It probably depends on the person and the job. Here are some things that, for me, have made work awful at times:
--Lack of meaningful work to do
--Doing the same thing over and over (pecunia is right, management loves specialization, because it's easier to manage, like a robot)
--Lack of recognition of my contributions
--Poor performance review due to lack of management face time, not due to actual work product
--Travel away from family
--Lack of ownership/"nothing I do has an impact"/no influence
--Bureaucracy, oh the bureaucracy
--Drive-by management
--Stupid IT policies*
Things that make my job a joy:
--Short commute
--Plenty of meaningful work
--Being trusted/able to make decisions and recommendations
--Good compensation/benefits
--Varied and challenging work
--Rapid pace, no waiting around for a dozen stakeholders to get around to reading your email asking for their approval
--Company happily (and quickly!) provides the tools needed to get work done
* Where to start with this one, goodness. How about:
--Having to use Lotus Notes (I like to call it "Slowtus Notes)
--Email storage limited to 100mb
--Stuck on Windows XP in 2011 when I left (just starting to roll out 7)
--IE6 was the only browser allowed.
--So many security checks that booting while connected to the company network took > 10 minutes (booting without a network connection still took 6 minutes)
--No wireless networks anywhere.
--Shortly after I left, they banned the use of USB flash drives, and disabled their use.
--No network shares. Combined with the ban on USB flash drives and the limitations on email storage, it made life pretty hard for the engineers that needed to review hundreds of MBs of drawings.
--Byzantine IT procurement procedures. I needed a new power adapter for my laptop. My boss told me the regular channels would take a couple of months, and told me to just buy one and expense it.