I work because I need to for now but I don’t intend to keep it that way for many more years. I am one of those lucky people that has a trust fund but I can’t touch it until I am at least 50 (8 years from now). After that, all bets are off. I peaked very early in my job as a systems analyst. It is supposedly one of the best jobs you can have and it does fit me very well but I don’t even like doing it most days. It isn’t the job itself. It is the crushing bureaucracy that goes along with any company that is big enough to afford systems analysts at all. I know how to do solve a whole lot more problems than I am allowed to because of rules or organizational inertia. The only ‘step up’ is to become a manager and that isn’t a real one because I hate paperwork, bureaucracy and formal procedures. I plan to move to Costa Rica in about 8 years and focus on using my skills to build up IT infrastructure there (with really generous time off).
I don’t make a distinction between jobs or levels of prestige among them. Landscaper and corporate lawyer are both just wage earners in my eyes although the former sounds like a whole lot more fun especially during the summer. I don’t mind working at all but the idea of building up prestige or anything else based on the job alone is foreign to me. The only thing that differentiates the vast majority of jobs in my eyes is simply the pay and the benefits. I would be a cashier in a supermarket just like I was in high school if it paid as much as my current position.
If it were up to me, every wage earning job would have the same title - ‘Prostitute’ with a numbered sub-classification code following it.
I’d probably still work even if I didn’t have to. I like my work, much of the time, and I like having a reason to wake up in the morning. More than that, I like being a productive member of society. There are enough parasites in this world, and I’d rather not be one of them.
I dread the thought of retirement. I’d probably be dead within six months.
The inability be productive without having someone to tell you what to do and when to do it seems to me like more of a distinct personality trait than a common thing that a job provides.
It’s sort of a different false dichotomy than the previous one that came up earlier in the thread. Not having a job does not automatically equal becoming some sort of drug addict or completely lazy person etc. For some people employment is needed to ground them; but I think that is only a small minority of the population.
“If it were up to me, every wage earning job would have the same title - ‘Prostitute’ with a numbered sub-classification code following it.” (shagnasty) Amen, brother!!! I told someone this a few years ago: All work is prostitution, to the extent that you do it for the money. To the extent that you love it, then it’s not.
“I like being a productive member of society. There are enough parasites in this world, and I’d rather not be one of them.” (Alessan) This is another very strong reason for people to work, other than for income, IMHO: they are afraid of being looked down upon by everyone else. Most jobs in the US are customer service, aren’t they? I don’t think stacking boxes of whatever at Walmart contributes anything to society. With regard to employment, civilized societies are extremely intolerant (again, IMHO): every adult should be doing something, no matter how pointless or else they should go to prison/be homeless/be eliminated. Fear of disapproval is incredibly strong in our world, fear of difference. I don’t think we see this, because difference is immediately subsumed into the idea of “wrong” or “degraded” or “immoral” or (god forbid) “unmotivated”.
Sorry, I meant to be more coherent than this.
Great topic, ssgenius. It should go into the “Great Debates” category.
What I mean to say is, apropos of nothing, that there is something fundamentally wrong with the whole idea of “work”. It’s all about rank and status (and a meaningless status at that, not anything that might serve society somehow) but makes itself out to be something noble and heroic. Please read Bob Black’s essay “The Abolition of Work”; he says it really well.
Thanks Anthony*, I’ll read Bob Black’s essay later.
As we travel through life we learn and develop wisdom. I have a couple of perspectives to contribute.
Firstly, I went on a volunteer aid mission to India a few years ago and was humbled by that experience. People sleeping on the side of the road. A helper explaining to a local woman that if she walked for three months towards the moon then that is where I came from. The woman had never been on an aeroplane and only rarely on a bus.
Secondly, I had a motorcycle accident 5 years ago with head injuries. I had to give up my 30yr career as a lawyer. That was like death.
On the good side my Scottish/New Zealand habits meant we had assets but no income. My wife has borne this burden since.
Today I work at a college proof-reading but only two hours a day because confusion and fatigue overcome me.
