re: #276 Dopamine Fish

It bothers me when I hear young employees talk about work/life balance at an early stage of their lives. Work your butt off at the beginning, make money, save it and then later in life aim for work/life balance as you will need it with kids and partners etc. this is my POV.

Because fuck single people. Those selfish assholes don’t need work / life balance.

Admittedly, I did follow the track he mentions, but it wasn’t really by choice. Coming out of college I wasn’t able to get a job in my field and so I ended up working a variety of jobs (most that paid less than a living wage). When I finally got jobs that earned a little more money, I worked odd hours because I just couldn’t find a 9 - 5 that paid what I needed it to.

In addition to the odd hours, I worked a shit ton of overtime to help keep my bills paid and my family looked after. As a result, I went years missing out on birthdays, anniversaries, cookouts, day trips, visits with friends, etc. because I was at work all the time.

It wasn’t until just before my 37th birthday that I landed a good job that paid well AND gave me weekends and holidays off. It’s been a very welcome change, I just wish it hadn’t taken me so long to get here.

The problem is not young employees wanting a work/life balance, it’s companies who think young employees do not deserve a work/life balance by default and it is something that has to be earned by putting up with years of bullshit first.