People like to work

[glowingfish]

People like to work.
and
People like work.

I am self-employed and work from home, and get to (more or less) select my own schedule. Which makes working easier for me, in general. Parts of my life are pretty easy.
I have also never really had a 9-5, M-F office job.

One thing I know is that people like to complain about work, and like to imagine that they would be happy without work. And maybe some people really would be happy without work. But I think that even if money wasn't a problem, after a week or two of no set times to be places, most people would start feeling bored.

It is kind of like cake and frosting, frosting on your cake is fun, eating frosting out of the can is...not fun. Having a day off from tasks and schedules is fun. Living a life without them just feels bloated and gross and pointless.

Here is another thing I have noticed: people who say they don't like work also have it as their main subject. And I can understand, sometimes work is a relatable subject that people can share. But often the same people who claim they hate work and would be happy doing nothing will give exhaustive accounts of everything that happens at work, and its always the "workiest" things that capture their interest. Did Janice in accounting ask you to move your powerpoint a half hour forward, and then she still wasn't ready when it was her time to present? This, and her lack of bullet points on slide 5, are going to be dissected in great detail.

So...I would say, that complaints to the contrary, work is how people center most of their lives, and that most people wouldn't know what to do without work/a job.

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I am self-employed and work from home, and get to (more or less) select my own schedule. Which makes working easier for me, in general.<<

Same here. My work is meaningful, mostly enjoyable (all jobs have parts that suck), and I can set a schedule that suits me.

>> But I think that even if money wasn't a problem, after a week or two of no set times to be places, most people would start feeling bored.<<

This is true for most people. It is why healthy retired people usually replace their dayjob with some other activity -- church, volunteering, a hobby, family life, etc. They love having more time for things they care about, but they aren't just sitting around watching TV all day. People who don't make that switch are much more prone to developing problems. Humans and idleness don't mix well.

A key point, however, lies in the nature of work. People who feel their work is meaningless, or worse harmful, will be unhappy about that. If the schedule doesn't suit them, the pay is unfair, their boss is toxic, etc. then they will be unhappy. Most people want safe, meaningful work that earns enough to live on -- and that's increasingly rare, which is a big problem. Situations where one person chooses what others do with their time are prone to abuses.

>>So...I would say, that complaints to the contrary, work is how people center most of their lives, and that most people wouldn't know what to do without work/a job.<<

That's true. But working for someone else at their direction isn't how humans evolved. It's only become the norm in the last century or two, and it is ... not working very well. Conversely, people who work for themselves tend to be pretty happy, even if that work is difficult, messy, and not necessarily lucrative. Agency matters a lot. And I think it's agency, rather than leisure, that drives complaints about work.

Re: Thoughts

[glowingfish]

I agree with all of the above---and it applies to me. I work independently, and feel the work I do is meaningful. It is also intellectually stimulating, and I get to choose, more or less, my own schedule. So I think that is one of the reasons I am happy.

Strangely enough though, the single thing I don't like about work is the thing that makes it work. Which is having to be somewhere, and be ready, at a specified time and place. My biggest problem with work is often that I want just 10 more minutes to drink another cup of tea and put my socks on! But also, this is what defines things as work for me---that I have that structure and obligation that makes it real.

[rafqa]

I'm eating icing out of a bowl right now and it's great.

[glowingfish]

What flavor? Is it like, Saint Patrick's Day green frosting?

[rafqa]

Yes! It's more of a glaze--lime juice, powdered sugar and milk. It was left over.

[glowingfish]

Is this like, a cookie glaze? Do you have cookies, as well?

[rafqa]

Yes, cookies underneath. Not very exciting, but good enough.

[glowingfish]

I mean, even bad cookies are still cookies.

[rafqa]

That's my take too. And these are homemade with good ingredients, so they're not store-bought-artificial-flavor bad.

What you said about work was interesting. I've read a couple of books lately that one way or the other illuminate the huge disconnect between work and home/family that grew out of the industrial revolution. I mean, "work-life balance"--you just have to stop a minute to realize what an insane formulation that is. Like, you're not alive when you're at work? You work only so you can have "life," in the little bit of time that's left?

[glowingfish]

I will be making more posts about that, too! I hope.