Non FIREd folks: What is your least favourite part about working

[kaypinkHH]

There are a few threads that ask the Post Fired crew what their favourite thing is about being FIREd, or what they miss most about work. Let's flip the script and share our collective misery that is "death by fluorescent lights".

Least fav thing at the moment:
I arrive at work (carpool with my DH partway) at 7 am. Although the company has flex hours start and end time, technically I have to stay until 4pm, due to core hours being between 9-4. I never take a full 1 hr lunch break, so I'm "working" an extra 0.5 hrs. I could already be on my way home by now if it was just a strict "work your 8 hours and go home" policy!! #struggle

[ObviouslyNotAGolfer]

I am a scientist and actually enjoy my work--university teaching and doing research--quite a bit!

However, the worst of it is:

1. Having to get up before noon on some days (I am a hardcore nightowl, and have been able to have my preferred schedule for much of my time as a graduate student and postdoc)

2. Commuting on SoCal freeways. Fortunately, it is only about 17 miles each way, but still sucks.

3. Living in SoCal--the least mustaschian place on the planet and a worthless, disgusting, boring, ugly as hell, overpriced, overcrowded, polluted cesspit to boot!

Still, in my previous job, I loved living in the Bay Area, but my two bosses were pure evil and breathtakingly stupid, so overall, I would say things are better now (also making more money now than ever).

[marielle]

There are a few threads that ask the Post Fired crew what their favourite thing is about being FIREd, or what they miss most about work. Let's flip the script and share our collective misery that is "death by fluorescent lights".

Least fav thing at the moment:
I arrive at work (carpool with my DH partway) at 7 am. Although the company has flex hours start and end time, technically I have to stay until 4pm, due to core hours being between 9-4. I never take a full 1 hr lunch break, so I'm "working" an extra 0.5 hrs. I could already be on my way home by now if it was just a strict "work your 8 hours and go home" policy!! #struggle

I have a similar annoyance, just different hours. I have to be here 8-5 even if I get here 15 mins early to account for possible traffic. I used to take a 30 minute lunch and leave early but some people had issues with that (my boss was cool with it when I started).

My other issue is the location, it's in a town with a population of a few hundred, so finding somewhere to live without buying a house is basically impossible. I'm going to end up moving to an apartment that is 17 miles each way, which is only an 18 minute drive and never has traffic...but that's still very costly. On the bright side, the apartment is actually in a city with decent grocery stores and other amenities. I went to the "grocery store" in the town I work in and it's very sad. Mostly canned and package food but does have some basic produce.

It's also very lonely because all the office staff are quite a bit older, and there's only about 10 of us.

[Paul der Krake]

The bit about not being able to schedule anything during the week.

[ketchup]

Commuting.  The constant 9-5 schedule.  Office politics (though I have it way better than others in this regard, it still exists).  Having to contribute eight hours a day regardless of workload or productivity.

I like my job.  Most of what I said applies to most jobs.

[Heroes821]

My least favorite thing about not yet FIRED is that I need to work.  I enjoy my job but I want the lack of pressure that FI brings.

[TravelJunkyQC]

Not being able to choose how I spend my waking hours. I'd probably still want to do some work if I were FIREd, but I'd like to decide when I do it, and where I do it.

[CloserToFree]

Least favorite thing is definitely having to get up in the morning and be somewhere on someone else's schedule.  If I had complete autonomy over allocating my 8 hours of work over the course of a day, whenever and however I wanted to do it, I would be MUCH happier continuing to work.  I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, so if I had my way, I'd sleep til 9 or 9:30, get up and have a leisurely breakfast, and then do a few hours of work at a time over the course of the day, interspersed with down time, family time, and workout time.

[JanetJackson]

Not being able to choose how I spend my waking hours. I'd probably still want to do some work if I were FIREd, but I'd like to decide when I do it, and where I do it.

BINGO.  THIS.

