Motivation and morale is terrible at the small business I work at?

Most of the people working at the small business I am working at are bored, angry and not motivated. I have been working with the Company Managers to try to change this and have used about every trick in the book, but so far the people we have do not seem so happy. We even brought in a consultant who had alot of great ideas on how to make the workplace more fun and the employees more motivated and excited but but so far, no good.

I think the problem is two fold: One: the work the people are doing is boring. And two: the nature of people who will do this type of work as a career are not so excited about work-life to start with.

How do you keep your employees happy if the work in unpleasant, and boring?

Tough one. Have you tried to make the job more challenging. Human nature needs challenge and innovation. Routine work breeds boredom and resentment. There's got to be something feasible to break the routine like swapping posts: one day/week secretary, the next day/week janitor, the following day/week sales clerk etc. people get to learn about each other's job and understand some of the difficulties their colleagues have to face; eventually emphasizing on cooperation and teamwork.
You should also study (if you haven't already) about the D.I.S.C. (working style) theory. Some people need challenge and leadership, others are followers, some are motivating others are bureaucratic. Put the right person at the right place in a team.
Present this to your co-workers and they'll understand how to behave towards each other.

music (that everyone can agree on)
exercise for a few mins a few times a day..
lettting them talk to each other (yes I did have a job once where I wasn't allowed to talk to other employees and it wasn't that it was a big place, it was food service and it was odd.)
letting them put up pictures, have plants
whatever they need or can use to make it seem 'homey' to them might help.

I dont know what kind of work it is but I had a real problem with keeping employ and moral when I first started my buisness let them interact well working, I changed the positons to p/t with option of F/T and stoped drug testing let them set there own hours. I got more work done save money. later I fired rasied wages fired the some of the twicker and all but one very funny pot head and the shops great. you have to watch them

Not sure what line of work this is or what the consultant tried, but if you haven't given this a shot, maybe something will help:

Can you have a contest where you get employee suggestions on what will make for a better work environment, boost morale? Lots of time someone CAN come up with something that works because they're in the trenches.

Is the attitude affecting productivity? If so, can you offer some manner of bonus for increased productivity? Money is usually a good motivator for folks.

No idea what your safety concerns are, but if people CAN listen to music (own personal headphones), that can help. If you can pipe it in, you probably want to be your own DJ and use things more like classical. All you need is to get people worked up with music--so they could "vote" for something obnoxious.

Is there anything that can make the environment more comfortable? Clothing, temp, lighting, etc. changes?

Can there be some social activities that are work-sponsored and fun? A softball team, certain work parties, picnics?

You may ultimately have to fire one or more people--could be you've got one bad apple that just sours the work environment.

Can you add some kind of benefit to the job that gets people excited about working there? Sometimes a fairly modest investment can result in a better attitude.

Don't forget to SINCERELY thank people when they do a good job--and LOOK for that so you can catch them doing well and compliment them.