Breakdowns; heavy, man

[milanbenes]

quite

and this begs the question,

granted contracting can be stressful, etc, and is not the cruise that one would have as a permy, but the lure of £$£ is what brings people to contracting (in the main - we can debate that in a separate thread),

but my point being,

could it be that so many contractors have breakdowns because they are not mean't to be contractors, shall we say, they are not cut out to be contractors, square peg round hole ?


Milan.

[scotspine]

Sorry, I should have said "presumably".

Just that your post, as I recalled it, was a simple "Crikey!" or some word to that effect, which didn't seem to entirely rule out you having had a breakdown and just being surprised that so many others had too.

presumably???

i've thankfully managed to avoid that particular distressing condition - salmon fishing, climbing and a regular intake of red glug all help

[TimberWolf]

A permie manager at a place I've contracted started acting up. Muttering, walking around aimlessly and talking nonsense I gather. Usual manager stuff They sent him on leave and seemed okay by the time I started contracting there.

[TimberWolf]

I haven't had a nervous breakdown but I have been totally mentally shattered after one contract. So much so I couldn't face looking for work for a few months after the gig finished. They wanted me to go permie there, but all the while I was counting the millseconds to end of contract day.

[Mich the Tester]

So what are the common causes of a breakdown? I can't imaginethat I'll ever have one at this stage (I'm 32),

I was 31 when I had mine.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I can relate to all of that. I had a breakdown running into Christmas 2006. I had started a new job in London, and a guy there had taken a dislike to me. He would follow me everywhere, and try and get inside my head. He sat through most of the Company Christmas meal popping past, and whispering things like "you're out of here", and "not settling in too well are we". Worse still my wife was 7 months pregnant, and I did't want to worry her. I thought it was my responsibility to earn the money, and I had made the decision to change jobs. I stood up to this guy for weeks, until I lost the will. Somehow he got inside my head. I just got this thought in my head how I had to tough it out, then "what if I can't".....

Slightly off topic but where in flip do these people get off ?- I've a met a good few over the years, from the driver of the dustcart when I was a dustbinman who actively tried to run me over, the FD of one outfit who just droned on and on and on about how much better SAP was than PeopleSoft (he did worse actually but let's not go on) when his outfit had been taken over and they were adopting PeopleSoft, to the bloke from some tinpot outfit's IT department who was trying to shaft me over some manky piece of software and thought he'd landed the killer blow when he nastily and angrily pointed out that we didn't use that particular piece of our own software - I replied "I'm sorry, but that's not a fair comparison as we sell a range of products and product X suits our needs better than product Y which you are using" to which he replied "I accept your apology". I still don't know how I didn't punch him, and in fact in some ways, I wish I had.

Back on topic(ish) I was working on a long project in 99 and realised I was actually doing no work at all and I didn't care - I hated everything in my life and was struggling to cope. I took quite a radical step for me - went to a therapist - he was a very very good bloke, but I absented myself from work every wednesday afternoon (I was a permie working for a consultancy) without telling anyone where I was going - and amazingly no-one ever mentioned a thing.

[Mich the Tester]

quite

and this begs the question,

granted contracting can be stressful, etc, and is not the cruise that one would have as a permy, but the lure of £$£ is what brings people to contracting (in the main - we can debate that in a separate thread),

but my point being,

could it be that so many contractors have breakdowns because they are not mean't to be contractors, shall we say, they are not cut out to be contractors, square peg round hole ?


Milan.

A bit off the mark; I lost it as a permie and have always enjoyed life as a contractor. It's not pressure that breaks you; it's boredom and the feeling of not being valued for your efforts. As a contractor I don't really expect to be valued, I just do the job and sent invoices.

[DodgyAgent]

As I thought. This site is full of nutters. Now where is my valium?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

A bit off the mark; I lost it as a permie and have always enjoyed life as a contractor. It's not pressure that breaks you; it's boredom and the feeling of not being valued for your efforts. As a contractor I don't really expect to be valued, I just do the job and sent invoices.

Me too - much happier since a contractor. One of the best things about my last contract was being in the pub with my boss(well not exactly boss but the woman from clientco in charge) and her saying "one of the really unusual things about you is you say you don't care what people think of you like lots of people; but you really mean it"

[DodgyAgent]

So what are the common causes of a breakdown?

People with too much time who know that there is someone else around to take over the responsibility when they cant hack it.

It may sound insensitive of me, but I do think that we all run around thinking that so many pointless activities (such as making money) are so important-I am as guilty of this as anyone. I would imagine that there are very few cases of breakdowns or mental illness in parts of the world where people are just simply doing what they can to stay alive.