I read posts about people quitting jobs because they’re boring or there is not much to do and I don’t get it: what’s wrong with being paid for doing nothing or not much at all?
Examples I can think of: being paid to be present but only working 30 minutes to 2 hours every 8 hours, or a job where you have to work 5 minutes every 30 minutes.
What’s wrong with reading a book, writing poetry or a novel, exercising, playing with the smartphone… and going home to enjoy your hobbies fully rested?
Am I missing something?
In the late 1980s, I had a roommate who graduated with a business degree and got recruited for a government contractor right out of college. She packed up her life and moved to the DC area. A month into her new job, the contract was pulled. But because she had a clause in the recruitment contract, they couldn’t fire her. But they had no work for her, either. So she had to come to work every weekday, 9-5. She’d sit at her desk with nothing to do. They didn’t ask her to look busy, just present.
She read about 3-5 novels a week. Over the next few months, we watched her get more and more depressed. She’d complain about her situation, but it fell on deaf ears. “Must be nice,” people said in jealousy. “Get paid to do nothing.” She became despondent in the lack of people’s sympathy. “Nobody understands how much this sucks!”
Eventually, she got a new job. Her mood vastly improved.
I’ll never forget that lesson. People need to feel useful, productive. Sitting at a desk with nothing to do, no purpose, no validation. It will destroy you.
I was in a similar situation. A few weeks after I got hired, the project I was hired for was cancelled, so they “benched” me.
I spent three months being paid to do whatever I wanted, didn’t even need to go to the office. It was nice at first, but I felt useless and miserable after a couple of months.
This made me understand why some people keep working long after they have enough to retire.
Called boreout syndrom.
Meaning in life does not come simply from collecting money. It largely comes from how we spend our time. Most of us spend a large part of our time at work or commuting. If fulfillment does not come from your job, then it’s going to be hard to find time to be fulfilled.
Now, some who have nothing to do at work are able to fill their time in a way that is meaningful to them - especially remote workers. But to have to give up your time, to have no challenges to apply yourself to during those work hours, and to be prevented from doing anything else that would be meaningful? That sounds like the 9th circle of hell to me.
Life is short. Few things are worse than watching it tick away in boredom.