Published on 12, July, 2020
I have recently retired from work. It was long awaited and I have not missed the job at all ( the people I worked with were nice, but the job itself had become a mixture of stressful and tedious)
I have never particularly enjoyed working. I have got some sense of satisfaction from doing a job well during certain periods of my working life, but in most jobs I had there were people - mostly managers - who I really did not enjoy spending my days with. I get bored quickly and so jobs became mundane in a short period of time, and if I put myself forward to do higher level tasks (that I was capable of) I was either refused the role or ended up doing the higher level stuff without getting the extra pay for it. And I've suffered burn out from time to time due to the stress of work making me exhausted.
I know that a lot of autistic people are unable to work but would like to, and that many people get a sense of self worth from working and a better lifestyle (due to having wages) But I feel that society may over value work in some ways, and that maybe it programmes us to think that not working is lazy or unproductive? However there are some wealthy people who do little to no work and nobody calls them lazy. I heard a saying somewhere that I like: "we're human beings, not human doings". Perhaps that's a good answer next time someone asks - "so, what do you do?"
I just wondered what everyone's views were about working?
If you currently work, would you give up working if you became financially independent?
If you do not work but would like to, or want a career change, what would your dream job be?
If you do not work and have no wish to, or are retired or cannot work due to health reasons, how do you structure your days?
No, but I don’t have a choice. The thought of ever having to go on universal credit absolutely petrifies me with the way they treat you. So I just carry on struggling with being self employed instead, and not earning very much money at all.
The UC system is designed in a way where the work coaches often see you as a number on their long list of caseloads - they don't bother identifying your needs and helping you find suitable work (unless you are lucky to get a nice work coach which is rare). The point is, work coaches have to meet targets so will shove you into any old job - mainly retail, customer service, warehousing, care or fast food - most of which are zero hour jobs with inconsistency in shifts, low wages and next to nothing in progressional opportunities or benefits.
I was on UC once back in 2020 and had the rare occurrence of having a work coach who supported me (that I am occasionally in touch with as I am trying to branch out of office work tbh) - however not a lot of people get this opportunity. There are instances where the UC system ends up driving people crazy and they end up committing suicide.
I feel that the jobs market in general has taken a nosedive, especially as the only decent jobs available require you to have connections that would refer you.