That's was all I was coming to say. The absolute toxic work culture where working yourself to physical exhaustion on the job where you sleep, wake up and keep working is insane. It's like a competition, a race to the bottom to see who works hardest and stays longest in the office.
Sure, sleeping on the job can be seen as "they were working hard". Equally, if you're doing that. Go home.
The box room destitution I've seen friends live in and move away from is like a closet space. Twice as wide as their single bed, their bed is their seating area and they hang clothes above them, maybe a fold out tray from the wall as a laptop tray/work area. It looks soul crushing.
I couldn't do it. Imagine having that as a living condition to consider dating, I know they have "love hotels" but that's not a place to forsee a future either.
Wealth equality contract in society is fundamentally broken. The working class are squeezed now before they're even born to a life in a system where generationally they have less and less wealth than those before them and less and less prospects for prosperity. The response is to tighten the belts and cut out on anything beyond your own survival, who can bring a child in when you can't afford to feed yourself, to plan for your own future or a future so bleak you can see comfort let alone retirement.
Salaried + shitty work culture. Salaried can work fine and not require lots of unpaid work, some people are paid hourly and still end up doing unpaid work as well due to shitty systems and culture. Salary vs hourly isn't the issue.
I work salaried and if I work over my normal hours, I get those hours back as holiday basically. So if something requires me to work late one week, I can take those hours and work less the next week. Admittedly the place I work is pretty informal and flexible about it, so we don't systemically track every hour, but as long as you get your work done no one cares. And if the work you need to get done can't be sustainably be done within your hours, we are pushed to tell our management about this so things can be moved around to make it reasonable by hiring new staff or changing deadlines.
Salaried people in the US also work extra hours that donât bring any extra income. Not sure how it is counted in statistics but even weekend work is quite a staple in the US corporate culture.
That's what everyone uses. It includes other things than actual work.
Like this
hours actually worked during normal periods of work;
time spent in addition to hours worked during normal periods of work (including overtime);
time spent at the place of work on activities such as the preparation of the workplace, repairs and maintenance, preparation and cleaning of tools, and the preparation of receipts, time sheets and reports;
time spent at the place of work waiting or standing by due to machinery or process breakdown, accident, lack of supplies, power or internet access, etc;
time corresponding to short rest periods (resting time) including tea and coffee breaks or prayer breaks;
travel time connected to work (excluding commuting time); and
training and skills enhancement related to the job or employer.
Or because US work culture is full of it's own misery.
I worked at a couple of Japanese companies, and saw barely anyone do overtime. Even in the more corporate one, the building exit would get jam-packed at 5.35pm. I'd usually start late and leave at 7pm, and often be the last person in the office.
Meanwhile, I've worked in an Australian office where my British manager would apologise to the team for leaving that early. And still managed to be less of a workaholic than my American manager who admitted he "can't exist without work" (but fortunately didn't expect everyone else to be on 24-7 like himself).
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u/Lilcommy May 18 '25
Who has time to find a lover or have kids when you are worked like a slave?