What a BS article from a now BS newspaper owned by a billionaire who is forcing his workers back to the office just because he has convinced people that he has the power to do so. This article is nothing more than a sad attempt to justify it.
I can’t wait to see the day when people realize there are more of us than there are billionaires and they wouldn’t be where they are without us and start to fight back.
Good question! Tomorrow will be my first freeway commute (temp housing) since June 2005.
Since than, longest road commute ~20 min (& from 3/2020-12/24, only telemed).
Most recent prior freeway commutes were internship/residency: up to 1991.
I grew up in LA.
I never met anyone who *wants* to commute.
I've been lucky in my life to have only ever had one job with a long daily commute, when i moved back to my present town but kept my job in another town til i could find a decent local one. ~2 yrs, ~100 km/day. gorgeous scenic highway, but it was exhausting & very rough on my vehicle & $$$ on gas
i love driving. But *not* commuting. that road i commuted on was beautiful, but also very dangerous in winter. i passed *so* many rollovers & a few much more serious accidents. one underestimates the Pacific Rim Highway at their peril
I like my commute cuz I ride an e-bike on a trail to work. What I hate is being AT WORK when I could be working at home. Like, if my commute was just riding over there, turning around and coming back, I'd prefer that to being at work. This is why the noble e-bike is the way. 😌
I once had a long dark commute - involved crying for a portion after dropping my littles at daycare. Rural scenery & a cup of Tim Hortons were consolation, as were the earnings and credits toward retirement. Those were hard years though & I cherish the extra time I have with my older kids now.
This corporate rag is unabashedly anti worker. Amazon just recalled their entire workforce back to the office making a mockery of their “climate pledge” and increasing commute times for everyone in the Seattle area. Amazon is owned by Bezos, just like the WaPo.
A geologist wrote this. Someone who literally has to be outside in places to do shit lol my long ass commute sucks ass. Traffic sucks, highway sucks, no public transportation sucks, no reimbursement of vehicle cost or fuel cost sucks. Not getting paid for the time it takes to commute sucks.
i had a 90-minute (one-way!) commute for a little while, and even the beautiful scenery and love of driving didn't make up for how mentally draining it was.
I'd be fine with a long commute if it could be on a train rather than bumper to bumper traffic where everyone is fighting for their lives to shave off maybe 2 seconds of their commute by not letting anyone merge.
That's the wildest part for me. They're driving for this commute. They don't even get to switch off! This tbf it doesn't read like they pay any attention to the actual road...
I lived rural and commuted and there was very little to love about it unless you’re really into spending the fall playing car-deer chicken for 40 miles twice a day.
Before home working was possible and I was single, I did like ESCAPING FROM THE SHARED FLAT and getting on the London Underground because flat sharing is mostly hell, but yes.
Always depends on the living situation of course. If you can't stand being home, it's hard to argue with wanting to be on the road / public transport for a longer time.
Obviously he doesn't live in Northern New Jersey. What under normal conditions would take 15 minutes in travel time, takes 45 minutes to an hour during "rush hour" and Route 10 or Route 46 were NEVER picturesque. (PS- why do they call it "rush hour" when we're all going so &*#@^%*!! slow?)
I note that WaPo is still pining to get me back. Pretty good deal.
I’m waiting for Bezos to apologize to the country for letting his paper die in darkness.
My commute is about 42 min each way on transit, not including walking from my home to the Skytrain station, or walking out from work to the bus stop. I'll take it. Much better than one job in Korea where I had an uphill 15 minute walk after a half hour bus ride. Hot days were torture.
When I had a high stress tech project manager job, I thought I liked my long commute. In the am, I got my thoughts together to order my day during the hour ride down I93 south to Massachusetts. In the pm I believed it let me get it all out of my system so I was all the easy home by the time 1/
I arrived at home. In reality, it only meant I gave two more hours to the health wrecking stress-filled career that had me ten hours a day in the office plus the two spent driving. 2/2
Tell them if they love long commutes they should get a CDL and drive for a living. I'll bet their opinions change when they are doing it 11 hours a day for weeks at a time.
