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Would you work if you didn't have to?

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08:23 / 05.01.05

Would you continue to work if you didn't have to financially? The kind of money I'm thinking of is along the lines of largesse from a living or dead relative here, rather than lottery wins; enough to keep you alive perfectly comfortably, but not enough to buy the house in Carmel or whatever else you might spend vast sums of money on.

I'm asking because the Christmas holiday is over now, and there's a low level of complaint about having to work everywhere -but if I was in the situation described above, I would almost certainly keep working. This may be because my creative urges start and end with cooking, and there is, I think, a significant difference between "Awesome! I can finally write my novel and give it the concentration it deserves" and "Awesome! I can bake bread and cakes all day and really commit to making pasta". For a while, when thinking about the question, I thought I might do some more studying before remembering that I'm actually far less stressed in my current job than I was most of the time I was at university.

So, would you work? And what would you do with your time if you didn't?

08:39 / 05.01.05

Fuck no. Work? You avin a larf? I'd stay at home and consume.
God I envy people who aren't just doing it for the money.

pointless and uncalled for

08:47 / 05.01.05

I would work.

Simply put I cannot exist without employment of some productive form. Admittedly I may be rather more philanthropic on choosing who to work for and what type of work I do.

08:47 / 05.01.05

Aye, me too. I know what you mean though V - but there are loads of things you could do without working. The choices aren't just staring at a blank page kidding yourself you're really going to write that novel or cooking pasta.

If I had a guarenteed income without working, I'd stop work immediately. What is it you do anyway? Must be some job.

08:47 / 05.01.05

I might well work, though not at any of the jobs I've ever had. I think I might do some kind of part time work in a book shop or a bar or something.
I think the joy of working when you didn't have to would be the fact that your boss would hold very little power over you: if the job got too bad you could just quit. In fact it would almost be worth going to a job every so often just so you could quit.

08:53 / 05.01.05

but why let them have *any* power of you if you don't like that? Why not set up your own thing?

Aye, me too
- - this was to Smoothly of course, not Pointless.

09:03 / 05.01.05

I wouldn't work if I didn't need to. But then I *would* spend the time writing (and cooking), so I'd have something productive to keep me occupied. I think the important thing isn't work per se but socialising and keeping active. As long as you have some form of regular social activity, whether working a day or two a week or volunteering at an animal shelter or cooking soup at a soup kitchen or something, then you won't go stir-crazy. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Just a simple routine that gets you out of the house every second day or so. That's probably what I'd do. Volunteer 1-2 days a week and write the rest of the time.

But if you inherit loads of cash but still want to work, you could always remember your friends eh Vincennes old pal, old mate ...

09:36 / 05.01.05

I suppose the important distinction here is the difference between work and play. And I'm not sure what that is.
One's hobbies aren't *work* per se, are they? If you're not being paid to write a novel (with attendant employer/employee dynamics - deadlines, contracts, responsibilities and so on), would writing one really constitute working? Any more than playing football or cooking or reading the papers would be? All kinds of things *can* be done as work, but that doesn't mean that doing those things means you're working, if you follow me.

I suppose what I'm asking is, annoyingly: what do you mean by 'work'?

09:36 / 05.01.05

I fucking hate working, so the answer is no.

At least I've pretty much hated every job I've ever had in my life. I'm sure if I was financially secure I could find something I'd like doing, but the daily rat-race, as most of us experience it, really, really isn't for me.

If Darkseid was really interested in the mysteries of anti-life he should have got on the 07.49 from Brighton to Bedford.

09:55 / 05.01.05

There is no way I would work. I'd probably take more courses that I cannot currently do because I don't have the time. Wednesday afternoons, I would go to a local writing group, Friday daytime I'd take a sculptor class, etc. The rest of the time? Oh, I suppose I might do some writing, create some art, join in with some tree-planting activities, etc. I'd have more time to learn Russian and Japanese. I'd get enough sleep. I could go out on weeknights when I wanted. I would not spend the majority of my time being bored like I currently do. Actually, this just sounds like I want to be a student again.

10:03 / 05.01.05

Yeah I was just thinking that. If I didn't have to work I might just do various university courses all the time. It would give your time a bit of structure, give you some goals and so on but without really interfering with your life. Plus I've always wanted to be a polymath

10:07 / 05.01.05

good word, polymath.

11:21 / 05.01.05

what do you mean by 'work'?

In this case, I'm using an extremely narrow definition of salaried work -so writing a novel would not be the kind of work I'm talking about, and neither would starting your own business or doing university work. Basically, I mean 'office job', if 'salaried work' doesn't express what I said correctly.

