Work isn’t entirely terrible. Hopefully it’s not something to dread on a daily basis. The children’s book Rush Hour, written by Christine Loomis and illustrated by Mari Takabayashi, makes it seem like every single person headed to work does not want to go to work. Just look at this illustration…

It appears that there are two smiling people. One is elderly and possibly not going to work during rush hour. The other smiling person looks kinda evil. 

Everyone else, all 73 other forward facing folks, is either grimacing, frowning or emotionless. (One dude with facial hair could be mistaken for a Juggalo if you give it a quick glance.) Most every illustration in the book is like this. 

Once evening rush hour concludes and our busy workers have returned home, they’re smiling. This proves that the author and illustrator wanted to make it clear most of these people do not like leaving their home to go to work. 

Work isn’t about loving what you do. In an ideal world you would love what you do, but that’s not a requirement. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with working a job you love, in fact that’s the best feature, but the goal of any job is to make money. That’s it. That’s the meaning. 

The recent Apple TV+ series on WeWork’s rise and fall and plateau WeCrashed, does an excellent job showcasing the BS mottos plastered in WeWork and other co-working spaces. As one of the many that worked in multiple co-working spaces last decade, the show nailed it. Mottos about doing what you love and hustle and fun and blah blah blah are all shit and still on a lot of communal mugs. 

Work isn’t about developing a friend group. Once again, it’s a great feature, but just a feature. The US version of The Office has warped an entire generation of people thinking that forced bonding is a good thing. Required fun is not fun. Your co-workers can and most likely will be your friend, but you do not need to marry them. Or pull elaborate pranks. Or romanticize doing mind numbing tasks. It’s OK to have a separate life.  

I understand the lack of middle ground. A children’s book needs to have some sort of resolution. If all of the adults were just as happy to leave their homes for work, their return home wouldn’t mean much. 

A leasing company needed to sell an idyllic version of hustle and love because without it they’d just be a leasing company. 

The US version of a UK sitcom needed to sell Cheers-like stories in a workplace setting hundreds of times because if they did it a realistic amount of times the US version would have only been as long as the UK version. 

The middle ground should be the baseline. But it’s not and most likely never will be. For better or worse, pop-punk poet/alien enthusiast Tom DeLonge got it right: “Work sucks. I know.” 

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