In the darkness of my squinting eyes, I get out of bed, perform my morning ablutions, throw on some comfy loose fitting clothes and take the 10 or so steps to my desk.
Long gone are the soul destroying days of traffic jams & train rides of men’s sweaty pits in my face.
Paywall.. Anyways, WTF is this fake corporate suck up shit? I've endured very long commutes. Nothing good about them. At all. They suck. What master does this minion serve?
No, I don't like a long commute. Work life balance doesn't really exist otherwise, and most companies don't want their employees to have lives outside of the job place, because that means they make less money off of their employees.
I got really into reading happiness research a few years ago. Something that stayed with me was the finding that long commutes are one of the few shitty things that you don't adapt to. Many good/bad things that happen to us we adjust to. Not a long commute apparently!
It's usually just wasted time that you don't get back.
There are ways to reclaim some of it. If you aren't the driver you can read or do similar tasks, if you are you can listen to audio content or talk on the phone. But you can't really convert it to time with kids or quality self care.
I used to have a 1hr commute one way to work that was all rural and definitely don't miss it. 2 hours of my day are now mine again because I WFH. I *did* listen to more Audible and caught up on reading with that commute but...I mean, I can *choose* to do that now, too, and not commute.
I haven't had a routine commute in a decade since becoming a solo attorney. But I've also been "house hacking" since leaving Long Island, and have found affordable homes closer to worksites. Today I live in rural Appalachia but it's still only about half an hour to both of my main courthouses.
Almost hitting deer and school busses on foggy days on the winding forested 2-lane highways in the dark when I was half asleep and my reflexes and brain weren’t working are not things I will ever miss.
Telling someone they "should" enjoy something is so fucking dumb. It's not an empirical question, it's not moral philosophy, it's just personal preference.
They use words like that deliberately to annoy people because it gets more clicks.
I love getting to know nature as I plow through the pre-dawn darkness, flattening any part of it which might wander across my path. That squirrel had the most precious look on its face right before I turned it into goo!
Must have been written by big commute 🤣. Had a 20 mile commute one way each day and it never had any redeeming factors. Time varied every trip, and cry drivers always almost hitting me. 0/10
Oh yes, those commutes through rural areas, pre-dawn, constantly scanning the side fields for deer (and there’s always more than one) running in front of the car so you can slam on your brakes, or else hit one and total your car (or you). I do this 5 days a week; I didn’t realize how fun that is? 🤔
My sister and her family hit a deer yesterday in her car on the highway, they’re lucky they only grazed it. Those suckers come out of the darkness sunrise and sunset and bam. At least it wasn’t a moose or they’d all be dead.
Oh, too bad! I can't and don't want to read the Post. Having had a round-trip 3 hour commute for 18 years, I can tell you it is bad for your soul and bad for our environment.
Commutes are fine in the morning. You can listen to audio books and relax before starting the day. They suck in the afternoon when you just want to get home.
If I could instantly teleport to and from work it would improve my life immensely. Even if I had a ten minute commute it'd still be an improvement to eliminate it. All my favorite stuff is at my house!
I know my mom cherishes her memories of waking up in the dark and returning home in the dark for 30 years - so wonderful for her! Those 2 hours every day were well spent: steering, braking, gassing - every moment filled with joy!
Def written by someone 50+ in age or someone high up in management lol. My commute can range from 35-1 hour depending on traffic and there is always traffic.
We are currently living in what’s called malignant normality. Those who are unable to reflect on their own behavior and are not capable of critical thought fall victim to this. Unfortunately some of those people are our family and friends. Don’t try to help them, but do be there when they wake up
Well… i was here to shit on the article’s title (no access to article, unwilling to read for free in exchange for email) but it looks like the pile is already too high. Glad i’m not the only one with no common sense. Who’s paying for this stinking pile of garbage called WaPo?
Paywalled, and so fuck that w/ respect to the WaPo, but does the writer (an aspiring David Brooks, we assume) of this intensely silly paean to long commutes ever mention the joy of being stuck for hours in erratic stop-and-go and/or bumper-to-bumper traffic?
