i... like my corporate, office, 9 to 5 desk job
not a fan of this topic being my first post for the year, but it feels timely for me right now.
when i lost my fully work from home job last year, the one thing i dreaded was potentially having to settle for something i had to leave the house for. during the first few weeks of the job hunt, i had intentionally ignored and scrolled past job postings that required in-office work. i even skipped past hybrid offerings.
of course, then i started thinking about not making money and how much that sucks for me, g, and our cats.
so i tried applying to office gigs and hybrid options. this was towards the end of my job search, and i was already feeling pretty down in the dumps, so i had honestly applied thinking that they were going to turn me down anyway.
i ended up getting two offers in a week. i had never felt so anxious about my indecision. two, almost three months, of rejections and no replies and no emails, and suddenly i had to choose between two jobs: one that was fully work from home like my old one but with almost double the pay, or a hybrid setup paying a lot less than the first.
i remember being back and forth between the two for a whole week. one wanted me to respond as soon as possible, while the other was bureaucratic and had a whole process and wanted me to wait.
in an ideal world, i would've gone for that fully work from home offering. the higher pay and the instant onboarding were exactly what i needed after three months of depressing, desperate job hunting. it would've made perfect sense.
but i chose to go with the hybrid one. the office is really far from where i live and i hate having to leave the house for so long. knowing i let go of a much higher offer was also a mental blow i had to push down for a while. but i'm approaching six months of this new job and... i kind of like it?
also, i think i'm kind of superstitious about this, but i think that a job that wants you to start as soon as possible is, based on experience, potentially going to have no problems letting you go as soon as possible too. i don't know. i hate defending bureaucracy, but the personal employment history is proving me right on this one.
anyway, here are some of the reasons i think i like my corporate, office, 9 to 5 desk job:
- free snacks and free coffee in the pantry
- there is foosball
- the people are nice and not weird
- the work is a lot less grindy and overtimey
- i don't think of or look at work stuff anymore past 5pm on a weekday, whether at home or at the office
this was a super late reflection, but i think that i had gotten too comfortable working from home at my old job, that i was often working past work hours, staying up to meet the monthly quota that would earn me the bonus, which wasn't really that much, honestly.
instead, my new job feels like the fatigue from commuting and waking up early on a weekday are but a small compromise for the peace of mind.
i'm sad to report that the bureaucratic, lots of paperwork, company id card on lanyards, type of workplace offers me more stability and doesn't make me as anxious as i was after the old gig. on this blog, i'm always talking about how important money and my financial habits are to me because i didn't grow up with much.
this 9 to 5, even if it makes me feel really tired some days, saves me from that money anxiety. it just feels so boring and normal and... safe. and i kind of like that, having come from the rollercoaster freelancing wilderness.
i like knowing i don't have to worry about how to feed us and the cats. i like that i don't have to worry about losing clients, because my one big client is my Boss or the Company, and as long as i'm useful and they are happy with what i do, then i have that one big client. and i kind of like being a person that has experienced both sides of the employment coin; flexible freelance work from home and structured office desk bureaucracy. it makes me feel superior to others sometimes, but that's just me being crazy, i know.
so, i gave up extreme comfort and "heh heh i am my own boss" for this new 9 to 5 life that feels very foreign to me. and i thought that i would have a hard time and potentially quit within two months.
next month will be my sixth month in, and i haven't had any thoughts of quitting or looking for alternatives so far.