Profile For Bob J.

I've worked for a state agency for the past 8 years and I'm really ready for a change. The pay is great ($75k/yr) and it's a typical desk job reviewing documents and doing analytical work. I have no problem with the job itself, and it is very stable. What I do have a problem with is about 80% of the people I share the office with. Their attitudes are horrendous.

Our boss is frequently out of the office and when he's gone, the guy who sits next to me complains about everything. His complaints consist of something along the lines of "they don't pay us enough," " this job is stupid," "I could make so much more money working at X company," "I don't care about what I'm doing," etc. I get to listen to a neverending stream of negativity from this guy.

The guy who sits next to that person comes in late, takes long lunches, leaves early, and plays with his cell phone for half of the day when the boss is gone.

There is also a lot of infighting and gossip among my coworkers. A third person who I work with will readily trash the boss and the company but when the boss enters the room, it's all smiles.

My boss favors me because I'm not into drama, stay focused, and get the job done efficiently and accurately. I've gotten excellent performance reviews, raises, and I've gotten compliments from my boss on my positive attitude. This has made some of my coworkers very jealous, and I've experienced them trying to undermine me by taking credit for work I've done or trying (and failing) to make me look bad.

I just focus on the work, remain polite to everyone regardless of their attitudes, and remind myself that I'm there to get a job done and try not let others' negativity affect me.

It is hard sometimes when you sit just a few feet away from negative people for 8 hours a day. I've read about "terminal rats" in trucking, and I think that's what my coworkers are.

I love hard work, solitude, taking cross-country driving trips alone, and I get the impression that there are bad attitudes among the truckers but that you only deal with the negative person for a matter of minutes and then you are on your own. Is that correct? If so, that would be much more pleasant than being in close quarters with "rats" all day.

My plan is to stay at this job long enough to lock into the pension (2 more years) and then leave. I'm considering making a career change to trucking.