And Jub, I work in software -it's not amazingly exciting (far from it), but I do enjoy it. I also like to think that I'd do something a bit more constructive with my time given the money (as mentioned by Loomis and Pointless) -which might not be 'work' according to my crappy definition, but I would want it to take up roughly the same time my current job does. I'd stick around in the office while I decided what that was, though, or I'd probably never get round to it. I suppose all of this is tempered by the fact that while I was writing my dissertation I technically had a lot of free time, but cabin fever still got the better of me...

11:41 / 05.01.05

I wouldn't work, no way, but I would commit to do something, probably following up and reseacrching the multitude of things I'm interested in. This might well spillover into real(ish) work at some time.

I think activity is natural. We've got arms and legs, we're here to do stuff. The only reason we get so attached to indolence is because we're compensating for our crappy 9-5s.

11:44 / 05.01.05

On the face of it, this is what the Americans would call a no-brainer. Who would get up at the back of 7 to commute through central London to try to look busy all day long, if they didn't have to? There are so many things I could do with my time that would be more fun and some of it might be more personally fulfilling or more socially useful, if the dire necessity of wage slavery wasn't tying me down.

But I have found before this that having too much time on my hands with no externally imposed discipline to shape my activities and encourage me to do more than doodle and stare into space, or watch daytime tv, is not good for me. My mental health is likely to take a dip without some stress and the social support that comes from shared work.

Maybe that would be easily conquered by an injection of funds sufficiently large to remove all money worries though. And I could always buy friends.

farseer /pokes out an i

14:58 / 05.01.05

"normal salaried work", as in, my office job? Hells no. Live is too short for this shite.

There is a lesson in this, somewhere.

Must find another way to exchange ideas, goods, and services for money, or other goods and services...

16:08 / 05.01.05

I like the idea of working jobs, doing volunteer work, just because I wanted to try them. Doing independent research and writing, yes, but maybe also daytime bartending or barista-ing in some local pub or coffee shop that never gets too busy. Just something to be out in the world rubbing shoulders with folks if I had my 500 pounds and a room with a lock on the door. Come to think of it, I'd like to be Virginia Woolf.

17:32 / 05.01.05

I've got hobbies that are eating into my work time, so I'd have no problem making them fill my jobless days. I like poring over many a tome of curious and forgotten lore. I've been searching out obscure stuff for so long that it's starting to search *me* out, so I must be in the groove. I just need to make it pay as well as a straight job does.

17:43 / 05.01.05

In the words of Bertrand Russell :

Suppose that, at a given moment, a certain number of people are engaged in the manufacture of pins. They make as many pins as the world needs, working (say) eight hours a day. Someone makes an invention by which the same number of men can make twice as many pins as before. But the world does not need twice as many pins. Pins are already so cheap that hardly any more will be bought at a lower price. In a sensible world, everybody concerned in the manufacture of pins would take to working four hours instead of eight and everything else would go on as before. But in the actual world this would be thought demoralizing. The men still work eight hours, there are too many pins, some employers go bankrupt, and half the men previously concerned in making pins are thrown out of work. There is in the end just as much leisure as on the other plan, but half the men are totally idle while half are still overworked. In this way it is insured that the unavoidable leisure shall cause misery all round instead of being a universal source of happiness. Can anything more insane be imagined ?

17:52 / 05.01.05

I wouldn't work. I can't even get office jobs, I still get sandwich maker jobs, or oil change place jobs. These jobs suck and I wouldn't work them at all if I didn't have to.

18:35 / 05.01.05

That's funny, I read that as pints through the first half of the text. And I don't even drink beer. Maybe if I didn't have to work, I would.

20:15 / 05.01.05

Given that I already work as little as I can get away with while still covering my basic expenses, the answer would likely be no. Like Xoc, I do find external deadlines and connections to be helpful in keeping myself going, so I'd probably take on some low-stress volunteer gigs to give me the occassional reason to leave the house; alternately, I might do contract work to fund larger adventures, like shooting a film or travelling. Six months is about as long as I'm ever able to actually enjoy a job, so the idea of splitting my year between short-term projects and my own interests would be ideal.

22:46 / 05.01.05

If I were recieving a stipend strings-free, I would continue taking college classes, but only the ones that I enjoy. I would take a language course every semester and after taking as many classes as I could in one language, I would go live where the language is spoken for a few months to become fluent. After learning several languages I might get a job using these languages. Probably I'd go work in a shelter and do counciling and such. Along the way, I would like to work as a mechanic just to learn the skills. I'd love to work for a radio station for a while. I'd go try out for a bunch of plays, and maybe eventually land some minor roles in movies. There are so many jobs that I want to get, it makes me wonder why I haven't applied for any of them and I just stay where I'm at.

