Hopping From Misery to Misery

A friend of mine recently admitted that she envies the "job hoppers" who have worked in more than one Cube City. She's had the same job in the same large, established company for more than 30 years. She's not really big on change.

I know people like this. My dad worked in the same place for well over 40 years. The man had stamina, in my eyes. Lots and lots of stamina.

I don't know what to tell my friend. There's nothing to envy about anyone who works in Cube City, no matter where they work, what they do, or how long they've been doing it. It's called "Same Shit, Different Place." I've had many corporate jobs over the years involving cubicles in various designs -- tall gray tweed cubicles, chin-level retro cubicles, and tiny pig-sized cubicles. I've also had the satisfaction of giving various Cube Cities the finger with the healing act of resignation letters.

But really, none of this is anything to celebrate, much less envy. In fact, all it does is help you realize, from intimate personal experience, that you don't have a chance of being happy anywhere, or at any time, in Cube City.

All you can really do is look at people who are just entering the workforce and be glad that you're not them. Your road to retirement is shorter than theirs. So really, there's nothing to envy. There's only the comfort that somebody out there in Cube City is less fortunate than you.