White Orchid Melody

I had a nice breakfast friday, with some friends with whom I’d worked at May Co.  We got to talking about how different our lives are now versus when we were working.  We were all making quite a bit of money, especially by midwestern standards.  But we were all equally miserable.  Where did all that money even go?  I can’t believe how much I spent on clothes and shoes and crap for the house.  A bunch of stuff I really didn’t need.  And I probably wasn’t as bad as most people.  But it was like a compulsion.  I’d go to a store and feel like I HAD to buy something.  It was a way of filling the void left by an abusive workplace.  We were so degraded there.  There was constant criticism.  Our VP even admitted once that they were so negative and hard on us because they truly believed we wouldn’t work as hard if they gave us praise.  Wow, hard to believe that company went out of business!  Anyway, all three of us are on different career paths now.  We could have gone and gotten fashion jobs making as much or more than we were at May, but we opted out of that whole scene.  We were all really burnt out and bitter and our self esteem had suffered.  We each realized that the money just wasn’t worth that. So even though our household incomes had been basically cut in half after quitting, we were much happier.  And the interesting part was that our standards of living hadn’t really changed.  All that money was pretty much down the drain to make up for our misery at work.  I think a great deal of Americans fall into that pattern of rewarding themselves for putting up with an awful job, whether it is through shopping, drinking, or whatever addictive entertainment makes those 40+ hours a week tolerable. And why? For an illusion of security?  Because working a 9-5 (or so) is a guaranteed paycheck?  Well tell that to all those who’ve unexpectedly lost their jobs due to mergers and consolidations.  There is no such thing as job security; it’s like Santa or the Easter Bunny.  Of course, sometimes a job is necessary.  Somebody has to bring in the money to pay the bills.  The point of my reflection on my working days is that they were a big waste of my time because of how I spent my money.  I should have been stashing away as much of my paycheck as possible to pay off student loans and for savings.  At least that would have some tangible benefit for the future.  If I had to have a job again, I would look at things very differently.  I would make sure I was maximizing my income and using it in the absolute smartest way possible.  It never makes sense to say “I deserve this because I work so hard.”  If you wouldn’t buy it if you didn’t have the job, you shouldn’t buy it at all.  Reward yourself by building a nest egg that will either let you retire from your job early, or maybe just quit altogether and pursue a different path.  But realize that spending your money by shopping for things you really don’t need or by eating out all the time or by going to happy hour every friday won’t solve the problem at hand.  That is just treating the symptoms, not what is causing them.