07:34 / 07.01.05

I'm taking a career break at the moment and I've realised that even without work there just aren't enough hours in the day to do all things I'd like to do.
At the moment I'm wondering how I'm going to find the time to look for a job. I really wish I didn't have to go back to work.

07:37 / 07.01.05

No. I wouldn't.

I would read all day, I would do so many classes and learn as much as I could and draw and write and paint and sing and dance and I would eat and be as happy as you like.

unheimlich manoeuvre

16:09 / 07.01.05

I would work. Xoc explained my feelings better than I could write them. The stress and support of work is necessary for me. Anyway my job is a decent one and I get to help people who cannot help themselves, so I'm not complaining.

Jake, Colossus of Clout

17:26 / 07.01.05

There's no way I'd work. Right now I'm bartending, which is the most tolerable job I've ever had, but it doesn't hold a candle to my leisure time. It's still much more fun to be on the other side of the bar.

I would play baseball, take college classes for learning only, without worrying how they will help me get a job. I'd play video games, read, visit my buddies across the US, go see a game in every baseball stadium, all types of shit. A lot of it would be total fucking off, and I'd love it.

Whisky Priestess

23:58 / 07.01.05

I actually really like my current job, a PR lowliness at the Museum of London - so much so that I think of stuff to do for it when I'm not working - cool marketing gimmicks and press stunts and stuff (I really hope my boss is reading this) ...

But if I had money enough to afford not to work, my already demanding "hobbies" would eat me alive. I would rehearse loads and write more songs for my cabaret act with Orr, I'd finish the novel I started during NaNoWriMo, I'd write a short story and a poem every week (actually not impossible even with a day-job), I'd go to every play and film and exhibition and charity shop I've ever wanted to go to, and I'd start cooking properly instead of living off cheese sandwiches.

I'd start directing again. I'd take a stand-up comedy course and a French refresher course. I'd start ice-skating and swimming and skiing again (the only sports I was ever any good at).

I'd open a bar that had a max capacity of 30 and sit behind it giving my friends free drinks and enjoying the chill. No-one in my bar would ever go without a seat or a table, or ever have to shout over the (tasteful, subtle) background music. It would stay open until 1am every night and would have art on the walls and comedy nights and extremely good coffee with cream. And cakes and an excellent (though not exclusively) veggie menu, and would only serve cocktails I had invented myself, except for Martinis.

The sad thing is that I know at least two people who have this unimaginable luxury. One is now 30 and has done precisely fuck-all with his life, so much so that I'd want to slap him silly if he weren't so adorable. The other spends his time socialising, shagging, and writing stuff that will never see the light of day. Nice work if you can get it, indeed ...

00:30 / 08.01.05

I have no idea. I'd probably just volunteer at the library more to get out of the house.

Goodness Gracious Meme

02:08 / 08.01.05

well, atm I do a couple of different types of 'work' (*none* are office-based but they are things I take very seriously/have professional ethics/standards on) and don't get paid for them.

So yes, I'd probably do what I'm doing now: - mental health&welfare work, bits of LGBT community stuff, bits of journalism, bits of (semi) academic writing.

But I'd be a damn sight less stressed when bills dropped through the letter box.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

15:19 / 08.01.05

Well, I'd either go part-time or do volunteer work or something, I need to be made to go outside and talk to people or else I'd hide in my flat all the time and would probably be insane and/or dead within six months. But to have a bit more freedom and time to do things I want and less to have to get up each morning and go to work would be nice.

Tryphena Absent

17:00 / 08.01.05

I definitely would not, no way on god's earth, do a nine to five job if I didn't have to. But I would buy a murder mystery hotel (with weekends dedicated to each decade of the 20th century).

Haus of Mystery

19:26 / 08.01.05

I love my job as tyrannous master of a Victorian work house, and wouldn't give it up for all the toffee in China.

20:33 / 08.01.05

Well, I'd either go part-time or do volunteer work or something, I need to be made to go outside and talk to people or else I'd hide in my flat all the time and would probably be insane and/or dead within six months

I was worried that I would feel terribly isolated without work but it's not the case at all. On the contrary I love the idea that I could just "hide in my flat" and not talk to anyone for the next few weeks. Just a bit concerned that I might get used to this luxury because at some point I'm going to have to go job hunting again and job interviews will be a real struggle after a couple of months in isolation.

Haus of Mystery

20:55 / 08.01.05

remember the job mantra and you'll be fine:

I like working as part of a team, but am not afraid to work alone

I like working as part of a team, but am not afraid to work alone...

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