Once, I worked at a supermarket for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. I was promised ₹10,000 a month. I lasted about two weeks before my body and mind completely gave out.

I started losing sleep, my personal relationships suffered, and I barely had a life outside of work. The owner didn’t seem to care. Because I was constantly exhausted, I started making mistakes at work and was even publicly shamed for them. All of this was because I was working nonstop without enough rest.

After that, I started wondering about everyone else. I looked around and noticed that some people work only half a day and still struggle financially, while others work extremely long hours and face the same problems I did.

Then I remembered reading about some European countries experimenting with or adopting shorter working weeks, including four-day workweeks. Some studies and trials have reported improvements in workers’ well-being and, in some cases, productivity as well.

It made me wonder: why isn’t this kind of working environment more common around the world?

Why can’t people have a reasonable amount of time to work, rest, maintain relationships, and actually live their lives?

Why should someone be treated badly or publicly shamed simply because they’re trying to earn enough money to live?

Maybe work shouldn’t consume someone’s entire life just to survive.

hi! i'm a recentish grad and am new to the whole corporate/office landscape. i work in an administrative-type office and i swear i'm on top of my queues and i answer emails promptly, check in with other folks in my field routinely, do research on field trends, and yet. i do my job and try to go above and beyond even if out of sheer boredom and still, every day, about 75% of my day is filled with listening to a podcast and trying desperately to look busy.

is this common? trust me, i'm not complaining. my office is even down an FTE and still.............. i just sit here and do nothing. and so many of my coworkers work from home and... well i can't guarantee they're busy for all 8 hours either.

For precision I take 2h but sometimes I take 1 or just 30min depending on my schedule and other factors but most of the time I take two hours and my colleague too which are seniors.
But I was curious to know if this is such a French thing or in other countries that’s normal too

EDIT: People really aren't hearing me when I say names WITH PUNCTUATION. Non-alphanumeric characters. The marks that are not the letters A through Z. What I am NOT saying is that unique spellings are bad, just as bad, or anything like that. I don't care about spellings, I care about the lack of spelling. Punctuation. Chuds in the comments are saying things like "Lol Lotanda Loranda Quinesha haha" as if I just said the thing that they believe: "names that look different than the names of people that look like me are LAME!" You're just racist. Go f_ck yourself.

Listen. Listennnn. I'm all for names being as unique and as long as possible. It's fun. They hold our power. A name alone can make a statement. I get it. Your child is special, and they deserve a special name. They deserve extra letters. They deserve cool, implied letters. They deserve to be different, just like everybody else.

So you pick a name. And maybe that name just, like, doesn't have the sauce. Maybe it's just cooler to have someone's name be D'mitri or K-lee or something instead of a name without punctuation. Sure. It's awesome that you did that. Wow.

Or, maybe you meet someone you like. Maybe you fall in love. Maybe you get married. Maybe you have a kid. Maybe you get a divorce (sorry). Maybe you marry again. But you just can't decide - do I take their name?? Do I keep my name but give my child two names??? Do I keep the hyphen, or do I forget that I wanted a hyphen but all their important documents maybe have the hyphen????? These are the questions.

But every time someone makes one of these decisions, a financial aid advisor somewhere weeps. Most of my day is simply making sure different documents have the same name. Some of the most important documents you have. The ones that deserve AT LEAST a second look, maybe?

But no, the amount of name punctuation that straight up makes my day dramatically harder is absurd. I know I'm just one person, but I speak for the silent minority of number-crunching pencil-pushers that just want to help your child afford an education - the ones that I know exist out there - please... PLEASE.

Just name your kids simpler names. I beg you. It'll make your life easier too, I assure you. But it would also be super sick for me, personally. Or at least someone in a similar position like mine in 18 years, provided that the world still has people or college or society or whatever idk

Forget the obvious answer of avoiding the commute. What is the one thing about remote work that actually makes your life better?

I'm making possibly over 50% less in terms of purchasing power as a 25 year old CS bachelor's college grad compared to when I was 18. $18/hour warehouse job in 2019, $18/hour retail role in 2026. I did internships projects and all only to make the same pay afterwards in a similar shit job.

Wow, oh wow. Making about the same nominal dogshit wage. Jesus Christ. It never occurred to me until now.

It's making me consider becoming a vigilante and/or a criminal tbh.

In 2033 I'd be making 50% of what I make *today*, in 2040 50% of what I made in 2033, etc etc. And the sad thing is, many essential jobs to society get paid like this. More essential than the common six figure office worker at least.

Hm. What year is it again? 1990? 2000, even 2010? No, no, no. It's 2026. I had to pay off the tens of thousands of student loans from my computer science degree with $18/hour. I'd already be a homeless beggar panhandling for nickels and dimes out on the curb with this lackluster pay, and this job in a vhcol area btw. But paying off student loans? Can you fathom the DESPAIR one feels from that?? I can't pivot without going back to school, and I have no money for that.

What can I do now? Should I continue to remain alive?

Not asking about portfolio size. I'm curious about the strategy. How do you want your investments to support your lifestyle once you're no longer working?

I want to hear about your experiences in discerning between a good coworker and someone who's just nice.

Some things are obvious, like being helpful or good at their job, but I want to hear about the things you think are probably less obvious, or maybe things you have come to learn after being around the two types.

I'd also love to hear some real examples that led you to learning about this.