The phrase “aspiring David Brooks” gives me shudders. It evokes images of smug, ignorant privilege—as if the 405 offers all the contemplative opportunities of the rural Rockies.
Once had to had to “commute” 360 kms (224 miles) between where I lived and worked. Not all bad… got to listen to a lot of interesting radio programs. Wouldn’t recommend it as a lifestyle, however.
I knew a guy who commuted to NYC via Amtrak two hours each way from Pennsylvania. He said he used the train time to sleep.
I've taken hundreds of Amtrak rides, even one in a sleeper compartment, and I have never been able to sleep on a train. The "sleeper" was the tiniest ever.
My commute involves dodging off leash xl bullies, toothless druggies and pissheads, multiple piles of garbage and fearless seagulls. It’s less than 10 minutes but sure I’d love it if it was an hour through deep countryside
I think there's evidence that long commutes reduce the time people could have with their families or engage in a hobby. I think they might actually shorten one's life
When I was commuting, there was a highway interchange I had to take that had a lot of bad accidents, walls covered with black rubber. Every day I would think, “some day this is where I am going to die.”
"Good God I can't stand my family"
"The only time I feel joy is driving my big beautiful truck"
"Once I hit a hitchhiker and it made me feel so alive"
"My feelings about commuting will surely not change after the third week"
"Thank god I have more money than brains so I can afford to burn excessive amounts of fossil fuels for the sake of a long drive every day and waste my time to an employer that will never love me the way I love them."
"Hey, I'm a comfy sofa, waiting for you with a plushy lap blanket draped over the cushions. If you get to work from home, just pop an 'at my desk' background, and stretch out right here. No particulate pollution from car exhaust."
If you're generally unhappy with your life, a commute is a could be a great way to disconnect. That's not a very good argument for longer commutes, but it is one.
Driving an hour and a half to a rural hospital at 5 AM chugging an energy drink and slamming a McMuffin to work 12 hours before driving an hour and a half home is not exactly relaxing but I guess it’s better than an hour and a half commute in bumper to bumper freeway traffic
I used to love my commute when I commuted with my husband. (I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the commute I loved. Now we both work from home, and that’s even better.)
I've been struggling with this for a while now. Living with my partner the costs are low, but I hate the drive. I know once I get in an inevitable accident, that I'll just be done with the commute.
I did this for years, and enjoyed time to listen to podcasts and audiobooks, then when I moved to a 15 minute commute, I got all that time back and was like, now I can listen to all that content while doing something else like cooking, cleaning, washing the dog, exercising. So much better.
And you can still go on long trips and enjoy all these experiences if you want to. Except you get to choose where and when and how to go, which is not the office on Monday at 8AM.
I commuted 45-60 minutes each way for years. A conservative estimate: 90 minutes per day, 250 days per year = 15 DAYS every year lost just traveling to/from work. Unpaid, uncompensated, away from my home.
F that. I'd rather listen to a podcast while doing dishes than sitting in traffic on I-5.
1.5 hours to Seattle and back for 14 years, sitting knee to knee on the train with coughing, sneezing people. If they force us back to the office I’m gone. Not joking.
My senior paper in college was about how the avg Seattle commuter loses 30 work days a year in traffic. That was in 1997. Despite this knowledge, I moved to Seattle in 2007. However, I lived one mile from my office. #winning. Traffic was a nightmare then due to the same issue—geography & population.
If you calculate out what your time is worth for this: say you make $20 an hour, that’s $4800 in your time alone, not to mention gas, insurance, car payments, and maintenance.
I lived 15 mins walk from my office for a year - loved it. I could walk home, get changed, go for a run, go to the shops & be home cooking dinner at the time I’d still be travelling home.
I hate to say it, but sometimes I miss my old hour-long commute. There was a certain rhythm to it, much like the writer describes, which I found calming. I can appreciate the idea that that time could be spent elsewhere -- but an excuse to have it all to myself, coffee and NPR? Joy.
