I worked from home for a year. I then retired. Honestly, if I ever returned to an office type job it would be for one reason and one reason only: Get money. I’d be fine with doing almost nothing, getting laid off or fired and then taking the money from the time I was there and move on to another “job”.
That is how much I learned to disrespect the American corporate world. Interestingly, if I took a job as a “floor worker” at a lows or Home Depot, I’d love helping people. But it doesn’t pay enough and it would be hard on my feet.
I have an unspoken pact with my employer: You pay me money, I provide value. That is my goal. How I provide value is my business, and I make it my business to provide as much value as I can in a way that maximizes my personal goals of doing the best job I can 100% of the time. If my employer doesn’t like the way I am doing things, they can ask me to change, or let me go.
If I don’t like where I am, or I don’t want do do things the way they ask, I am free to leave.
And that is it.
I love my work as much as anyone can love work, the people I work with respect me and the feeling is mutual. Work is what I make of it, not what someone else forces me to make of it. And I am lucky to be able to work with my mind. But my work ethic wasn’t luck. It was a choice, and a hard one. I worked my tail off to better myself, because growing up, I wasn’t particularly bright. I had to fight hard to achieve, and that meant taking ownership of things and doing jobs right.
People think your employer owes you. They owe you a paycheck for work you perform. I think people who expect pampering, praise, goodies, or anything else are always going to be dissatisfied and unhappy. And for people to whom money is the only goal, it will never, ever be enough for them. Ever. They will always want more. I pity them.
My plan was to retire in 2022 (hey, that’s now!) but got a new boss who turned out to be an a-hole. So I left in 2019 instead.
My revised plan was to take some much needed quality time and then seek some sort of part time gig.
And then the coof happened.
Not having any interest in putting up with the anti-social distancing and the face diapers, I totally embraced the retiree lifestyle. At this point I don’t think that there is much that could induce me to return to the grind.
it would be for one reason and one reason only: Get money.
Why bother working anymore...........................
I hear ya. I worked an office job for years then started my own business and was self employed for 17 years. I tried to go back briefly but it just didn’t work out. Mr. GG2 has been self employed for 25 years. We are now setting up a little cottage industry on 6 acres in the mountains. A small Air BNB next to the main house and we’ll sell produce, eggs and stuff to the people who rent it for vacay.