Do not buy into the "I'm just lucky to still have a job" crap. It has been the corporate mantra for a decade and has allowed company owners to abuse their employees without consequences. They just trot out the old "You're just lucky to still have a job" and you sulk off and take what ever crap they're feeding you.
It's true that the poor economic policies of companies and the government over the last decade has put us in a tough situation, and unemployment is a tragic consequence. But there will always be unemployment (though it has been higher than normal for a while now) and that is no reason to undervalue yourself.
Many of us may be trapped in our job situations and don't feel we have a lot of options at the present time, but that's no reason to feel fortunate that your employer can exploit you because of it.
I don't hate my present job, but I certainly don't look forward to going in each day either. I've been with them for nearly ten years and in all that time the company has made a lot of changes over the years. I understand many of them were necessary from a business stand point, but I find it interesting that not one change, in all that time, has made my job better or easier.
I have a friend who is only 54 and he has put in for his retirement at the end of the year. He's not doing it because he has all sorts of money to fall back on, he doesn't. But in his words, If he doesn't retire soon he's convinced that the job will kill him. It has already impacted his health significantly and he knows that he can't go on the same way.
Never be fooled into thinking that your company cares one whit about you as a person. You are just a number in the overall game to them and the minute they feel they can do without you... they will. There is no such thing as loyalty in business.
Tank (who has had many years to cultivate his bright, positive attitude)