Not being able to CHOOSE.  Wearing things that are appropriate for work, but wouldn't be my first choice.  Following an arbitrary schedule that doesn't matter to me.  Waking up when someone else dictates I do so.  Taking a lunch break thats as long as someone tells me it's going to be. Etc. Etc. Etc... The lack of choice. 

[TheOldestYoungMan]

Not being able to choose how I spend my waking hours. I'd probably still want to do some work if I were FIREd, but I'd like to decide when I do it, and where I do it.

BINGO.  THIS.

Not being able to CHOOSE.  Wearing things that are appropriate for work, but wouldn't be my first choice.  Following an arbitrary schedule that doesn't matter to me.  Waking up when someone else dictates I do so.  Taking a lunch break thats as long as someone tells me it's going to be. Etc. Etc. Etc... The lack of choice.

Sing it!  Send it up on high!  Let your lamentations be heard, may the gods bear witness to our suffering, and have mercy upon us.  Deliver us! Oh Financial Freedom, that we may yet change our tune to one of fellowship and belonging, that our freedoms may yet be abundant, and the fruits of our labors that much more succulent.  Also like not shaving every.single.day. would be great.

[Fire2025]

My boss is an evil, controlling,  micro manager who wants me to send emails saying "I got your email and I'm doing my job, will get back to you when I have completed doing my job".  And that is not an exaggeration.

At least I don't have to car commute in LA traffic.  I bike. Best part of my day!!!!!

[kaypinkHH]

As I settle in for another long day (but hey at least it is Friday) I'm enjoying the collective misery that is working/having to go to work.

On my last assignment, there were a few Saturdays that I had to work, and I actually loved going in on Saturday.
1. Could wear whatever the heck you wanted.
2. No one cared when you got to work
3. No one really expected you to work the full 8 hours if you didn't need to.
4. Could do half your work at work, and then go home to wrap up the paperwork.
5. Less people were there, so the office vibe was more "come in, get your stuff done, and get out."

It was pretty sweet come to think of it.

But @Fire2025, my boss on that job was exactly like what you described. He wanted me to cc him on EVERY EMAIL (I was sending ~100 emails a day at that time), and forward him any email I received that he wasn't cc'd on. (Receiving ~150 emails a day).  He also would then act on the emails he was cc'd on and reply to all with only partial information. I would spend half my time running around chasing after his "helpful answers".

[Linea_Norway]

- Having to get up using an alarm clock instead of waking up naturally.
- Not being able to have my own schedule. Sometimes I like to spend the night skywatching. But that is hard to do on night before a working day.
- Sitting inside the office when the weather is splendid.
- Having to go home on Sunday afternoon from a weekend at our cabin, just when the snow and the weather are awesome and I would like to stay for another week.
- Having to drive to our cabin on Friday afternoon and driving back on Sunday afternoon, together with the rest of the main city in the same direction. Often standing in a queue for an hour or more.
- Having to drive to work when the road is covered in frozen rain. This happened about 10 times last winter.
- Sometimes getting assigned very unsatisfying tasks.
- My company not always working in the most sufficient way I can imagine. No, we can't change it.
- Being reviewed at work. Having the salary increase talk.
- Having a person working on my team who annoys me bigtime in certain ways that have to do with working efficiently. I didn't chose him.
- Being socially forced to taking vacations in July.
- Not being able to start working in a completely new field/start things over again while keeping the same pay.
- Being subjected to detailed management (SCRUM).
- Having to ask my group leader whether I can leave an hour earlier on Friday afternoon.

[Linea_Norway]

I have a similar annoyance, just different hours. I have to be here 8-5 even if I get here 15 mins early to account for possible traffic. I used to take a 30 minute lunch and leave early but some people had issues with that (my boss was cool with it when I started).

