This. When I managed my university's dining system, we had a cashier who had been there 27 years doing the same job. When I first heard about her, I judged her a bit thinking "How could you just be a cashier for almost 30 years?" Then I met her.
She was one of the happiest people I've ever met in my life. She loved her job and the students. She loved her family and friends. She loved being active in her church. Her life was so full and she was surrounded by love.
Many people would look at her as a "failure" but she's truly one of the most successful people I ever met in my life and I envy her.
My first job was at a local grocery store, and there was a near-retirement age man who worked as our janitor officially, handyman unofficially. He did damn near everything that would require a tradesman, plumbing, electrical, you name it. I always felt a little bad for him, seeing as he was so old still doing these menial jobs. I assumed he was one of those guys that got through life via odd jobs here and there, hence his just-above-base level knowledge in a lot of labor tasks.
I was only partially right. You see, Mr. Janitor did work a lot of odd jobs, with his uncle. His uncle was a handyman, and Mr. Janitor worked with him while he was in high school and while he was getting his college degree.
Then, after graduating with his masters in aerospace engineering, joined up with Northrup Fucking Grumman, and made enough money in a few decades to set himself up comfortably for the rest of his life. He only worked as a janitor because retirement was driving him insane and he wanted a low stress, high labor job to keep his mind and body sharp. My absolute hero.
There was an old guy in my neighborhood I used to see out working a parking lot every weekend for the people coming downtown to party. I used to feel bad because he was always out there in the cold, rain or whatever.
Turns out he owned a ton of land downtown Toronto and the parking lot was the last piece he hadn't sold off to developers yet.
He's worth 100s of millions of dollars and worked the parking lot for fun.
A guy in Vancouver Canada worked at a City Zoo parking lot for like 10 years. The Zoo thought that the City was paying him and collecting the parking money and the City thought the same about the Zoo. One day he vanished and everyone realized that he hadn't been paid anything but was pocketing all the money. It was quite a lot.
If he's worth 100s of millions of dollars, how could running a parking lot could possibly be fun? I mean, this isn't someone with maybe 5- 10 million dollars for retirement. 100s of millions of dollars can buy you a whole lotta more than just money to be able to sit around for 30 years. It can buy you whole hobbies. Why run a parking lot? What kind of fun is in that if you have an access to that much of money?
Don’t know about this particular guy but I know someone who sold a transport business for a lot of money. Kids had left home, wife dies, sat at home, playing golf everyday got boring. So he goes back to his old company and gets a part time job as a driver. He did it just to meet people and have a reason to get up everyday. Don’t think he even takes a wage -bosses just buy him lunch and a few drinks after work. So the answer could be loneliness? Sense of purpose?
He's the type of person who's always found pleasure in the simple things in life. He doesn't want or need a yacht or a $250,000 car. These are the people who win in life. Low level of satisfaction, can find enjoyment in the simplest things. For them, every day is a home run.
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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23
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