“I Couldn’t Have a Bad Day”: How the Economy Prevents Us From Building Lives Outside of Work

I love podcasts about money, especially when they corroborate what I’ve already begun to suspect from my own observations.

So when I heard that there was a new podcast about Seattle, public policy, and the economy, I immediately added The Other Washington to my podcast app.

The Other Washington is the podcast arm of Seattle’s Civic Ventures, and I’m going to recommend it if you don’t live in Washington State because I think you’ll identify with much of what’s being discussed. Take, for example, this quote from Hanna Brooks Olsen (who has also written for The Billfold, because Billfolders are everywhere) about working freelance and gig economy jobs:

I wish people knew how emergent it feels, all of the time. I wish people knew how little sort of respite there is. There just was not—I could not catch a break. I couldn’t have a bad day. It was not possible.

I wish people knew that when you not only live paycheck to paycheck, as obviously people have been doing for generations, that’s not new, but when you live half-a-paycheck and half-a-paycheck and a third of a paycheck and then six paychecks to paycheck, you are constantly scrambling and there’s nobody that has your back.

It’s not about “go get a real job,” either. Olsen tells us that she made less money working in an office job than she did in the gig and freelance economy, and that the office job didn’t pay enough to cover Seattle rents. In this case, becoming an independent contractor was the smart financial choice, but it also meant constant work and near-constant stress.

It also meant that Olsen didn’t have enough time in her day to have a life outside of work—a topic that carries over into the most recent podcast episode, “Secure Scheduling:”

Secure Scheduling is the name of a movement designed to give Seattle workers the right to know their own work hours in advance. This is a right that many retail and “flexible” workers don’t currently have, since their work hours are often added or cut the night before—or the day of—their shifts.

Seattle council may tackle ‘livable’ schedules for area workers

You don’t need me to explain that not knowing your own work hours makes it nearly impossible to build a life outside of work, whether you want to plan for childcare, take a class, or pick up a second job. (I’d be interested to know how many retail workers end up taking on gig economy jobs to fill in the gap between “we don’t need you today” and “making rent.”)

But I hadn’t quite put together, until I listened to this podcast, just how little of a life you could build. When you don’t know if you’ll get enough work, either through your freelance or gig economy hustle or through your “flexible scheduling” job, everything in your life becomes about work. It’s that much harder to build friendships and relationships, to participate in the community, and to be a person who isn’t also your job(s).

The whole “everything in your life becomes about work” piece is something that’s pretty much true for me, but I always assumed it was because I liked working. Now I’m curious how much of it is also because of the economy, and how my life could be different if I had a bit more, well, life in it.

I’d propose that the “everything in your life becomes about work” piece applies to people in so-called “traditional jobs” as well, with the crunch time and the sad desk salads and the emails that pop up on weekends and vacations. I’m curious how you all feel about your lives, and whether they’re more about work than you’d like them to be.

Also, consider The Other Washington highly recommended. I’m eager to see what issue they discuss next, and how closely it ends up both reflecting and clarifying my own experiences.

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