Reader Stuggles with violent urges towards work colleagues

A READER WRITES: “it's a constant internal battle for me not to inflict physical bodily harm on my colleagues. if you could help me ignore these violent urges my life would be better and i would be happier. also, my colleagues would be safer. thanking you, your loyal reader”.

BB SAYS: Don’t worry, violent urges are normal, and it is perfectly OK for you to desire to inflict bodily harm on your work colleagues. If you have not acted on these urges yet, and have no history of violent behaviour, then you are unlikely to act on those violent urges now.

Much of your frustration is probably being caused by your job. Most jobs are boring and unpleasant. That is why people need to be paid in order to do them. The capitalist system has created the myth that work is fulfilling, interesting and exciting. It isn’t. The capitalist system has created this myth in order to try and make you work more than you want to, in order to get you to buy things that you do not want or do not need. It is a method of social control.

One good option is not to work at all, since most jobs are pointless and unnecessary. But not working requires a strong character. One may need to cope with not having much money - but since a sensible person does not need much money to get by, this should not necessarily stop you from not working. One might also need to cope with people thinking that you are a lazy, stupid failure. But most of these people are conformist fools, so why should you care what they think about you?

Only boring people can enjoy doing boring jobs. So if you don’t enjoy your job it is a good sign, because it probably means you are not boring enough to enjoy it. Only about 1 percent of people have jobs that are genuinely interesting or satisfying - successful actors, rock stars, sports stars, best-selling writers, celebrities, world-renowned professors, powerful politicians, wealthy entrepreneurs and so on. Many people want to do these interesting careers – competition for these jobs is ferocious, so you will probably not get one of these jobs. The supply of people who want to do these jobs is enormous. The huge supply means that they are badly paid, except for the tiny proportion of people who become successful at them. Attempting to get a job like this requires years of low pay, humiliation - and the attempt will probably end in failure. Most people who try to do one of these jobs fail, and end up with nothing. It is better not to try. Getting a genuinely interesting job requires both luck and skill. In any event, most of the people who do have “interesting” jobs, are not happy, because they are ambitious, and ambitious people are always consumed with envy and self-doubt. But if you think it is worth the risk to aim high and attempt to get interesting work, then go for it. However, unless you are both lucky and talented, you will probably end up sad and miserable.

The alternative is to cope as best as possible with the boredom of your current job. The way to do that is to spend as little time and energy as you can doing the job. Here are some suggestions:
- go in late
- leave early
- surf the internet
- email friends
- go on long coffee breaks
- go on long toilet breaks
- start smoking and go on frequent smoking breaks
- spend time on the phone talking with friends
- talk with interesting people in your work location (if there are any, which is unlikely)
- disappear for long stretches of the day (e.g. go shopping or on “dental appointments”)
- take extensive lunch breaks
- listen to music
- spend the day blogging or writing a book
- take as many sick days as you can
- entertain yourself by sneering at your colleagues
- pass the time by daydreaming about being famous or wealthy. Indulge in sexual fantasies.

In general, focus on making the most of your leisure time, and on making your “working” time as much like your leisure time as is feasible.

Another way to cope with the boredom of work is to change your job frequently. However, moving jobs is stressful, and when you get a new job you are often expected to work hard in order to create the impression that you care and that you are a “productive employee”. So there is a strong case to be made for staying in the same job year after year after year, and never moving until you are fired or made redundant or retire or die.

Do YOU have a problem? Leave an anonymous comment, or send your problem in confidence to brianbarrington@gmail.com