Discussion about this post

User's avatar
McKenzie's avatar

I think there's freedom in being able to sit back and say "it's not that deep". I was in a job prior to this one with an emotionally abusive boss, pulling 50 hour work weeks regularly, going way above and beyond to take on work that was out of scope... and looking back on it, I simply didn't need to. I wouldn't have been punished if I said "I don't know" more frequently, if I had told my boss it would take me longer to do this, if I had gone home at 5PM every day. They didn't give me a raise and promotion anyways. I left my job to find that.

My next job, people just didn't... care quite as much. It was truly just work. My boss made the assumption that it took me about 40% longer than it actually did for me to complete each project. I just kinda never corrected her. I took longer lunch breaks, I went on walks in the middle of the day, I spent time shooting the shit with my coworkers. I stopped work at 5PM at the latest every single day. And I got high praise, got paid like 50% more than I did in my previous job, and just spent way less time thinking about work in general.

That's my goal now - to spend less time thinking about, talking about, and doing work. No one is running around doling out gold stars to everyone. I think it's a totally reasonable arrangement that I give up 40 (okay, more like 30 with my "lunches") hours a week to my boss and I get a generous salary and benefits from it. What have I had to give up? The belief that my job has to be glamorous to be good. The belief that I need to work in the arts and culture sector to do anything meaningful. The belief that grinding and hustling makes me a morally superior person. Being able to step back and say "it's just not that deep" is totally liberating. I don't feel like I need to feel that strongly about work, and I don't feel like I need to do the whole "I do not dream of labor" schtick. I like having a job with nice people, where I can do work that flexes my brain a little, and that I can set down and return to the rest of my extremely fulfilling life at any given point in time. I'd challenge people who feel extremely passionately about their little capitalistic grind (or people that feel extremely passionately about how awful the capitalistic grind is) to do less, feel less, set yourself free.

Expand full comment
Skyler Schain's avatar

What if it's actually kind of liberating to have your job be a simple, transactional relationship? "But why, exactly, should our culture aspire to such a calculating and extractive means of employer/employee relations?" What else should an employer be providing, though?

In terms of wellbeing, many of us would argue the government should be providing the safety net. The corporate ecosystem of "bullshit jobs" (Graeber) is kind of like a de facto safety net today, providing insurance and means to many Americans. What if we offload that responsibility to the state? Then we can escape this idea that your job owes you something, freeing both parties to focus on a reasonable labor contract.

And what about meaning? The new workplace mantra of "do what you love" means employment also has to provide soul nourishment. That seems twisted, too. I'm not a religious person, but it does seem like religious practice used to fill this void and no longer does.

If health and spiritual happiness are being fulfilled by other institutions operating outside the market, jobs can be more utility-based (like your reader suggests). Maybe we don't need to "reimagine" what goes on inside the workplace, but more what goes on outside the workplace. Maybe we're thinking about work in the wrong way, hoping it will fill needs vacated by other atrophied institutions.

Expand full comment
47 more comments...

No posts