Man Quits $80K Job to Work in Grocery Store Part Time - Minimalism

[mohawkbrah]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2aQ2e0ch8k

[dachs]

Thanks

[ArcadeStache]

Good for him....some days I'd like to do the same kind of thing, but I have a family to support. At least I've discovered MMM and have almost entirely opted out of the consumerism game and can keep building toward FI. I really do crave the simplified, minimalist lifestyle though. I'm  getting there little by little...

[vern]

Great stuff. 

He gets it...you can't put a dollar value on happiness.

[mxt0133]

Good on him for having the courage to make the leap of leaving a cushy government job with pension, ect.  However, one thing that i'm scratching my head at is, if he could find happiness and meaning working at a grocery store couldn't he have found some itty bitty meaning in working for the government?  I mean it's called public service for a reason right?

Now I get that it could have been that he was just spending too much time at work to fully do what he wanted to do, but if his job was as cushy as it sounded, I'm sure he has enough PTO sick days to probably work 4 days a week for half or 3/4 of the year.  I mean with all the federal holidays it shouldn't be that hard, hell I know federal employees that don't know what to do with their PTO and sick days.

He could have easily downsized, rode a bike to work, ect without having to quit.  Build up the stache and then BAM, work at the grocery store only two days a week, haha!  I kid, sort of.  I guess i'm still not at that point where making bank and staching is pointless when I could be happy now.  I'm too much of a worry wort to make that kind of leap, sort of like OMY syndrome for a fire hose of income.

[mohawkbrah]

Good on him for having the courage to make the leap of leaving a cushy government job with pension, ect.  However, one thing that i'm scratching my head at is, if he could find happiness and meaning working at a grocery store couldn't he have found some itty bitty meaning in working for the government?  I mean it's called public service for a reason right?

Now I get that it could have been that he was just spending too much time at work to fully do what he wanted to do, but if his job was as cushy as it sounded, I'm sure he has enough PTO sick days to probably work 4 days a week for half or 3/4 of the year.  I mean with all the federal holidays it shouldn't be that hard, hell I know federal employees that don't know what to do with their PTO and sick days.

He could have easily downsized, rode a bike to work, ect without having to quit.  Build up the stache and then BAM, work at the grocery store only two days a week, haha!  I kid, sort of.  I guess i'm still not at that point where making bank and staching is pointless when I could be happy now.  I'm too much of a worry wort to make that kind of leap, sort of like OMY syndrome for a fire hose of income.

True, id say he's doing it half right. He doesn't mention any form of savings or investments. I don't know about him but i wouldn't want to be working part time in a grocery store till the end of my days. But at least he understands frugality and getting more freedom from working less.

[AZDude]

Good on him for having the courage to make the leap of leaving a cushy government job with pension, ect.  However, one thing that i'm scratching my head at is, if he could find happiness and meaning working at a grocery store couldn't he have found some itty bitty meaning in working for the government?  I mean it's called public service for a reason right?

Have you ever worked for the government? Everyone I know who does or has, including me, has been miserable in their jobs. The pay is often less than market rate, the technology is usually several years behind, the people you work with are unfirable due to merit rules and other nonsense(and it shows!), and most of the people who get into government work never leave, thus the practices are outdated and outside ideas are unwelcome. Cronyism, favortism, backstabbing office politics... all of these have been 1000 times worse when working for the government, and I have been at two separate agencies!

I'm guessing his work environment is similar and that is what gave him the idea originally.

[mxt0133]

Have you ever worked for the government? Everyone I know who does or has, including me, has been miserable in their jobs. ....

Dam the way you put it, I would rather scrub toilets than work for the government.  But I find it hard to believe that all the people that work for the government have that mentality, otherwise how the hell did we invent the atomic bomb, stealth technology, ect..  They gotta be playing with some cool shit and pushing the edges of scientific research, even if it is to blow things up.

But I get it, he was probably stuck doing TPS reports all day that is just pretty much a jobs works program.  Unfortunately, it took me a while to recognize that a lot of government jobs are basically just jobs programs to justify their ever growing budget, even with all the efficiencies that technology has introduced over past couple of decades.

[lifejoy]

Great video, thanks!

I can totally relate. If you're an extrovert, a job where you don't talk to anyone all day while you're stuck at your desk is just soul-sucking.


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[ArcadeStache]

Great video, thanks!

I can totally relate. If you're an extrovert, a job where you don't talk to anyone all day while you're stuck at your desk is just soul-sucking.


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As an introvert, sitting in a cube is STILL soul sucking. No one was meant to stare at a screen under artificial lighting all day.

[lavagirl]

Have you ever worked for the government? Everyone I know who does or has, including me, has been miserable in their jobs. The pay is often less than market rate, the technology is usually several years behind, the people you work with are unfirable due to merit rules and other nonsense(and it shows!), and most of the people who get into government work never leave, thus the practices are outdated and outside ideas are unwelcome. Cronyism, favortism, backstabbing office politics... all of these have been 1000 times worse when working for the government, and I have been at two separate agencies!

I'm guessing his work environment is similar and that is what gave him the idea originally.

This is so true.

[Nancy]

Good on that guy! He figured out what was right for him, and he had the courage to go for it despite his fears. I like how he also mentioned that it wouldn't work for everyone, but was right for him. I have to add that the stylized shots of him biking were awesome.

[lifejoy]

Great video, thanks!

I can totally relate. If you're an extrovert, a job where you don't talk to anyone all day while you're stuck at your desk is just soul-sucking.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

As an introvert, sitting in a cube is STILL soul sucking. No one was meant to stare at a screen under artificial lighting all day.

Bahahaha so true!

[StockBeard]

Great video, thanks!

I can totally relate. If you're an extrovert, a job where you don't talk to anyone all day while you're stuck at your desk is just soul-sucking.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

As an introvert, sitting in a cube is STILL soul sucking. No one was meant to stare at a screen under artificial lighting all day.

Yup. Plus you still have to talk to your colleagues or your manager once in a while. Which sucks.

[lithy]

Dam the way you put it, I would rather scrub toilets than work for the government. 

Just make sure you don't end up scrubbing toilets for the government.

[human]

Hey I actually know this guy, I lived with a buddy of his for a couple of months over a decade ago. He and Matt (the guy from the couple that run the blog) were always down to earth, good to hear they are following their true desires, passions etc. I've been in the government in Ottawa for almost 13 years now, it can be soul sucking at times that's for sure . . . I was kinda wondering why I never ran into him anymore downtown!

Oh I should mention gov salaries in Ottawa are pretty decent (the video states that he made 80k a year), if he bought that house in the early 2000s he probably sold it  for a tidy profit. Hopefully he put a lot of that money away and he would have had a pension payout as well when he left the gov.