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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why people work so far away?

127 replies

rustlesinthehall · 10/02/2022 12:55

So many people upset about going back to the office which I do understand but I have seen so many posts bemoaning that they had to commute for hours and hours.

Didn’t people realise this before applying for the job? Why were people working hundreds of miles away and hoping for a pandemic to come and sort out the problem?

OP posts:
bcc89 · 10/02/2022 16:01

You're completely right, OP. Everyone should just get a random job within walking distance, whether it meets their lifestyle/interests or not. Great plan.

lucythejuicy · 10/02/2022 16:35

Money. Simple. Want to live outside of the capital but the money is in it. Next you will be posting saying you don't understand why some people earn so much money. Because they put themselves out with long commutes and working hours.

lucythejuicy · 10/02/2022 16:36

I've been doing it for twenty years by the way so I would have had to have some amazing insight to expect a pandemic to come along and change it

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 10/02/2022 16:44

Everyone who has commented has either given a rational explanation or correctly pointed out the OP was spouting shit or both.

Yet the voting is at 38% YANBU......

Chely · 10/02/2022 16:47

My husbands workplace is 4.5hour drive away, he has little choice on where he is based in his career. I could have moved with him and uprooted the children multiple times but we chose to buy close to my family as he can be away for long periods.

SartresSoul · 10/02/2022 16:48

House prices as most have said. We live rurally because here we can afford a 5 bed detached which is the size we need with 5 DC. In the city where DH works we’d only be able to afford a 2 bed apartment or maybe a small house in a bad area.

MissMaple82 · 10/02/2022 16:53

Universal credit also force you into work with up to 90 minutes commute

Blossomtoes · 10/02/2022 16:58

@Gwenhwyfar

"Nobody enjoys commuting"

Plenty of people do.

They do. I used to enjoy my hour on the train with my book. Leaving the house and seeing cows opposite and the contrast of central London. Best of both worlds. I miss London.
Chasingaftermidnight · 10/02/2022 16:59

Didn’t people realise this before applying for the job? Why were people working hundreds of miles away and hoping for a pandemic to come and sort out the problem?

Yeah, you’re right OP - I didn’t look at a map before buying my house and I was totally blindsided to find that it takes 1.5 hours to get from my home to my workplace. Then on realising my mistake, I thought not to worry, I’ll wait until a novel respiratory virus causes a pandemic and the government orders us to work from home. That’ll fix it!

Hmm
TulipsGarden · 10/02/2022 16:59

The industry I work in is almost entirely based in London. It doesn't pay well enough for me to live in London (and nor would I particularly want to). I always wanted to work in this industry, and live close enough that I could manage the commute (about 1hr 20)... but it's so much better not having to.

I can do my job just as well from home (and in fact did work from home regularly before) and am not expecting to be asked into the office more than once a month in future. The company are reducing the size of our office space.

If I got a job in my local area, with my skills, qualifications and interests, it would likely be a bit dull or very poorly paid. There aren't many interesting companies around here.

Mediocrates · 10/02/2022 17:11

People make decisions based on balancing up circumstances. Sometimes there's no easy answer and people are allowed to be pissed off at things even if they're not prepared to go through the upheaval that change requires.

I have a 3 hour round trip to the office. We've been hybrid working all through the pandemic and the number of people WFH meant the roads were quiet and my trip halved in time. Since we came out of the lockdowns, the traffic has gotten much busier and my commute has gone back to its usual time. It pisses me off. It's no one's fault, there is no equivalent job nearer home and I'm not moving, and I'm just annoyed because I'd become used to the extra free time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm hardly writing to my MP or starting a petition, but I do like an occasional moan about it

MaltedMilk88 · 10/02/2022 17:15

I live about an hour from work
I live rurally for a better standard of living, nicer schools, peace and quiet etc but opportunities for a decent wage and career are limited so I'd have to commute minimum of 40 mins to nearest main town
As it stands I have a job I love so don't mind the commute, I use it for me time wind down from work, listen to podcasts, call friends and family etc

Doggydreaming · 10/02/2022 17:15

Many people did not realise how much stress commuting was having on their life until we stopped doing it. Until we started wfh, we also did not realise how pointless it was.

I actually only live 8 miles away from my workplace but it takes me over an hour to get there on public transport (when it is running efficiently, so about 2/3 of the time pre COVID). I take a bus, then a train, then walk. My job can be done 100 per cent remotely. I've had excellent 360 feedback during lockdown and even got promoted.

So now I am questioning why I have to go back to the office 2 days a week (adding at least 4 hours to my working week) for no clear benefit? Why do I need to fork out for transport, sacrifice time that could be spent improving my health and wellbeing/spending time with family/ being more engaged with my children's education etc when I working well at home?