My other issue is the location, it's in a town with a population of a few hundred, so finding somewhere to live without buying a house is basically impossible. I'm going to end up moving to an apartment that is 17 miles each way, which is only an 18 minute drive and never has traffic...but that's still very costly. On the bright side, the apartment is actually in a city with decent grocery stores and other amenities. I went to the "grocery store" in the town I work in and it's very sad. Mostly canned and package food but does have some basic produce.

It's also very lonely because all the office staff are quite a bit older, and there's only about 10 of us.

Would an electric bycicle be a solution for you?

[marielle]

I have a similar annoyance, just different hours. I have to be here 8-5 even if I get here 15 mins early to account for possible traffic. I used to take a 30 minute lunch and leave early but some people had issues with that (my boss was cool with it when I started).

My other issue is the location, it's in a town with a population of a few hundred, so finding somewhere to live without buying a house is basically impossible. I'm going to end up moving to an apartment that is 17 miles each way, which is only an 18 minute drive and never has traffic...but that's still very costly. On the bright side, the apartment is actually in a city with decent grocery stores and other amenities. I went to the "grocery store" in the town I work in and it's very sad. Mostly canned and package food but does have some basic produce.

It's also very lonely because all the office staff are quite a bit older, and there's only about 10 of us.

Would an electric bycicle be a solution for you?

I've been thinking about this. By bike, it would be up to 18.7 miles each way due to avoiding the highway. Nearly 3 hours of riding. I don't know if that's something I would actually keep up with. 5x a week I'm sure would cause some real butt soreness! I wonder if there's a rental e-bike I could try for a few days though. I worry about spending a ton on one and end up changing my mind, since by car it's only an 18 minute drive.

[me1]

I work from home most of the time. So i really shouldn't complain compared to people who have to endure horrific commutes and being there at a certain time. There are many parts of my job I absolutely love. Yesterday, for example, was an amazing day. And I will miss days like that when I am retired. But maybe I just want to work part time instead, and have a greater percentage of those awesome days compared to the boring days.
But I have a strained relationship with my boss. and I really hate billable hour quotas with a passion, especially when at the same time I am being asked to do an ever expanding amount of non-billable work.

[TartanTallulah]

My least favourite part of my job is a formal annual assessment which requires that I record and present information in a structured manner which, to someone of my personality, could be regarded as psychologically abusive. I end up a twittering wreck for several weeks of the year as a result of this process, which was not part of the job for the first decade or so after I started work.

Actually doing the job suits my personality very well. It's not surprising that many people who do the same job have similar problems with the assessment process.

[teen persuasion]

Not being able to choose how I spend my waking hours. I'd probably still want to do some work if I were FIREd, but I'd like to decide when I do it, and where I do it.

This is one part - inconvenient assigned hours, not my choice.
Next part is I'm limited to part time, hourly.  I'd be happier to be salaried, and work whatever hours are needed to do my job, not constantly try to schedule more hours for more pay while worrying about budget constraints.
Finally, I'm torn between whether I love/hate working alone.  In the past I've been holding down the fort on my own quite a bit, for a variety of reasons.  I enjoyed it when patron traffic was reasonable, but had no backup if something unusual happened.    Also made communication with staff covering other shifts difficult.  This summer there's a new Director, and an intern, and we are tripping over each other, and yet seem to keep lurching from emergency to emergency that no one could have foreseen (windstorm caused power outage and retirement of a staff member when tree hit her house, blizzard caused closings, flooding in basement during a book sale, bank & CC problems in transfer to new director, break ins, equipment malfunctions).

[sjlp]

Seeing how beautiful the blue sky is and feeling the warm sunshine on my face... before walking into an office for the day. Then being too tired at the end to enjoy the last hour of daylight.

[FireHiker]

Seeing how beautiful the blue sky is and feeling the warm sunshine on my face... before walking into an office for the day. Then being too tired at the end to enjoy the last hour of daylight.

+1

Also, meetings. And just the sheer amount of time spent away from my kids.

