In a test of TrackBack, I refer to my brother’s post Dot-coms to hot-dogs? on his site.
He’s talking about how many previously rich dotcommers are now finding jobs in less high tech, more service sector areas like selling food. Matt seemed to think this sounded gloomy.
My response was:
“Well I don’t think it’s so entirely depressing. America is unlike the rest of the world where wealth often takes precedence over personal time.
The rest of the world seems to be having much more fun and taking many more vacations than us.
The real question is are the people happy in their new jobs. If so, then it’s probably a good thing. Life is short. Far too short to waste most of your time focused on a bank balance instead of a balanced life.”
Maybe I just need a vacation…
One thought on “Happiness”
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This is SO true! I would happily cut my hours back for a corresponding reduction in salary, but the American business paradigm just doesn’t work that way. Most positions are 40-hour positions, except white-collar jobs, which are more like 40+-hour positions, and to even mention working less suggests you’re not really dedicated to your work, and that your management should start looking for someone who has a “better attitude”.
I work as a computer programmer. I have a poor time concentrating at work, and end up usually staying an extra 2 hours or so at work just so I can say I’ve done something in case someone asks the next day. I have barely any time after work to do anything more than get dinner and go through enough emails to clear out enough space in my inbox for the next day’s onslaught of mailing list traffic. Living on 2/3 my current salary for working 26 hours a week would be doable, and would allow me to get something out of life besides a small stack of money piling up in the bank.
Sometimes I think of packing it in and becoming a journalist in war-torn countries or something, just to get away from the feeling that I have to compete with the people next to me.