To not be arsed to work anymore

[AurielleBaies]

I just can’t do this for years and years and years. I’m actually unemployed right now and the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m actively looking for a new role but it’s all bullshit, massive JD’s for mediocre pay and mainly 5 days in the office. There is just so much more to life, why did humans create this way of living?

Like a lot of people have pointed out, we have to work to keep society going. BUT I think there's a lot of work for the sake of it - chasing profits, or fulfilling unnecessary roles, or spending more time working than is needed to get the job done. I'm all for a society where as much work as possible is automated and, instead of that meaning we struggle in poverty, we can still maintain a good standard of living and enjoy our freedom from drudgery.

So who is and will be funding your lifestyle?

Already answered this further up in the thread. We’re living on husbands income at the moment, we’ve scaled back whilst I’m looking for a new role.

Agreed! There’s a lot of made up ‘important’ jobs.

I had a spell of unemployment, and tried secretarial temping which I really enjoyed. You can take your pick of assignments offered, doing as many or few as you want, and you get to move through different workplaces without getting involved in office politics. My only relevant skill was typing, and I didn't even have a qualification in that (self-taught).

Where do you find roles like this? Sorry if silly question

London in the 1990s, ime. Temping isn't what it was, and it was never all that in the provinces.

You join employment agencies.

Although I agree with emori. It used to be like being self employed almost, in terms of autonomy, with none of the paperwork associated with being self employed. And you'd earn more per hour than the permanent staff, because you didn't get sick pay/holiday pay and could be told to leave without notice, if they didn't need you any more. Which seemed fair.

Last time I did it (many many years ago) the minimum wage had been introduced, so had holiday pay for all employees, even temps. The agency were after me signing a contract with them stating amongst other things that I wouldn't take time off for the duration of the placement. The "holiday pay" element was averaged out over what it would have been if you'd been a permanent employee and tacked onto your wages. So you'd get an extra 20p per hour or something, on top of what they were paying you, but no actual holiday pay between placements. There were less placements available too as companies cut back. Instead of one agency, I was registered with several at once to stay in consistent work.

Prior to NMW coming in there were plenty of people in basic jobs who didn't earn enough to live on even whilst working full time, they were forced to live either with parents or a partner, flat shares being for young people and HMOs not yet invented. Or become a single parent (you could claim housing benefit and income support, with no requirements to work, until the child turned 16).

Once employers couldn't get away with paying their most junior or menial staff peanuts any more, due to the minimum wage, wages came down for others to accommodate that without companies losing profits. They were no longer willing to pay agencies twice what a permanent employee would cost, so the result was the agencies earning a lot less and cutting the wages for many temp jobs down to minimum wage. Temping wasn't quite so much fun any more, after all that.

It is still an option though, if you don't need to work because you can live on one salary. You might find working full time but for only 6-9 months of the year preferable. So long as you save for the period when you're out of work and don't mind it being dictated to you when you can have time off (likely to be between placements only, if my experience is anything to go by). There are agencies for all different kinds of work.

Many of us feel exactly the same. Going out to work is a bloody chore. But you find something you can tolerate and stick at it. Or look for something you like better. The problem is that benefits are set at too high a level these days. They are meant to be a temporary safety net not a lifestyle choice.

Hmm well as someone who feels they have done well in their career (£56k salary, which to be fair MN does class as “poor”) I would think if I stopped working I would lose my house, have to sell my car, then in time run out of money and expect the tax payer to foot the bill of my existence?.. but if “everyone” stopped working I would imagine the tax payer would no longer be there to look after me and I would starve or freeze to death (assuming I don’t have any underlying illnesses that would kill me first). Though I am interested in if you don’t agree with my answer what your honest opinion is should we stop working?

Agencies, eg Office Angels, Reeds etc.

I can only answer this from my own perspective, as someone who ended up so mentally ill I was unable to work at all for 3 years due to the risk to my health but....all I ever wanted was to be able to go back to work.

I can still recall many sessions with my psychiatrist who voiced concern it might not be a realistic possibility.