PanettoneMoly · 10/02/2022 17:34

Someone I work with in London lives in the South of France because it’s cheaper than a flat in Clapham. Prior to covid, they were in the office 4 days a week.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 11/02/2022 14:39

@PanettoneMoly

Someone I work with in London lives in the South of France because it’s cheaper than a flat in Clapham. Prior to covid, they were in the office 4 days a week.
I’ve known someone do this. Bonkers isn’t it?
daimbarsatemydogsbone · 11/02/2022 14:46

@PanettoneMoly

Someone I work with in London lives in the South of France because it’s cheaper than a flat in Clapham. Prior to covid, they were in the office 4 days a week.
Eh? how did that work - did they sleep under their desk? They certainly weren't doing a daily commute from the South of France, were they?
Kazzyhoward · 11/02/2022 14:47

@PanettoneMoly

Someone I work with in London lives in the South of France because it’s cheaper than a flat in Clapham. Prior to covid, they were in the office 4 days a week.
There are London fire fighters who live in the North West of England (Preston area) who commute by train for their shifts and have some kind of shared flat with other firefighters for the couple of days of their shift pattern where they can't get home, sleep and back in time for their next shift. They do that because the shared flat rent and train fares are less than the extra London weighting of their wages (and better career prospects).
Kazzyhoward · 11/02/2022 14:48

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

They certainly weren't doing a daily commute from the South of France, were they?

Yes, some do. There are also people who fly into London daily from Isle of Man.

babyjenks93 · 11/02/2022 15:19

I work in central London. I can't afford to live in London, nor I would like to tbh. I like Surrey 😂😂 but yeah forgive me if at times I complain about Southwestern Railways or Waterloo Station drama or whatever 😂😂😂

daisypond · 11/02/2022 15:24

My commute is/was (now wfh) 1:15 one way on a good day. It used to be 20 mins. My workplace moved locations. I’m in a niche job that I didn’t want to lose- cos God knows what else I’d do. The cost of moving would be astronomical and I couldn’t afford it.

FinallySomeNormality · 11/02/2022 16:08

If you don't have to commute for an hour+ each way then count yourself lucky. Some of us have to!

We live near a nice city - house prices are INSANE in our town which is around 30 miles from the city. In the city itself we wouldn't even manage to buy a small flat for the cost of our 3bd detached house. So we live in the town and commute to the city, as that's where the majority of well paying jobs are here. It's not that far milage wise... but traffic is hideous so its typically 1hour each way on a really, really good day, but more often than not its about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours per way. Add in nursery and before school club drop off times and it becomes an absolute headache.

Yes I knew how long commuting would take before I took the job. Doesn't mean I can't moan about it. Getting a job more locally isn't an option in my field/profession so I suck it up and commute in. During the pandemic I WFH full-time and it really opened my eyes to the sheer amount of wasted hours I spend sat bumper-to-bumper in traffic just to get to work and back.

I'm now returning to the office and plan to go in 2 days per week. It just doesn't seem like a useful use of my time to commute so many hours per week when my job is fully capable of being done from home 100% (all my calls are, incidentally, with collegues and clients located in other countries so it's not like I would meet f2f with them in the office anyway!)

JuergenSchwarzwald · 11/02/2022 16:31

I've done a mix - I've lived within walking distance, had a short train journey, a longer train journey, a short car journey, a longer car journey, worked from home and been freelance so been able to work where I like.

But the best salaries are to be found in London even with the season ticket taken into account.

Also train services go through stages of being quite reliable and then being rubbish. I worked more or less full time in London with one day a week WFH between 2008 and 2012 and I rarely had to worry about the trains being significantly delayed so the commute was realistic.

A few years later I worked in London again for a year and the commute was terrible.

People take a job based on factors at the time, but a few years later they realise it's not really working.

JuergenSchwarzwald · 11/02/2022 16:33

They certainly weren't doing a daily commute from the South of France, were they

I've had colleagues based in Chester, Doncaster, Northern Ireland and Australia - years before covid was a twinkle in a Chinese scientist's eye! They didn't commute daily but the ones in Chester and Doncaster used to come in once a week. The one in NI about once a month. The one in Australia - well never.

Meandthesky · 11/02/2022 17:24

I voted YANBU because nobody should be surprised that they have to commute to work again if they’ve only wfh due to the pandemic.

But YABU to be surprised that most people don’t live within walking distance of their workplace. Or that you can live close to work but have a long commute if you rely on public transport. My commute takes 45 minutes even though I live less than 5 miles (by car, less as the crow flies) from the office

ButWhereDidTheWindComeFrom · 11/02/2022 17:25

[quote Kazzyhoward]@daimbarsatemydogsbone

They certainly weren't doing a daily commute from the South of France, were they?

Yes, some do. There are also people who fly into London daily from Isle of Man.[/quote]
Indeed. I used to work near St Pancras station and had a colleague who commuted daily from France (although he worked from home on Fridays). 2 hours each way, not unlike many commutes from within England to London.

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