Is the 4 Letter Word WORK Quickly Becoming a Verb of the Past?

As the day begins with headlines around the world revolving around people quietly quitting or about states losing revenues due to loss of income tax, it has me wondering, what is going on?

What has happened to people refusing to get a job or to work hard anymore?

Why are many refusing to work and get a job?

Of course, if you are on Twitter, all the rage is about workers there having to work overtime when their boss needs them to complete a job on deadline. The workers also complained vehemently that their lunches would no longer be paid for at the company they worked at.

They went so far as to add their feelings about their boss to the kiosk of the Twitter building in San Francisco. (Source, NOT verified yet as only seen on Twitter.)

Are Free Lunches A Guaranteed Employment Benefit?

Elon Musk stopped giving FREE lunches to workers as workers were not in the office to eat the food that was being paid for by Twitter. It was a business decision as the company was wasting money on food when workers were not in the office to even eat it.

The only time I ever got a free lunch at work was when we had to work longer than 8–10 hours on any given day to meet deadlines. Yes, imagine, having to meet a deadline, day after day. It was more like a pizza for dinner.

Yes, everyone should have a lunch break but FREE lunch guaranteed?

I was only 15 years old at the time working a weekly newspaper prior to Christmas. We had to finish making the ads so the paper could be printed in the wee hours of the next morning.

We worked til midnight. I went to school the next day as usual. And back to work after school. I appreciated the check I received with the extra hours ahead of the holiday.

Years later at another job, when we went over a given goal, performance-based, we were treated to a free lunch or breakfast from time to time.

Working For Oneself

Years later at a daily newspaper, I worked 8 years with no raise. It was time to go out on my own. I had seen layoff after layoff during those years. Many did not receive severance packages. Some did if they took early retirement.

This is the wisest tweet I saw on the topic:

Many people over the past decade have left corporate America to go out on their own and work for themselves. However, many of these people do WORK long hours, not just an 8-hour, 5-day work week.

But with that comes the flexibility to work when you want, whether it’s 4 am or 11 pm in the evening. You can take off any day you want but you will most likely be making it up another day to stay afloat with your business.

Working hard to make your dreams come true was the norm back in the day.

Working Hard To Dream Big

Maybe the dreams have died? People may have given up too easily today than before. It could be that everyone was given a trophy whether they succeeded or not as children. Now as adults they expect everything, whether they work hard for it or not.

But it is often said that today’s younger generation has been pushed harder. Many claim they felt they had to go to college and succeed. According to surveys and research, they are more stressed than any other generation. (However, it appears the older you are the less stressed you are, interesting.)

Did their parents push them too far? Is it something in the water?

Maybe all the organized play since birth had an impact. They could not just free play until they began kindergarten or first grade. What their parents thought was better maybe wasn’t better after all.

Who knew at the time? Will we ever know for sure?

Quotes About Hard Work

The following quotes always sounded great to work hard and dream big. These resonated for generations of people who came to America in search of the big dream.

“With determination, discipline and hard work all dreams become a reality.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

Preparation for tomorrow is hard work today.” — Bruce Lee

Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice.” — Henry Ford

Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.” — Kobe Bryant

If you do the work you get rewarded. There are no shortcuts in life.” — Michael Jordan

What Will Happen To Work?

What is the future of work? If younger workers opt out, who will take care of the elderly and work in the stores and drive the trucks to ship the products we all need? Furthermore, who will work the internet?

Will we go back to the dark ages and barter times?

Or will the worker bees left be working 24/7? I’d love to know your thoughts on this perplexing topic.