[quote=CA renter] I agree that you’ll be hard-pressed to find that in the U.S.
So many people in the U.S. spend 10+ hours/day, 5-7 days/week, at work. They often spend an hour or more on their commute back home at night, but stop off at the fast food joint to pick up dinner on the way because nobody has the time or energy to shop and cook good food on a regular basis. Everyone is stressed and frazzled, so they blame each other for their predicament, fight on a regular basis…then, they get divorced, where everyone in the family ends up a loser. It’s not the “American Dream,” it’s the “American Nightmare.”
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I totally resemble that remark but I think you are drawing unfair conclusions. People are frazzled because they want to be, they fight because they choose to. I met a dentist a few weeks ago who told me he actually loves to work and then he explained why: he makes people happy by fixing their smiles at Tijuana prices but here on this side. he must install 5 implants a day, at about 25% of the price of other dentists. He also talks people out of gimicky and expensive treatments, there’s a line out the door and they come from all over. His wife works with him and they interact all day, doesn’t have kids at home, employs lots of people and helps people all day. He was the only dentist I ever met who looked forward to his day. I was only there to drive my girlfriend home, but the guy charged $700 out of pocket after her ppo insurance and her other dentist quoted 12k. So obviously he and I hit it off and began talking about why some people don’t mind working 5-7 days a week how work feeds their soul a little, and even his job, that many studies and polls claim is a depressing vocation, he thinks he hit the lotto being able to make people love him for something he enjoys.
Then I think of myself, I love my job, now that my kids have grown I get more pleasure from work because I’m not missing quite as much at home. I’m lucky because I have a job that is actually fun (no I will not elaborate), I do currently spend 50-60 hours a week at it and I am commuting an hour right now. But it’s not like I’m working in a salt mine or making pencils, my day reads like a novel. But here’s a dentist who works longer than me, drives further and does something most people think would suck, yet he’d probably do it for free.
So don’t make those assumptions, I know stay at home moms who act frazzled, fight all the time and are miserable. Conversely, I work like crazy and am never frazzled, never fight and am generally happy. It’s who you are and how you approach it, not what you do. I’ll admit I work more now because I’m paying for tuition and rent for my kids. If I wasn’t I’d probably just goof off more, but the lakers suck right now, so it’s not like I’m missing much.
