I go through phases of loving and loathing my job.
I run the show here and see my boss about a half hour a week. If that.
The down side is that I work alone and it gets rather lonely.
The up side is that my lab is pretty automated and by keeping the equipment in good repair, I get plenty of time to just putter around.

When I have more guts, I'll quit and go do what I want to do next, which is travelling around and fixing equipment in OTHER peoples' labs, for twice the money. But when you're sitting on year 3 of a 30 year mortgage, that job security makes switching employers pretty hard to justify, lol!