All in all, my job is not bad. I like my boss, the work is fine as far as paid work goes. Lots of flexibility, no awful commute. But, I would rather be outside, not in an office all day long.

[sisto]

There are many things I like, but mostly it's the paycheck. There are many things I don't like and it's hard to say which is my least favorite. It's probably the justifying of my existence that I hate the most. All of the political BS and evaluations etc. I'm towards the end of my career now and I just want to fix stuff which is mostly what I do, but I want to be acknowledged for my contributions without having to fight for it. I am constantly driving business process improvements and usually the person to go to around many different databases. I'm always solving issues around how to get something done or figured out. I'm usually doing mostly jobs that there is nobody actually assigned to do. The glue that holds many things together without many people even realizing it. Sometimes I just want to go out on a LOA and let them get a taste for me being gone, but it would likely take time before it really fell apart and then the work to fix it would be terrible. So here I am plugging along waiting for FIRE.

[dougules]

- Having to get up using an alarm clock instead of waking up naturally.

+1

Also, not being able to long-term travel.

[Erma]

The sitting the whole day. My body aches even though I spend my break walking.
Sharing the office with five other people - it is loud in there sometimes.
There is no possibility for overtime. They only count negative hours like if you work 1 hour less one day and the next day two more you would still have minus 1 hour.
Waking by an alarm clock.
The work itself is boring (but paid well).

[LPG]

BOREDOM. My job takes me 5-10 hr/week, yet I'm expected to be in the office for 40 hr/week. This results in a lot of staring at screens, looking busy, and generally wishing I was anywhere else in the world.

(Sidenote: Yes, I've tried being proactive about it. I've tried to get more projects from my boss, or more involved in writing proposals with him. He's about 2 months away from retirement, is pretty checked out, and seemed to express confusion that I wanted to actually accomplish things rather than a willingness to get me more involved. So I've started writing proposals solo, and am on a path towards going independent in the next few years. Woohoo!)

[kaypinkHH]

The sitting the whole day. My body aches even though I spend my break walking.

+1. Or the thought that I "need" to use some of the money I make from sitting all day to get a gym membership to counteract the effect of sitting all day.


(Don't face punch me, I already got rid of the gym membership and have free weights at home and a bike).

[SweetLife]

Wearing a sweater at work when it is 90 degrees out, because the AC is set so high...
Having a vacation bank that you can't use because we don't have enough staff...
Having to fill out the exact same information on different forms and then do it all over again and put in online in forms over and over again Ad nauseam.... 

[MoneyRx]

For me, it is the overall amount of time spent working. I spend more time working than doing anything else in life and while I don't hate my job, I would rather not do it and be free to do anything I wish.

[CloserToFree]

Slow2fire, your arrangement sounds awesome.

Linda_Norway, great list and I agree with so many of these.

The inability to take long trips also is a big one.  I love this thread because it's reminding me to stay motivated and go through with FIREing when we hit our number. Lately I've been feeling a little like "oh works not so bad, maybe we should keep working part time even when we don't have to..."

 

[By the River]

I share many of these frustrations: travel, sleep, etc.  The one I have that hasn't been mentioned is attending useless departmental meetings.  We have 6 people in our department and we normally work on projects with at most 1 of the others. The boss will have these 1-2 hour meetings with the entire group discussing something that 1 team has found and getting everyone's input.  My coworkers are very capable and intimately involved with the particular project, I trust their judgment.  Don't call me in cold.  Likewise, if it is my team's issue; we know the issue, don't involve the others and spend half the time bringing them up to speed.  Please just let the team make a decision and continue moving forward. 

This happens all the time, not just when it might make sense, i.e. if I worked on a similar project in the past. 

[CheapskateWife]

Having to ask permission to do anything during the day that isn't work.  Like asking for an hour off to go take my kid to his class, or for a Dr's appointment.  Why am I asking permission to use my GD time?

