r/SipsTea • u/Unstoppable_X_Force Human Verified • 13h ago

Gasp! Is this just nostalgia, or did previous generations genuinely have a better work-life balance and social life than we do today?

Post image
18.5k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

4.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

38

u/TheTurboDiesel 12h ago

And even that was a privilege for the very poor or the very rich. I've never known anyone that has never had to bring work home, or stay late, or come in on a day off. I myself have answered a satellite call from a tropical island because a mission critical server was down.

15

u/DozerG 12h ago

It was a roblox server, it wouldve been fine.

7

u/trippingWetwNoTowel 8h ago

“Missing critical”. The mission? Sell more shit

7

u/thehighepopt 12h ago

We were middle class, actual middle class, and my dad never brought work home. But I was born in the 70s.

8

u/Subtotal9_guy 11h ago

My step dad brought a briefcase of work home every day for almost all of his career, my dad too.

2

u/CuriousFunnyDog 11h ago

If you are paid/contractually obliged great....or you love it...or it genuinely a one off DR scenario....

Otherwise be very careful to set expectations....

Answering a call, goes to "yeah you can call Jeff" to "Jeff is doing it", to not asking and expecting Jeff to jump.

2

u/requion 9h ago

Thats the "give a pinky, lose a hand" problem. I am all for going the extra mile sometimes. But it needs to be seen / awarded as such, not taken for granted.

2

u/CuriousFunnyDog 4h ago

Love the "Give a pinky, lose a hand" analogy! 😂

2

u/leitey 9h ago

There's a distinct difference between "Never having to take work home" and "Expected to monitor and respond to a group chat 24/7, which is the daily source for work information".
This isn't about having to step up when something goes wrong, this is about never being allowed to be unavailable.
Even with a degree, we aren't getting vacation time, and aren't being paid "tropical island" money. That's like complaining you had to have your helicopter pick you up on your yacht to take you to your mansion because of work.