Nah, listen, things can change. This may become a public transport commute, a walk, or you may not even go at all if you work from home. But what really sucks is when you are unemployed, and yes I speak from experience on all of these examples
I’ve been unemployed for two week and it doesn’t suck. I can do what I want when I want. What really sucks is eventually being broke after running out of money.
I’ve had two multi-month stretches of unemployment since the start of covid, and before that I was employed for 15+ years straight.
The “not working” part never got old. I am a chill person and a homebody so it was wonderful sometimes.
The part about not earning money, yeah that sucked. Living below our means for years made sure that the financial side wasn’t life-shattering, but it was still a huge hit.
It’s fun for the first few months. Catch up on games movies etc. Gets boring after a few months, most people need goals in life and find it hard to set them for themselves…
And what goals would I be getting done making advertisements to feed on people’s time? I felt like a zombie when I was working. I do understand that if you get a job you really love doing and don’t feel like what you’re putting in your time in isn’t pointless. But that kind of job is very hard to find, and you definitely can set goals for yourself. Opensource projects are a good example of that. Mangas, indie games, etc. You just need enough drugs to make it work.
It’s not impossible, but it can be hard. A job offers some obligated (often real life) social interaction. Might be annoying sometimes, but none at all isn’t healthy either. Many people really aren’t capable of setting goals for themselves, having their own business or networks etc. Most jobs offer more than money to an employee, the employee might not realise it themselves.
“You just need enough drugs to make it work”
You figured out the name of my memoir!
I assume different people have different needs, but I feel so much more content with life when I get up early and drive my bike to work/Uni. Having some structure forced onto me is just way easier than living from day to day. But I have also struggled with depression in the past, I may require it more than others do.
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True. Most of us are just working to buy our financial independence. Having my own business is even more challenging.
I’ve been trying for more than a decade and still poor (doing better than before but still poor), but that’s still the plan for me.
“The Customer orders the food, you cook the food, and the customer gets the food. We do that for 40 years and then we die.” - Squidward.
Reverse heist!
Imagine not working from home
As a teacher, I would rather die than ever teach a class over zoom or teams ever again.
As an adult who had to sit with a first grader to make sure they stayed in their zoom classes, I couldn’t agree more. I don’t hold a grudge against her teacher, we were all doing our best. It was just impossible to keep a first grader focused on her laptop for more than 20 min at best.
I wish I could cut grass from home.
In all seriousness, some jobs cannot be done remotely. Schools are a prime example of this. That should mean that those jobs should cover expenses for travel and have some sort of tax for offsetting their carbon footprint.
Working from home is so beautiful to me. I can work from my living place, and don’t need to see faces of everyone (most of the time)
As someone that used to be a blue collar worker but now is a software developer, people like us REALLY need a reality check. Working from home is a privilege that most people will never experience, and I am forever grateful for having the opportunity.
How did you get into this ? I’m currently working as a plumber and have been thinking of getting into software development or some IT job so I have more time to be home with my family. Do you have any tips ?
Where are you located? Personally I am located in Sweden and have some tips and tricks here, but my knowledge is limited outside here sadly. Personally, I applied to a coding bootcamp and worked my way up because I knew for certain that I wanted to become a developer, and didn’t want to mess with the “other stuff” that a university program implies. I had some very limited previous experience with coding. Most countries usually have something more “job specific” and shorter than a uni program, and in that case I would recommend something like that!
Most important of all: Please just DO IT. I worked as a lathe mechanic for years longer than I should have. I was just scared of change. Now, I am happy every single day to go to work, because I remember how hard my life used to be. Take my advice and don’t be afraid, if you feel like a job in IT would fit you better!
Something like 75 percent of all jobs in the US aren’t able to be done remotely, according to a study by researchers at UW.
I have a wife and three cats. Being stuck in traffic is the closest thing I have to free time.
That seems… super sad.
30 would be nice, it’s more like 50
Imagine having no good public transport
Unless the reason travel by car takes really long is because of traffic jams, it’s actually rather hard to create public transit that actually wins out in time. Bus will be a lot slower, trains can only take you to so many places, and building a large metro system is prohibitively expensive.
I would like to use public transit, but when that would turn a 15 minute drive into a 55 minute trip, I’d rather not spend 27 hours a month extra going to work.
But you can do things while on the train like sleep or internet. It depends what that tradeoff is exactly, but I would still rather have a longer commute I can do things during.
I would rather sleep for an extra 40 minutes then have to get up 40 minutes earlier.
Bus or car to work takes at least 40 minutes. When there’s a morning and evening rush, the bus wins easily because it has dedicated lanes and can go where cars are not allowed. Biking takes me 20 minutes no matter the time of day - even when it snows and it is black ice
I would like to use public transit, but when that would turn a 15 minute drive into a 55 minute trip
I wonder whose friend got multimillion contracts for building 6-lane(per direction) “roads”…
This is 15 minutes of work vs 55 minutes of relaxation.
Either you have a really bizarre definition of relaxation or you’ve never taken public transport in a busy city during peak hours.
Even in Los Angeles, where public transport is barely used, everything is packed at peak times. And that’s a place where people regularly take showers. I dare you to enjoy the relaxing experience of a bus at peak times in August in a third world country like Russia.
Like everything these days, it depends. I live in Seoul, where the density is arguably too high. If you get on the line 2 train, which encircles Gangnam and the business and tourist districts, you’re gonna be a sardine. If you hop on line 3 far enough east, it’s totally chill during rush hour in August. Literally. Air conditioning. Wifi and cell signal. It’s luxurious compared to LA.
