Is the work life in the US so stressful that there are shootings related to work place? Does anyone have a guess?? I am referring to work related stress issue not guns.

I think it depends more on the personality and job that determines stress level.

One think I wonder about (anecdotally). Have the numbers of work-related violent crimes increased since the popularization of cell phones? I just wonder, since it seems that so many people "need one so work can get hold of me." Like, hello! You've clocked out. Turn it off.

Well i could answer that in a very long reply, but honestly i'm to lazy, so here's the ultra short version. The reason why people go carry and shoot people (or do other unwanted things)isn't traced back to one source. It's about a balance of the harmfull and the protective elements in somebody's life. Where this balance point really depends on the person and there are many many protective and harfulling elements out there.

A person may have a really crappy life, but there faith might just balance it all to keep him happy or atleast happy enough not shoot people. But the opposite is possible too, when a personal has a good life, but has a serious negative element in his/her life that puts that person in unbalance the hole thing. Generally there are many negative elements in somebody's life to unbalance him.

I work in a non-government-regulated company that can pull any kind of s**t that it wants to. The things that it does to employees (and even supervisors) is beyond belief. Management makes decisions that causes you to just stop and stare in disbelief. There are at least two people in positions of power that I'm sure are textbook psychopaths.

I'm willing to bet that one day, they're going to push the wrong person too far, and the place will explode. I wouldn't get too upset if they went after just the people causing the problems, but it's more likely someone will just cut loose and kill a bunch of innocents. It's not a place that anyone can get out of easily.

OTOH, they'll get a LOT of free advertising, clear across the country, if not the world. Can't beat free advertising!

By the way, from people I know who've worked for the USPS, the reaction of some of the employees to the insanities of the USPS truly deserves it's own term: "going postal".

Sue

My company provides me a cell phone so that I can receive text messages from our computer systems for any errors or abnormalities. My job is to ensure that my jobs don't do bad things and bring our systems down. If I don't do this part of my job, I won't get anywhere career wise, and I'll definately be out of a job. This is the price of a "salary" job.

Not all of us have the opportunity to just "turn it off". Yes, you can have someone cover for you, but not everyone has that option.

My dad has a similar job: help keep up the system for health care facilities. But, seriously, he has a Blackberry and a second PDA/phone all the damn time. On our last family vacation, several years ago, I threatened to throw his toys in the ocean if he brought them (we went to Hawaii). He got the hint.

At least in my experience (I was cross trained as a unit secretary at an ER), if the computer goes down, it just means more paperwork. We go right back to the "old" system: phone, carbon copies, and pens.

No matter how essential one person may be, there's always someone else that can do the job. That person got trained somehow.

There are many people around the world who have to live with violence around them, but comparatively few people in the US have to deal with life-or-death situations on a regular basis. I think its the lack of perspective that allows personal problems to loom so very large.

Pride, self-esteem, status; they become so much smaller issues after you've had to look death in the face.

Funny, but you never hear about any of those guys up in the North Pacific who catch crab for a living getting so stressed out that they have to blow away all their shipmates and/or the captain of the boat. I don't think too many of us have jobs more stressful than theirs, so perhaps it is something else altogether?

As for me, when I am in a job I really don't care for, where people don't respect me and I am being treated inconsiderately (at least to my way of thinking), I look for something else to do. It is not that hard to find work these days, with or without a college degree. You may not be able to support the lifestyle you've grown accustomed to by putting up with the crap at work for the better pay, but life is all about compromise and making do, so if the stress ain't worth the paycheck, then move on. There is no such thing as a career anymore for most of us anyways, so the best you can hope for is to find something you are reasonably good at, make yourself useful, and grow a few back feathers so if some knothead decides to take out his frustrations on you it won't break your heart.

Life is tough, people who don't learn that early in life usually struggle and blame others for their own problems and pains. No one is forced to do work they hate in an environment they can't tolerate for pay. If you make a bad choice or decision, then change it yourself and move on. I have a family and kids just like a lot of us, and I am accountable to them just the same, but I don't use that as an excuse to endure self-imposed misery. I find alternatives, I create opportunities, I pray for help, then I make decisions as to what is best for me and mine.

When I met my wife, she was working at the Post Office, and enduring no end of antagonism and grief from her supervisors at work. She'd been doing this for 10 years, and once we got married and she got pregnant, they were all the worse to her. I contemplated going down and dealing with her boss myself a couple times. I was young and inexperienced, but I realized that by bashing the b'jesus outta her boss I would only make bigger problems, so as soon as she had the kid (which her work paid 5 figures for) I had her quit and we moved on to other things. The ensuing 18 year journey has led me to a lot of opportunities, a few hardships, and some real unique life experiences. Along the way we managed to raise a couple of really well adjusted kids, and they are now making the most of their opportunities and building a good start to their own lives. I expect the wife and I will continue our adventures and will be able to care for ourselves and maybe leave a little something for our grandkids some day. That is as much as any of us could hope for, and certainly all we can ever expect; to end our lives without owing or being owed. We all want to chase the dream, to reach for the brass ring, but you don't gain anything without a certain amount of risk and a little struggle. If you aren't up to it, then the advisable thing is not to reach too far.

Being accountable for one's own actions and not letting the words of others have such an influence is a sign of a mature and desirable citizen. It is not always a pleasant thing, but life is nonetheless a gift not to be squandered by excessive wingeing and carrying on so.

For me, with few exceptions, most every day is a good day, because no one is trying to shoot me or blow me up. Baghdad can do that for you, but not something I'd recommend for most.

I think you have the best answer of all. I guess that one's mental health depends on a person positive elements out weight the negative elements in his life.

NightHiker,

You left something out. "... And it's all y'alls fault!"