Really struggle with work, it makes me depressed

Hi all,

Hoping I can get some help please.

I really can't stand working but have no choice in order to keep a house and live. I've been in many different jobs and always struggle, usually ending up being sacked. The job I managed to do best was straightforward and generally low stress but it meant it was easy to outsource which is what happened.

Since then I did 3 more jobs and the first I forgot something one day which I didn’t know was as important as it was and they got rid of me just before the 12 months was up

The next one something was done badly and I pointed out it was a colleague who was wrong but they took his side and as I like things to be done accurately and he was their drinking buddy I was out the door after a few months as there was no permanent role for me.

The next one I found the job really hard and someone else picked up the easy work and I ended up with the difficult jobs to do and had to keep asking for help so they got rid of me again after a few months.

I then had to accept anything and have been stuck in a role which I find difficult and confusing which also involves having to answer the phone a lot which I find very stressful and has led to me not wanting to talk on the phone outside of work and damaged communication with my family too.

The sound of the phone ringing makes me cringe and I feel so depressed on a Sunday night before work thinking about another difficult confusing day with not much in the way of support from anyone.

I get barely any praise at all for doing things right and just told off when I do something wrong and it's usually something I didn't know I was meant to do.

I'm on a lower than the bottom end of the scale salary for what I do and feel I just have to tolerate it to be able to pay the bills. I'm too scared to go elsewhere due to the bad experiences and I'm shunned as I like to be on my own and away from work colleagues as being with them in the office stresses me out with the noise and busy environment and I try desperately to avoid work nights out.

As a result I am not the favourite and feel like I am getting paid less because of that.

The job also stresses me out as I'm not sure what to do a lot of the time and things aren't clear at all. There are certain relaxed rules with the job but without a clear structure of what I should be doing it causes me a lot of stress.

I'm also terrified of talking to management about things or expressing my concerns as I don't want to rock the boat either so I just suffer in silence.

I struggle with common sense too which makes things difficult as people would be like "why did you do that?" Or "why didn't you think of doing that?" And I really didn't know I was expected to do something.

Work isn't just bringing me down it is causing me to get moody and irritable with people close to me and causing a breakdown in my relationship as I'm so moody and irritable because of work.

I also find interacting with colleagues very uncomfortable and difficult and it often results in confrontations and I have reacted strongly and shouted at colleagues before. I have also discovered colleagues saying things about me or mocking me behind my back too.

Parents
  •  So sorry to hear about how things are with you and working. I have similar issues and find it very hard to keep going at work.

    I used the Access to Work Scheme which I found really useful. I will post their link here. There are two providers to choose from (it is the Mental Health option) and I had monthly contact with a work coach over 9 months. I really found it useful. Would do it again, if I could. But only funded for one 9 month contract.

    Here's the link:

    https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work

    Take care, Mrs Snooks

  • Thankyou, that sounds good.

    I have admittedly not got a diagnosis as such though. I don't know what to do to go about that but am sure I'm on the spectrum somewhere as I have strong interests, talk about them to people no end, like to be by myself and have difficulties relating to people, often getting irritable as a result. The closest I had was seeing a psychologist at school but that was in the 80s and they couldn't really work out what it was.

    I did think a diagnosis might help with my work situation possibly.

  • Hi. Two things:

    1. About access to work. Please see the bit about not needing a diagnosis. https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work/eligibility. Also you will be able to access with problems with depression. Or mood problems. Would anything like that be relevant to you? 

    2. Your second point is a careful one to consider. I recently came out as autistic at work. It unfortunatley has done me no favours. No more kindness, no more taking this into consideration. In fact it almost feels as if there is more prejudice. In that before they just thought I was rude. And they actually did say they thought I was just rude.

    See section on disclosure at work:

    https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/employment/deciding-whether-to-tell-employers-you-are-autisti

    xx

  • That's great, thankyou.

    They probably know there is something different about me and often tend to act really nice towards me as if they know I don't like interacting with them or might be unfriendly. I do try to be but find it hard as I tend to like to be left alone really so have to try and put on a friendly face etc. Newer staff often require help from me for things.

Reply
  • That's great, thankyou.

    They probably know there is something different about me and often tend to act really nice towards me as if they know I don't like interacting with them or might be unfriendly. I do try to be but find it hard as I tend to like to be left alone really so have to try and put on a friendly face etc. Newer staff often require help from me for things.

Children
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