Can’t quite go that far but I do have fond memories of driving up 280 into San Francisco. I absolutely loathe the beltway and all other highways, freeways, whatever around in DC.
I like taking walks by myself to get some relaxing "me time" now that I don't have forced "me time" of commuting. Can't say I miss commuting every day but I am more sedentary now and need to be better about getting exercise.
That said, the "you should, too" in the headline is beyond the pale.
I work 23 miles from my home and using a car and mass transit it takes me nearly 2 hours. Thank God for remote work most days. Urban commutes are not bucolic country roads at 70 mph.
I had a rural commute for about five months. It was 45 minutes through farm land and I saw some nice sunrises. However, I still shiver when I think of that day I drove/dodged through about five dead dear lying all over the road, probably a herd that a semi drove through not long before I got there.
One of the CEOs of the big banks has to have written this or ordered someone to write this bunch of claptrap! LOL. They gotta get their corporate real estate investments back somehow! Doing a free layoff that gets rid of a lot of women and disabled folks on top of it? Golden, er, I mean Dimon.
I commuted for years, and the more stressful the job, the more I appreciated the time to decompress before I got home. Then I moved to an apartment that was half a mile from my job, and it felt like I had my life back. I swore off ever commuting again.
Absolutely grim. And they drive too. The only saving grace of mine is that I'm on public transport so I can zone out. But I would leap at the chance to trade my twice a week commute to zero times a week. Why on earth would I celebrate giving up hours of my time for free.
Someone should tell the author that without the commute they're still free to go for an aimless drive twice a day and remember the same seven memories every day while not focusing on the road.
The weird thing is that with my short commute (2.5 miles) I can walk to a bus or do a 5 minute drive. If I want to go for a long drive before or after work, I can go anywhere in the area and not just between work and home.
Comments
Since than, longest road commute ~20 min (& from 3/2020-12/24, only telemed).
Most recent prior freeway commutes were internship/residency: up to 1991.
I grew up in LA.
I never met anyone who *wants* to commute.
Eat shit, WaPo and fuck Bezos.
I’m waiting for Bezos to apologize to the country for letting his paper die in darkness.
Amazon is forcing all employees to return to office.
These dots connect themselves, honey.
People who write news articles to be consumed by the masses shouldn't either.
But of course GM and Ford will write this nonsense.
In the darkness of my squinting eyes, I get out of bed, perform my morning ablutions, throw on some comfy loose fitting clothes and take the 10 or so steps to my desk.
Long gone are the soul destroying days of traffic jams & train rides of men’s sweaty pits in my face.
#workfromhome #computertech
And I don’t read WaPo anymore after Bezos bent the knee.
(The connection to anti-worker Amazon cannot be ignored.)
There are ways to reclaim some of it. If you aren't the driver you can read or do similar tasks, if you are you can listen to audio content or talk on the phone. But you can't really convert it to time with kids or quality self care.
They use words like that deliberately to annoy people because it gets more clicks.
Like, hour and half each way and if there’s an accident 2-3 hours because of the roads.
No fucking way, ever again
Talk about never getting any of that back
Plus an hour at lunch when I can study or work around the house. Or nap.
Then another hour after work when I can get dinner started for the wife, more study, or some leisurely reading.
3 extra hours a day. 15 per week.
Beautiful. Always beautiful.
I've taken hundreds of Amtrak rides, even one in a sleeper compartment, and I have never been able to sleep on a train. The "sleeper" was the tiniest ever.
Takes all kinds.
"Good God I can't stand my family"
"The only time I feel joy is driving my big beautiful truck"
"Once I hit a hitchhiker and it made me feel so alive"
"My feelings about commuting will surely not change after the third week"
I start school at 8 am
It takes fifteen minutes to get to the bus station, and the bus routine is hourly
Finally, I have to make time for my morning routine
All this to say I wake up 4:30 in the morning. No, I do not like long commutes
This gaslighting will continue until we overthrow the oligarchy.
F that. I'd rather listen to a podcast while doing dishes than sitting in traffic on I-5.
That said, the "you should, too" in the headline is beyond the pale.