Would you rather have a pressure-cooker job and make 500K, or a laid-back, relaxed bookstore-type job for 50K?

Question

The half a million would be a high-pressure one with lots of responsibility, but one for which you were capable with great effort.
The 50 thousand one would be managing the fiction section at Border's book store.
If this was a real choice, which one would you take? The easy 50K, or the ballbusting 500K?

I ask this question because I made this choice myself 6 years ago...could have had a job that paid me at least that by now(500K), but chose to do my own contracting work for about 50-60K a year.
I take as much work as I please, take time
off when I please, do when, as, and how I please, and best of all, no rat race strutting and jockeying for position in the firm with other rats. No ofice politics! YAAAYYYY!
......SO, i guess many of you, judging by the answers, would take the relaxed route,
and I'm glad to see that. I don't think any money is worth the tensors and stressors that come as a package with the position. I've been both places, and the stessor jobs
suck.....they can keep 'em...

I really meant a bookstore-type no pressure
environment, though working in a library
would be more apropo, so lets call it REFERENCE LIBRARIAN in a large
library, cause they DO make about 50K with benefits. You would sit at your own desk, and just guide people to reference
materials all day, get three weeks off a year,full benefits, and a totally relaxed, ambient atmosphere.

I'm VERY happy to see people choose
the less stressor type job....I worked for
10 years at a major investment bank, and not only did the pressure and hours(70 a week+)kill, but the whole status and strutting comparisons with co-workers did too. Everyone tried to prove they were Alpha, which created a situation that devolved into 70-80 hour no-life weeks,
for years and years. These people STILL
live at the office. They never have time to read books or go to events. They have no life outside of work, and are all waiting for retirement to "relax". To me, not only are you not guaranteed to live that long, you
should do fun and interesting things while you are young enough to enjoy them, not at 62-65 or whathaveyou......They do all make
300K -15 million/year at my old investment
bank, but ooooooohhhhh, THE PRICE!
To me, not worth paying, and enough said!

Answer 1

how about no job at all and still making 150K

Answer 2

Managina the fiction section at a book store does NOT make 50k. The manager of the entire store I'm sure makes around that but not just an everyday min wage job. I would take the 50k ANYDAY. Stress takes a tole on your body and your happiness, I rather be healthy and happy with decent money then make 500k and be not so healthy, stressed and not happy.

Answer 3

I'd need more info. If it were just you and no dependents and you were young I would take the pressure cooker. What the heck, if you only lasted a year you would be way ahead. If you had a family with young kids you gotta have the time with them. Therefore I would probably take the 50K.

Answer 4

I would rather have a laid back job for 50k then a pressuer cooker job for 500K, If you can't at least enjoy what you do a little bit what is the sense of doing it at all.

Answer 5

HaHa!!!!! Many some years in the past i grow to be interior the perspective of being interviewed for a place interior the government? i grow to be what some would of considered lower back then as a "shoe in" the dep.. head asked on the top if I had any questions and that i replied with here, Do you all do something important right here?" for sure.. I wasn't chosen.. yet in spite of this... i in my view did not prefer that activity.. besides.. yet theory being interviewed would be a number of of exciting and academic..

Answer 6

The easy 50K for sure! Stress kills and I couldn't be happier than working in a bookstore!

Answer 7

I like to work, and be in charge and show myself and what I'm made of so I would have to take the more difficult job, it's nothing to do with the money, it has more to do with my character. I want to be learning and doing and busting my a** to show what I can do.

Answer 8

never worked at borders if you think it is not a high stress also.

I walked away from the large money to be happy, having a job you like is the most important thing

Answer 9

50K ALWAYS! I had the pressure cooker job and life is much better with the more relaxed job.

Answer 10

I would rather have the $500,000 job , I think I would be bored out of my mind if I did not have a job that would make me think and working at boards is to boring.

Answer 11

500K a year isn't enough to kill myself with stress. if i made a couple million a year, then i would. i'd take the bookstore job.