Fed up with nine to five traffic jams and commuting

Coming into work this morning I got stuck in a traffic jam, yet again!  I am beginning to get seriously fed up with this nine to five rat race.  Maybe I should just give up working and go on the dole, because life would be so simpler and less stressful.  I would also have time, which is something that money can’t buy.

The problem is simply the attitudes of those people in charge.  I use that term quite loosely because as far as I can see ‘in charge’ seems to mean just telling people what to do and making their lives a misery.  Why can’t they see that flexible working hours and even working from home would benefit the business?  A happy employee is a productive employee I would have thought.

I simply detest this nine to five culture that has existed for as long as anyone can remember.  We all trudge in at the same time and leave at the same time every day.  This inevitably causes queues, traffic jams and stress for everyone.  Why can’t we all work at different times?  It’s the same old story every day; tick-tock, time is money, can’t be late but can you stay at work late.  We want performance, deliverables and results. In fact we want your blood!!!  I know it is happening to some degree, but it would seem some bosses are really slow to catch on to flexible hours and still insist that there are bums on the seats nine o’clock every morning.

Apart from the obvious traffic problems, consider that everyone, or almost everyone is in work at the same time, you need to get your car serviced or pick up some shopping so you do it at the only time available, weekends and lunch times.  This creates yet more peaks with everyone out and about at the same time; the end result is more traffic, more queues and more stress.

Just think, if we didn’t all hit the roads between eight and nine every morning, how much cleaner the air we breathe would be?  I dread to think how much air pollution is down to people sitting in traffic jams just because the boss insists that they’ve got to be in the office by nine.  Just think how much less petrol and diesel would be burned every morning, depleting our precious oil reserves.

The bottom line, the nine to five lifestyle is not for me anymore.  I deserve better than languishing in this cesspit of misery called ‘commuting’ and ‘the nine to five working day’.  I may well end up financially challenged, but I’m willing to bet I’ll be much happier.