Place on the internet to commiserate and get support about crappy jobs.

• As the title says, I was just wondering if there's some place on the internet where people unhappy with their jobs can congregate, rant, commiserate, get advice, get support, support others, feel accepted and not alone, etc. It should preferably be an active place, not a forum that gets a single new post every few days or weeks. I know it's not healthy to just rage and complain all the time about a situation. Sometimes, however, you've just got to get something off your chest and know that someone is listening. And girlfriends and parents can only take so much of this, productive or not, because they're so much closer to you. This is more about just meeting people that are experiencing similar difficulties in life and having an active, understanding support group. Let me first go ahead and say that I am already taking steps to work on my situation. I'm not looking just for a place to rant and magically expecting that to cure anything. I'm seeing multiple counselors IRL, where part of what we're attacking is this work stress and frustration from different angles. One angle is on how it affects my relationship with my girlfriend and the other is how to stop being so codependent with the job/family business/my dad. I'm also looking for ways to improve my workflow and reading books on how to deal with the stress and the emotions and get things done. I'm doing a lot of different things down on the ground here. However, in the meantime, while all that stuff takes time to succeed or fail, oftentimes I just want to be around people who know what it feels like to be in a shitty work situation and just have to deal with it. I'm NOT quitting my job, at least not right away. It's complicated (see my other questions if you need details), and I want to give see where the counseling and self-help stuff takes me. Sometimes people suggest I keep a journal of my daily thoughts, but I think I'd like to know if anyone out there actually has the same experiences and maybe some comfort or even advice as opposed to just writing only to myself. I don't know where to look for this place if it even exists. I don't know if there's an active message board somewhere that fits this bill or if there's someplace on Reddit (I know very little about Reddit) or if I should start a blog or journal someplace where other similar people will see it. I kind of like the idea of being able to have a journal of my thoughts since some days aren't so bad, and many days I learn things or come up with ideas I'd like to pass to others. As far as snowflake details: I'm an engineer as you can see from my previous posts. Every engineering forum I've come across would probably berate me for not sucking it up and “being a professional;” they’re best suited for specific technical questions, not general work discussions. My experience fits somewhat closer to working in a shop than working in a big corporate office environment, but I'm glad to listen to anybody that doesn't mind listening to me. Let me know if there's anything out there that might in any way fit what I've described. Thanks, guys.

• Answer:

  In my experience, don't be surprised if a large dose of this doesn't make you feel worse.