[smegma2]

Japan has better WLB than the US? Are you sure? This sounds very anecdotal.

> Americans are increasingly worked to the bone. There seems to be no end to stories about people working 3 job, never having vacation, sometimes not even weekends.

My counter: I don't know a single person working like this

[Spooky23]

There’s two americas.

You have the people upset that their big tech employer won’t do their laundry anymore. Then you have the underclass of people who can lose everything if they get hurt or show up late for work a few times.

[bluGill]

I've heard a few like that. They are in the early years of founding a business, their day job is unpaid, the 2nd job is so they can eat, and theweekend job is more money to invest in the main one. The plan is in a few years the first job makes money and they quit the others.

Or sometimes someone who is laid off in a downturn and works like that for a year while waiting for things to improve so they can return to their previous high spending lifestyle with lots of vacation to enjoy the toys they are now just able to make payments on.

[lupire]

"Early years of founding a business" is not a substitantial part of the population.

[bluGill]

Exactly. Most people only work one job. You hear stories, they are true, but they are the exception. Or they are about a problem unrelated to poverty. (Child support is a big one, courts are sexist in many cases)

[whimsicalism]

Jesus christ, it's like large parts of HN don't even realize people exist outside of their affluent west coast bubble.

[bluGill]

I know some poor people. They live in poor neighborhoods, and have little. However the vast majority are not working two jobs.

Or maybe it doesn't occur to you that in the middle of the country it is possible to afford a (small!) apartment on minimum wage jobs. We hear stories about how high the cost of living is in CA, but it isn't that bad here.

[arvinsim]

Do you think it is because they need it?

Or is it because hustle culture has become so normalized that people could not conceive of the alternatives?

[bluGill]

I am not passing judgement on people's life choices. I'm just observing what I see them do.