[Joeko]

IT contractor...worst thing is crazy project timelines.  End up working 60 hours a week and getting paid for 40.  Best thing is once the project is over, I'm out of there.

[Schaefer Light]

To me, the worst part is the lack of freedom.  Even if I finish everything I need to do by noon, I still have to stay until 5.  And then I'm expected to answer phone calls and texts after I leave.  If you're going to contact me when I'm at home and expect me to work as if I'm in the office, then at least have the decency to let me leave the office when I'm ready to leave.  I hate the expectation that I'm going to be physically present from 8-5 and be available around the clock.  I can handle one or the other, but not both.

[BoonDogle]

Probably the feeling that I get in my gut on Sunday night knowing that my 2 days of freedom are behind me and I have a full work week ahead.  That and the job related stress.

[Paul der Krake]

Having to ask permission to do anything during the day that isn't work.  Like asking for an hour off to go take my kid to his class, or for a Dr's appointment.  Why am I asking permission to use my GD time?

Obviously that depends on your field, but I learned pretty quickly to just do it. If I'm going to be missing a half-day, I tell people, not ask. If it's under two hours, I don't even mention it unless there's already something scheduled.

[Caoineag]

Losing what little free time I have on the weekends to resting in advance of work. I already have no time after work but losing a portion of Sunday because I feel the need to "rest up" in advance of work is obnoxious.

I got rid of dreading/not wanting to go to work in the morning by doing my morning exercise at work, got rid of dreading the alarm by switching to a light based alarm but how the heck do I cure saving Sunday afternoon for "resting" when I would rather use it for doing things? If I exhaust myself Sunday afternoon, it makes the week harder but not wanting to start anything Sunday afternoon just leads to wasting time on things that don't bring me joy. *Sigh* Good thing I am retiring soon.

[Roe]

A horribly complicated and time consuming task that, if actually executed, leads to great results.

I do it. Most of my co-workers ignore it. If asked they will claim it didn't fit that particular case.

I understand my co-workers. My frustration with this task is two-fold:

1. Why do I keep doing it?! I should do it 3 times a year to be able to show I do it, and still be ahead of most of the rest, instead of 4-6 times a month. Sometimes im an idiot.

2. There is another way of doing the task. Its sleek, efficient and convenient. It's developed by (sort of) a sister branch. They have already payed for the fairly extensive compliance checks that would be needed. We could ask them for a copy of all their work. They would give it to us, no charge.

[Linea_Norway]

Having to ask permission to do anything during the day that isn't work.  Like asking for an hour off to go take my kid to his class, or for a Dr's appointment.  Why am I asking permission to use my GD time?

Obviously that depends on your field, but I learned pretty quickly to just do it. If I'm going to be missing a half-day, I tell people, not ask. If it's under two hours, I don't even mention it unless there's already something scheduled.

I once left on a Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock without asking. Our normal working ours is to 4 o'clock. Officially we can leave at 3. I had like 60 hours overtime clocked. But I was reprimanded that I had left without asking. Never to do it again. Kindergarten mentality...
One of colleagues has gotten himself a young dog. Therefor he wants to take an extra long lunch breah and go home during the break. He lives nearby. He need to ask every day for this.

[TartanTallulah]

Losing what little free time I have on the weekends to resting in advance of work. I already have no time after work but losing a portion of Sunday because I feel the need to "rest up" in advance of work is obnoxious.

I got rid of dreading/not wanting to go to work in the morning by doing my morning exercise at work, got rid of dreading the alarm by switching to a light based alarm but how the heck do I cure saving Sunday afternoon for "resting" when I would rather use it for doing things? If I exhaust myself Sunday afternoon, it makes the week harder but not wanting to start anything Sunday afternoon just leads to wasting time on things that don't bring me joy. *Sigh* Good thing I am retiring soon.

