Just saw a post here regarding the how to respond to the “no one wants to work anymore” we've heard far too commonly as of recent.
I don't think it's wrong for people to admit that they don't want to work.
I think people are finally able to be honest with themselves about this fundamental reality for the first time, en masse (i.e. at a population level):
We work to live; we don't live to work (ideally).
Don't let outdated and out of touch views from the Puritanical age that's been transcended down for far too many generations fool and gaslight you.
Having this view regarding work has allowed me to be as pragmatic as possible when it comes to navigating my career.
I don't fall prey to the emotional and manipulative exploitations of corporate America and their incessant pestering about their great “company culture”.
I can walk away from jobs that weren't too bad and go to other jobs that pay me more to do the same shit, because I have no emotional investment in it at the end of the day. I do my job, and I do it well; but fundamentally I do it for one sole reason — to collect a paycheck.
I'll end with a message from Squidward: