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I'm kind of sad that so many of us have to work at jobs we hate to survive. Yeah, I realize that those of us that are employed in the U.S. at a reasonable wage are considered lucky. I'm spoiled, yeah, I realize that. But, I'm still upset that I have to spend 40 hours a week at a god-awful establishment that I hate...just to pay the bills. Is this how life is supposed to be for most people? Supposedly, if we only work 40 hours a week, we still have 128 hours a week to do whatever we want. It sure doesn't feel like we have that much free time, though.
Why aren't you working to do that for a living? No one in America should work a job they hate for more than a few years. If you don't love your job, you aren't doing something right.
Pick what you want to do (something you would enjoy getting paid to do) and set up a plan. If it takes 5 years to get there, then that is what it takes. Life is too short to waste on jobs you hate.
Supposedly, if we only work 40 hours a week, we still have 128 hours a week to do whatever we want. It sure doesn't feel like we have that much free time, though.
When you think about it, how much disposable time do you really have? I ask this from experience answering extended commuting questions: an extra hour to a person's commute uses up maybe 25% to 33% of their free time.
There are 24 hours in a day, 8 working, 7 sleeping, 1 lunch, 1 eating, 1 commuting, 2 miscellaneous (doctor appointment, shopping, car repair, looking for a remote, cleaning up a spill, on hold with the cable company, unexpected visitors, paying bills, troubleshooting the PC, etc) so now you're down to four hours of disposable time. Add an extra hour of commute and, even though you've only taken up 1/24th of your time you've just eliminated 25% of your free time.
Give up the mcmansion, newer car, big screen TV, super cable and cell phone package, daily Starbucks, etc. and I think people would have a lot more flexibility. But people want it all and that comes with a price. That price may be having to work 40 hours a week (or a lot more) at a job they don't like.
EDIT: This wasn't directed at the OP, just a comment in general.
The 40-hour week was a benefit of the many union battles in the last century. People were "supposed" to work like draft animals until they died. They usually died unsung and less-than-literate, and we don't have many accounts of their lives. When a book was written around 1900 about the lives of mine workers (I forget the title...) it was considered bizarre- who cares about these people? Writing and recording was the privilege of the middle-class and upwards, who tended to chronicle themselves.
Now, I hope the only alternative isn't to work a job one "hates." That's a tough way to take care of business. But I do think people (in general, and I have my times, too) don't get that there has to be some effort to provide necessities, never mind niceties. Where is this money supposed to come from? I don't know who these people are who supposedly have Mcmansions and SUVs and all kinds of "stuff," and who have sold their lives for them. I do see that people need to provide for themselves and their families in some sort of decent way and that requires working. It has always been so.
A friend of mine is convinced we are hard-wired to be living on a island, eating from the trees and fish, wearing a sarong and creating art. Nice work if you can get it.
The last month before taking a promotion I had 18 days off. I averaged around 17 days off that entire year. Now I am making much more (about 70% more) but have only 10-12 days off and have to commute on an airplane each week and spend that entire time away from home.
Worth it? Maybe for a little at first but not long term.
The 40-hour week was a benefit of the many union battles in the last century. People were "supposed" to work like draft animals until they died. They usually died unsung and less-than-literate, and we don't have many accounts of their lives. When a book was written around 1900 about the lives of mine workers (I forget the title...) it was considered bizarre- who cares about these people? Writing and recording was the privilege of the middle-class and upwards, who tended to chronicle themselves.
Now, I hope the only alternative isn't to work a job one "hates." That's a tough way to take care of business. But I do think people (in general, and I have my times, too) don't get that there has to be some effort to provide necessities, never mind niceties. Where is this money supposed to come from? I don't know who these people are who supposedly have Mcmansions and SUVs and all kinds of "stuff," and who have sold their lives for them. I do see that people need to provide for themselves and their families in some sort of decent way and that requires working. It has always been so.
A friend of mine is convinced we are hard-wired to be living on a island, eating from the trees and fish, wearing a sarong and creating art. Nice work if you can get it.
Here's one I never understood: The phrase "9 to 5 job". It must have become a phrase because it was very common ("go xerox that document", "hand me a kleenex", "I'd like some kool-aid", "I was changing my oil and I just exxoned my driveway....").
So, If a lot of people worked 9-5 jobs, when did they take lunch? If they took a lunch, then it is a seven hour day.
But, I'm still upset that I have to spend 40 hours a week at a god-awful establishment that I hate...just to pay the bills. Is this how life is supposed to be for most people?
I have no idea what your complaining about. If you don't like the job, go get the job you like. If that can't pay the bills with the job you like, fix your budget.
If your living on a million dollar budget and to support that life you have to work at a job you hate, that is your decission.
if you want the relax beach front lifestyle and the only jobs in that area are hedge fund managers or flipping burgers, if your not a hedge fund manager, what else do you expect for work?
flipping burgers, if your not a hedge fund manager, what else do you expect for work?
Depends on what establishment you're flipping burgers at.
If you're working at In'N'Out, then you've got it made.
If you've only managed to get into a McDonalds, or some other garbage place, then time to rewrite that strategy.
As far as dumping the excess services and products, that's doable.
When driving the truck, I felt like it was almost a paid vacation.
All that I needed was DirecTV like and a fridge on my rig at the time, I would've lived like a king out of that thing.
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