I load trucks for a living and a trucker was signing in today and he said the words.
“Nobody wants to work. They want to get paid, but they don't want to work.”
This sparked an argument between my supervisor, another coworker, and myself. My argument is… No shit, Sherlock. It's like saying water is wet. Of course nobody wants to work. There's a million other things you could be doing right now other than working. We only tolerate working because we need or want money. It's a necessity, not a hobby.
I was met by both my supervisor and coworker saying that was a really cynical and “sad” attitude to have. That they enjoy coming to work. “What would I do if I wasn't working? I didn't have a job once for a month and was about ready to start climbing the walls.”
Thing is, my supervisor leaves every single day at 4. He's salaried and doesn't get paid to stay over. My other coworker involved in this argument does get overtime, yet he still leaves as soon as his 8 hours are over pretty much every single day. My boss has uttered the phrase before “I don't work for free.”
I consider anything I wouldn't do for free to be something I don't want to do. Why on earth would I get up at the ass crack of dawn, drive half an hour to a giant freezer, and spend 8+ hours a day up to 6 days a week freezing my ass off in said freezer if I wasn't being paid? Short answer is… I wouldn't.
There are only 3 reasons people do anything. Because they enjoy it, because it's necessary, or because they're being forced to do it. If you wouldn't do something for free, I refuse to believe you can claim to enjoy it.
EDIT: I will say, there probably are people out there who legitimately enjoy working. But I would wager the vast majority of those people work for themselves in some way. I know some farmers who enjoy driving tractors all day. I know some people who work as contractors who enjoy building houses and such. But these aren't people with “jobs” where they clock in and out and work for someone else. They're people who set their own hours, etc.