Oh, yes, this too. I can accept that having my weekdays eaten up by work is fair exchange for the paycheck, but as I've got older I've become less able to snap into "weekend warrior" mode and go out for long runs and hikes and bike rides on Saturdays and Sundays without consequences. I struggle to haul myself out of bed on a Saturday morning and am usually just about feeling human by Sunday afternoon. By which time, as you say, it's necessary to rest before the work week begins.

[Linea_Norway]

I forgot one thing i dislike:
The obligation to walk around with a name card around my neck to show who I am. My company is small enough that we know almost all people by face. But we still need cards.
And yes, the card is also used for some doors.

[katekat]

Until recently, at my last job, it was any one of:
- Having periods of time with no work, in which I still had to justify my use of time
- Then being given a task, and an unrealistic deadline, and having someone metaphorically (and sometimes literally) breathe over my shoulder until it was done, and feeling like I had to justify my use of time
- Being ordered around by one of the worst people I have ever met
- Having him think he was my boss, even though he wasn't
- Having other people think he was my boss, even though he wasn't

But I quit and got a much more pleasant, less stressful job. As far as I can tell, I like this job, as far as jobs go, so the normal worst things about working for me now are:
- Never being sure I am doing well enough (imposter syndrome ... or maybe I'm just really terrible)
- I'm quite a low-energy person/need a lot of downtime, so even with a sensible work-life balance (37.5 hours a week, some degree of flexible time, commute of 15-30 mins each way, 25 days holiday a year) I feel like work + gym + housework + errands takes up all my 'productive' energy and I spend the rest of my time just lazing around to recharge. Don't know if this is an accurate assessment or if I would be just as lazy if I didn't work!

[BigLou]

I hate performance evaluations. Even though I've always received good evaluations, I hate the idea that everything I do  is being watched / monitored / evaluated. 

[Tris Prior]

Not being in control over my own time. Having to wake up earlier than my body wants to, get on 2 different trains that show up (or don't!) whenever they feel like it, and spend 8 hours a day butt-in-seat regardless of whether there's actual work to do. (My field is very feast or famine; either we're swamped or we're totally dead.)

Having to cram all of the life stuff that I want or have to do, into little bits of time during the evenings. Or killing my entire weekend on things like food prep, laundry, cleaning, errands. Having to spend some time in the evenings just resting so that I can get up the next day and do it all over again. When honestly I'd rather be doing something productive or meaningful to me but I just don't have the energy, because I've got to get up at ass o'clock again the next day.

Lack of fresh air and lack of ability to enjoy nice weather except on my commute and lunch break.

The goddamned arctic-level air conditioning. I live in Chicago; it is cold 8 months out of the year here. Can we EVER feel just a little bit warm? Would that be OK?!? I mean, sure, if it's upper 80s/90s and humid, by all means run it, at a normal level. But we all wear winter sweaters at our desks all summer. My boss wears a snuggie. It's that cold.

[Ocon]

God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables, slaves with white collars, advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of the history man, no purpose or place, we have no Great war, no Great depression, our great war is a spiritual war, our great depression is our lives.

[Linea_Norway]

The goddamned arctic-level air conditioning. I live in Chicago; it is cold 8 months out of the year here. Can we EVER feel just a little bit warm? Would that be OK?!? I mean, sure, if it's upper 80s/90s and humid, by all means run it, at a normal level. But we all wear winter sweaters at our desks all summer. My boss wears a snuggie. It's that cold.

Have you suggested at your work that they can save a lot of money on not cooling so much in the summer?

[Linea_Norway]

But I quit and got a much more pleasant, less stressful job. As far as I can tell, I like this job, as far as jobs go, so the normal worst things about working for me now are:
- Never being sure I am doing well enough (imposter syndrome ... or maybe I'm just really terrible)
- I'm quite a low-energy person/need a lot of downtime, so even with a sensible work-life balance (37.5 hours a week, some degree of flexible time, commute of 15-30 mins each way, 25 days holiday a year) I feel like work + gym + housework + errands takes up all my 'productive' energy and I spend the rest of my time just lazing around to recharge. Don't know if this is an accurate assessment or if I would be just as lazy if I didn't work!