My point is: earning a living to pay the bills is crucial for most people.
And the additional point is that having a job to go to each day is important from a therapeutic perspective. I spent two years scared of the outside world - a place where I’d previously addressed public meetings and been known and respected but became terrified of.
Being a useful part of society is immensely valuable.
I’m starting my own company and I haven’t been paid yet but I’m there putting in 50+ hour weeks. Why? Well, i’m doing to for the money. Sure this is the most fun job I’ve ever had but if iwas infinitely wealthy I wouldn’t be here and as soon as someone offers me a pile of cash for the business I’ll walk away and never look back. Dreaming of being rich is what keeps me going in the 112 hr weeks.
I could obviously make more doing something else but this is my best chance of hitting that financial homerun so I don’t have to work again. Of course accomplishing that will also allow me to take care of my wife and kid so I’d probably check that box too.
If any one is interested in buying a Colorado Distillery for 20mil let me know.
I like my job OK, and my coworkers are pretty good, but I work so I can have nice things. If I could get by without working, I probably wouldn’t. If I was independently wealthy, I’d probably take up an instrument, learn to paint, go skydiving, etc.
I retired 4 years ago. I enjoyed my work over most of my career, and a few times, I think I done real good on specific projects. There were also days when I dreaded the thought of my cubicle. The main reason I retired was that my organization was about to undergo yet another reorganization and I didn’t like what I heard. I’d been with them thru far too many iterations and reiterations of “how things should be done” and I saw them returning to one of the horrifically failed models. So I took my crayons and left. Some months after, I had lunch with my former boss and some coworkers and I was convinced that I’d made the right choice.
Since then, I’ve had 3 temp jobs, partly to stave off boredom, partly for extra cash. At the moment, I haven’t worked in over a year, and I’m going to make a call today about a possible opening near home. Fortunately, I don’t *need *the job, but if the pay is reasonable, I might give it a try. I have to say, it’s nice being in that position.
I tell myself that I work because I need the money, but sometimes I have second thoughts.
During the federal government shutdown in October 2013, I was off of work for a solid three weeks. Because we didn’t know when the shutdown would end, we couldn’t really plan a vacation of any kind, so I stayed in town and spent my time taking care of odd jobs and home improvements around the house. It was blissful, but I suspect part of it was knowing that I would eventually end up back at work, where I would see familiar faces again. My wife and I pretty introverted; we don’t socialize much outside of our jobs, so if/when we retire, I’m concerned that we’ll become socially isolated. Or maybe I’m wrong, and once we permanently retire we’ll adjust our behavior and seek out more opportunities to hang out with other folks.
We’re saving money aggressively, and it’s likely that we will be financially able to retire in our early 50s - if we want to. Our jobs aren’t thrilling, but I wonder if we will really want to retire when it finally does become an option.
I fully concur and I am convinced that somewhere in the neighbourhood of 90% of jobs on this planet are horrible, sweat-shop, or shit-cleaning type jobs. Oddly, most people probably don’t enjoy those kind of jobs but have no choice.
I’m fortunate that through some weird series of circumstances my jobs have usually been quite interesting and enjoyable. Having said that, I have to pay for stuff, including where I live and what I eat and, at this point in my life if I didn’t have to finance stuff I would retire.
I work because I have to. I enjoy what I do fairly well and like the people I work with, but without financial concerns I would stay very busy with hobbies, interests, and travel.
Financially, I have no choice. My husband’s medical care went through our savings.
But in truth, I worked even back when I wouldn’t have had to financially. I like what I do. I work very hard to do it well, fairly, and to add value to all parties concerned. On most days I come home with a feeling of accomplishment, and I’m always challenged by my work to learn something new, acquire a new skill, or look at something in a new way. It energizes and inspires me.
I tried the stay-at-home mom thing after my first son was born. I lasted six months until I drove both my husband and myself crazy. He asked me please to go back to work. I eagerly acquiesced.
Even if I were to win the lottery tomorrow, I’d still do some type of ‘work’. What it would look like, I don’t know, but a life of leisure is not what my type A personality enjoys.