I think it’s just a matter of city planning. In Seoul’s case, I think they didn’t properly account for population growth and how much the inner-circle areas would boom. Outside of line 2 and some key transfer stations, public transit here absolutely is relaxing. I brag to my friends in the states about it all the time
I agree, but some cities are just not compatible with public transport. Busses in LA fit 2 bicycles. How do you cover the final mile (which could be as far as 2.5 miles) in a city with mostly single family homes and lots of hills?
Impossible to compare Seoul to LA imho. Population density has its benefits like amazingly fast (fiber) internet connection, but accessibility of public transport isn’t one of them.
If we’re talking in terms of comfort my own car wins hands down?
Yeah these people think getting screamed at and not being able to use earbuds for fear of some maniac sitting behind you is some sort of virtuous affair that should be experienced by all.
It’s not Europe, so fuck off with that shit.
Try forty or fifty years, unless you got your first job at 40. Unless you’re a boomer, you aren’t even getting full social security until 67 and unless you saved like a motherfucker you probably won’t retire till your 70s.
I didn’t expect the UnspecificGravity to be so strong… But damn did that hurt.
You only have to do that the next 30-40 years of your life if you live the next 30-40 years… just saying.
It could be worse, you could have to work the next 60 years.
Nah, check out:
See also this motivational blog post that happens to lie at the intersection of the two.
TL;DR: change your lifestyle to (among other things) not need a car, then use the savings to retire early.
1931Well, you don’t have to. If you want to just save enough to buy some land you could work for just a few years then homestead from there.
Still a lot of work tho But also very tempting
Although not very realistic for most people in most countries. In my social reality, buying land and conditions to homestead depends on having a fat inheritance or having an exceptionally good salary.
I don’t get it. You do the same job for 40 years? Or is the issue having something to do for 40 years? I would be so bored without a job - actually I still get bored with a job and can’t imagine what I would do with even less on my plate.
So you have no hobbies at all? You exist to labor for others, eh? Well, if it works for you I will reserve my judgement.
I get that, I used to work with an old timer +65 and their job made them feel useful. They told me that otherwise they’d be drinking beers and cruising on demand media. I hope he’s still out there doing exactly that. Personally I’d rather be murdered than work until I’m dead.
Covid quarantines and stuff were so boring that everything I normally enjoyed became boring also. I learned that if I don’t have something to break up time between leisure activities I’ll get tired of them. I work, and it isn’t the pinnacle of existence, but what I like to do when I am not working feels better or atleast stays as good.
I don’t know, with the huge backlog that I have regarding videogames, movies, TV shows, Anime, podcasts, mangas, comics and books I think I’d be pretty busy without the need of a work, doing one activity at once is tiring ofc, no matter how fun it is but having lots of hobbies helps (and those are the “quarantine friendly hobbies”).
Yeah I really can’t do purposeless living. I would get depressed in like a week. The content of my work gives me purpose. Those are great hobbies, I enguage with many of them, but none of them would be fulfilling without a purpose beyond them.
We don’t need a paid job to in order to work and be productive. We can volunteer to make a better society or do something creative. We need to stop making the equivalence between free time=mindless media consumption. Also, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs
The problem is we need the job money and getting it leaves us so exhausted we restore to lay down and watch a screen. But this is a situation created by the job-centric culture, not solved by it.
“Whew! At least that’s over!”
— Me literally every time I clock out
(hint: it’s not over)
When you get the paycheck you’ll feel like it was all worth it.
(until rent is due and there’s nothing left)
That depends on your paycheck
It’s much better than going to school every day from 7:45 am to 7 pm and maybe even paying for it. Also school consists of more than half a dozen different subjects, of which you probably don’t even like half (PE, Art, German (native language), Social studies), and others are annoying to be relevant for your grades and therefore your life, such as Biology and Chemistry. Just Maths, Physics, English and History are somewhat good, because they’re easy and enjoyable (controversial take with Maths in there, ik).
I never went to school from 7 to 19. Where do you go to school?
In germany, though it’s a private school so public school times are probably a bit more relaxed.
For lower grades it’s from 8:30 am to 4pm fixed, but higher grades have individual timetables per person, with lessons starting from 7:45 am and some ending at 5 pm. Usually there’s time in between, but at some days not, like wednesday. Often, for 10-12/13th grade, there are also PE courses after school for 1 1/2 h or longer to mitigate a missing hour of PE per week. Also, it’s a school with a focus on sports (Basketball) and music, so many students have courses and activities there after 5 am.
Getting to school is easier for us 18 year olds, with cars and/or motorcycles, but lower grades need to use public transport, so for me it has been a way of over an hour to school, and even longer back if no one was able to pick me up from the train station to the village where I live.In contrast, a 3 week internship in a bank located in a city over 100 km from where I lived required waking up at 8:50 am for the daily meeting and logging off from the citrix session at 4 pm.
But it’s not really comparable though, is it? I also happen to live in Germany. I work 8 hours, have to pay for my own 30 minute lunch break and have about 3 hours of transport a day, 1,5 hours each way, the days I go into the office. That makes a day of 11,5 hours only spend on work, not counting the hour getting ready before I leave, which I don’t really count as free time. There are no other breaks included in the day. I’m not saying that school isn’t hard, but when I went to e.g university I had a heck of a lot more time to explore my own interests than I do now. When I get home I have to make dinner for the family, empty the dishwasher, do the laundry etc. (and I share these talks with my partner) and I maybe have a good two hours of doing nothing before going to bed on weekdays. I would take school, with all the exams and what not, any day.
What is that meme from?
Great Teacher Onizuka
Much appreciated