I think this might change if you found some hobby that you are really committed to. Then you can suddenly prioritize to do that hobby instead of laying on the couch. Hobbies can be recharging in a way.

Are you from Norway? Care to join our thread? It's in my footer.

[katekat]

But I quit and got a much more pleasant, less stressful job. As far as I can tell, I like this job, as far as jobs go, so the normal worst things about working for me now are:
- Never being sure I am doing well enough (imposter syndrome ... or maybe I'm just really terrible)
- I'm quite a low-energy person/need a lot of downtime, so even with a sensible work-life balance (37.5 hours a week, some degree of flexible time, commute of 15-30 mins each way, 25 days holiday a year) I feel like work + gym + housework + errands takes up all my 'productive' energy and I spend the rest of my time just lazing around to recharge. Don't know if this is an accurate assessment or if I would be just as lazy if I didn't work!

I think this might change if you found some hobby that you are really committed to. Then you can suddenly prioritize to do that hobby instead of laying on the couch. Hobbies can be recharging in a way.

Are you from Norway? Care to join our thread? It's in my footer.

I'm actually in the UK :)

[Nudelkopf]

I hate that I'm not allowed to have a bad day. That I have to be nice & pleasant to everyone, everyday when I just want to say, "Fuck you all so hard".

(I'm a teacher, for reference and, yes, i say it a lot on my head)

[Imustacheyouaquestion]

Making small talk with coworkers every morning. Pretending that eating stale cake from the grocery store in a conference room with 10 people that aren't my friends is how I want to spend my birthday. Staff meetings that accomplish nothing and have no agenda yet have mandatory attendance. Bureaucratic drudgery like submitting forms in triplicate to order basic supplies. Policies designed to protect the organization from fraud that actually just encourage people to waste money (because as long as it's under the cap, it meets the policy standard and is acceptable, instead of trying to spend as little as possible on travel). Emails about emails and meetings about meetings.

[Case]

There are a few threads that ask the Post Fired crew what their favourite thing is about being FIREd, or what they miss most about work. Let's flip the script and share our collective misery that is "death by fluorescent lights".

Least fav thing at the moment:
I arrive at work (carpool with my DH partway) at 7 am. Although the company has flex hours start and end time, technically I have to stay until 4pm, due to core hours being between 9-4. I never take a full 1 hr lunch break, so I'm "working" an extra 0.5 hrs. I could already be on my way home by now if it was just a strict "work your 8 hours and go home" policy!! #struggle

For me it is the miasma of corporate politics.  Having reorgs every year, year after year, followed by being in the wrong group (random luck I ended up in a group that constantly gets reshuffled and frequently ended up on dead-end projects)... it gets taxing eventually.  You wonder what the purpose of the work is.  It sucks all of the passion out of you.  But meanwhile you have to put on the fake smile and be a good worker bee day in and day out.

I hold out that one day, ONE DAY (probably in FIRE), I will have a life where I'm able to sleep well reliably.

[GuitarStv]

I recently accepted a position at a company where I enjoy working.  The stuff I do is interesting, I'm constantly learning new things, I work with smart and energetic people.  That's all awesome . . . but I'm still saving to FIRE.

It's purely about freedom.  I want to be able to read a blog post about bike touring, stay up all night planning some routes, and then go on a multi-week adventure.  I want to take a look at the crappy rusted shed in the corner of my yard, make up some plans, and then start building a new one the next day.  I want to be able to sleep in, catch up on my reading, and write music in relaxation in between these busy periods.  If I'm full of energy at two in the morning I want to go out for a five km run without worrying about when I've got to wake up.  This will make me happier and (I'm pretty sure) healthier/more productive in the long run.