But for me, that was imo the one thing I NEEDED just to feel like a "normal person". And tbh I hate the fact that whilst I was able to return to work, and have done for 13 years I've never been well enough to go back to working full time. So whilst I do get some kind of feeling of being "normal" for having a job I actually hate the fact I'm unable to work more. And that probably sounds like a stupid thing. And even though it's not something I want to do forever job wise and at times I bloody hate it I don't want to give up that one bit of what feels like some kind of independence/autonomy in my life.

Marketing is so demanding and exhausting! I did it for almost 20 years and left 10 years ago and could never return to it.

Not all jobs are like this. Try something new. Less demanding, less stress and enjoyable. TA role in a school perhaps if you can afford the drop in wages. You have all the fun, no stress and 13 weeks holiday a year. You’re obviously qualified to support learning if you had a marketing role.

Until recently on felt like that. Working in the same job for over 20 years, I could have stayed until retirement. Although it was busy and stressful, I was bored at the same time, I could have tore my hair out.

I did often feel what is the point of all this, it was relentless the same boring routine. It used to feel worse at winter too. Arriving and coming home in the dark. FT felt at its worse. After DC I went part time and felt more of a balance.

I agree OP. What's the point in being rich if you spend it working 24/7? I've never understood the point of life for it to be 80% work. Might as well just cut out the middle man and not be born tbh (if only that was an option!)

I have an office job. It's pretty fucking essential though 😐

I just can’t be bothered and get no joy out of any of it and can’t understand why collectively we all settled for this
Your thinking is the wrong way round.

Life is hard in essence. It's basis is all down to survival. We work to survive. Joy, fun, rest... all these are rewards for the hard work we put in that allow us to survive. They are not the baseline of life.

You need to change your mindset or you risk constant frustration and potential depressive state if you seek an 'easy' life that is ever unlikely to fall upon you.

I think we need to go back to basics. I would love to have a job tending sheep or goats for instance. We should revert back to a more peaceful, pastoral society. Everyone would be far happier and there would be far less conflict and stress.

You might be feeling like this because you need a job where you feel are making a difference somehow. I was in a job that just made a big corporation more money for the sake of it and felt like this. I switched to a job where I am “helping” people and feel much better and more motivated at work

I think if I worked in marketing I’d feel similarly. Have a read of the book ‘Bullshit Jobs’ and see if you can retrain as something where you get paid during your training, eg teaching, physiotherapy, or even something manual like plumbing.

(I’m a teacher, and you’re not supposed to say this, but the holidays are fantastic, and help guard against that feeling of ‘I never have any time to do anything I want in life‘.)

Honestly, I think this would help your days feel more purposeful and tangible.

If you love dogs, can’t you do something around that? Use your marketing skills to start a business. You will get to be outside in all weathers and control your own day; so, it will be very different to the office.

but you can’t afford to as you are saving for a house, so sadly you’re not in a position to be a kept woman. You’re only young, get out there and find a job that gets you out of bed in the morning.

@OonaStubbs as someone who grew up on a sheep farm, PMSL that sheep farming is a peaceful pastoral exisitence.

I hear you and agree with you.So many people are wage slaves .it seems ironic we spend àll our lives working and have little time to enjoy it!. Can you look for someone pt maybe. Or a change of career for something more rewarding. So many people feel the same way .I don't really believe those people who ^love ' their jobs!

Your marketing job feels unfulfilling because marketing fuels the very cycle of ‘create wants, make people buy shit they don’t need, keep people working to earn the money for the shit they don’t need’ and is one of the pointless jobs you describe.

You're having a clash of your purpose vs reality.

The suggestion upthread from @WalkTalk is a great idea. There are three pet sitting / dog walking women set up in my little village alone and they’re always busy. (I know this because I have to flit between two of them to get my cats fed when I try and book.)

If not that, then find something that feels meaningful to you. Ask ChatGPT questions about what makes you happy at work and see what you learn.

I gave it the prompt:
Do you have a quiz that will help me identify what makes me happy at work?

and it walked through lots of questions. Then I asked it what sort of jobs fit with my preferred result.