geomatician
Which means i get to use Lasers


ale36 said:


> Hi work for a Laser Modules manufacturer, that's right we make laser, we manufacture laser for all different kinds of applications


& occasionally metal detectors. 


Aquadream said:


> I am self employed. Owner of the Nexus Metal Detectors brand.


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## AverageWhiteBloke

I was apologising for the website that wasn't there  Posted from my phone so I think that broke the link or something.


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## tim

Freelance chef, spread my time between work and joint custody of my two little ones


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## ale36

Aquadream said:


> I am self employed. Owner of the Nexus Metal Detectors brand. Manufacturing is hell most of the time, but this gadgets is what I do best.
> www.nexusdetectors.com


I think you should donate one to me and  a couple to other UKAPS members


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## Nathaniel Whiteside

Ian Holdich said:


> We are there to (try) ensure everyone is up to date with clinical practice within the NHS, and help to develop people. I also looks after student nurses, I have recently drawn up some mapping documents for them in specialised clinical areas. I've also just recently had some input into a national competences in tracheostomy care.
> 
> I'm sure your all getting board now lol.
> 
> The daily mail also hates us.




The daily mail people probably hate their own mothers.


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## Aquadream

ale36 said:


> I think you should donate one to me and a couple to other UKAPS members


 Oh, but they don't work in aquariums mate. What are you going to do with them? Looking for a hammered pennies under your dragon stones?


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## Ady34

Im a moderator on a forum.......
oh and i repair cars in a family ran bodyshop in my spare time


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## roadmaster

Professor from the school of hard Knock's.


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## Andy Thurston

I'm a sheet metal worker. Its interesting when your doing bespoke work but boring doing bulk production
I've been making santa's grotto this last couple of weeks


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## James D

I work for an acrylic fabricator doing technical drawings, designing different things (graphics and products), marketing and looking after our websites. Although I can lay my hands on any acrylic in any size or shape I like I don't want it in my house or my tank, my experience is it's expensive and scratches to easily!


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## Iain Sutherland

Food and beverage manager for intercontinental hotels. 3 weeks into new position, 1 day off, 80 hour weeks, average pay, loads of stress and idiot customers but I love it... Must be crazy.


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## RossMartin

I'm a Partner in an IT Support company that i set up with a colleague 18 months ago. Although earning a lot less than what i did, my work life balance is brilliant so i get a lot of time to play with the tank!!!!!


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## nphsmith

RossMartin said:


> I'm a Partner in an IT Support company that i set up with a colleague 18 months ago. Although earning a lot less than what i did, my work life balance is brilliant so i get a lot of time to play with the tank!!!!!


 

Started doign that 18 years ago, still am...you may find times when the work-life balance isn't so good!


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## Viv

I'm my disabled husbands full time carer. I also take my mum out to her stroke survivors group once a week and out for lunch on another day so that she gets out of her flat a bit. My girls are 18 and 20 now but I still seem to spend an inordinate amount of time being a long distance taxi driver! 

Viv


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## Monk d'Wally de Honk

Photographic retoucher. Always wanted to design album covers but leaving school in the late 80s, and starting in old school design companies, meant that two years in everything started to change to computer based design and for some reason (I was the only one who could be bothered to read the manual) I ended up on an enormous bit of kit doing really basic retouch on scanned pictures. Gradually software became more affordable and easily attainable (The first PC based retouch software/hardware I used was £250,000) until now I'm working on the same software most people have in their homes, Photoshop. 

Went freelance nearly 10 years ago and rented space in a pro photo studio in Chelsea. Have a wide variety of clients covering all genres of pro photography so daily work is always changing which is great. Recent work has been Adverts for Harrods, book covers for various autobiographies, ads for Garrard jewellers, and the official portrait of the Queen that was released just before the summer (the shot of her in the highlands in her full robes and crown). Next week I start extending the sides and sky so it fits the dimensions for the National Portrait Gallery.

I can work very long hours, had the first holiday for two and a half years this summer, and never seem to make enough money to live comfortably. Such is life for most though.


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## foxfish

Did the Queen have a pimple to cover up?
Sound like a great job


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## Monk d'Wally de Honk

No, no work actually done on the queen, in fact it was stipulated that I wasn't allowed to adjust her shape or retouch her face in any way. I worked on the robes and jewels and mainly the background which came from lots of different images. It's actually the second official portrait I've done for her, and I've worked on about twenty or so portraits of her for publication.


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## Monk d'Wally de Honk

Still haven't done an album cover though.


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## TOO

Monk d'Wally de Honk said:


> Still haven't done an album cover though.


 
Maybe when The Queen is Dead (if you remember The Smiths' 1980s album) .

Thomas


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## Monk d'Wally de Honk

Ha!


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## Conger

Chartered accountant


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## foxfish

Why are you a conger?


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## Conger

foxfish said:


> Why are you a conger?


Ha ha, not a very sophisticated explanation - my surname is Neale, and at school it rhymed with conger eel, which ended up sticking a bit. 25 years later the only place it gets used is on various forums..!


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## Richard Dowling

I work for the Water board in the South East....as an Office Jack of all trades. Technical queries, Complaints, Insurance claims etc


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## steveno

Architect, long hours & low pay... Most people are surprised that it's low paid work, contractor are the ones that the make money, despite what the government have claimed. Sorry bit of a touchy subject for me lol...  but I do enjoy what I do.


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## sanj

Alastair said:


> Self employed fitness instructor, PT, nutritionist and all round tank addict 24/7.


 
Aww, if only you live near me... Id be a client, I need to be told what to do!


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## sanj

Everyone seems to love their jobs, I think I am one of those people who should be doing somthing else... but doesnt know exactly what that is????

I do like my job, but...


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## Andy D

I don't. I know I should be doing something else but it's just getting round to doing it!


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## Steve C

I'm an owner of an engineering company 

Overpaid and underworked wish I had more work but hey this country doesn't want to manufacture things anymore


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## foxfish

Overpaid & underworked sound ideal!!


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## Steve C

Would prefer more work to earn more


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