I fell in love working 40+ hours a week for someone else shortly after finishing college. Getting up early in the morning rushing about to make myself presentable and cobble together some food for the day before I set off to get to my desk on time was always a crazy fun experience. The chuckle-heads on the radio usually gave me a smile, or at least let me hear some good tunes on my way. Starting work at 8am meant I would be finished by 4:30, and that also gave me a 30 minute break to enjoy my food I packed in the morning.
As time went on, I became fairly proficient at this process. I optimized my lunch break to boogie home in 5 minutes, scarf down some food, take a 15 minute siesta before rushing back to my desk all within the 30 minutes. This gave me an opportunity to visit with my wife and kids for brief periods during my day.
After a long day like that in front of the computer I’m tired, my brain doesn’t want to do anymore of that thinking work, and it’s all I can do to keep up with my kids. When it comes time to leisure time, I often find myself preparing meal, doing housework, keeping up the yard, or if I have the energy I’d work on that complex problem at work that has been holding me up from being as productive as I can possibly be.
Sometimes, employers can optimize their procedures so as to reduce costs, and when that happened I was given a grand farewell by my co-workers and sent on my way to find a new place to work.
I suppose if you squint and look at this whole process in a particular way it can kinda seem I might be taken advantage of, but really, it’s about what the employer needs to keep the business profitable for themselves. I was paid a good wage wasn’t I? By meeting my goals I contributed to the most successful years for the company, they even gave me a bonus of several hundred dollars. And don’t forget vacation time, the employer held back 4% of my wages so I could take a summer vacation and continued to get paid during that break. When I got back, all my work was there ready and waiting for me.
Yeah, the working life has been good to me, my kids are growing up well and my wife is happy, I can’t really ask for anything more.
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