I'm not certain how the topic came up, but one day at work, a coworker said something along the lines of he didn't understand how people could be so lazy that they picked up their groceries at the store rather than doing their own shopping.
Um, yeah, I do this every week. One of my nearby grocery stores will pick all your items for you and then I simply drive over, let them load them in my car, and I'm on my way in less than 10 minutes.
I don't consider it lazy. I hate grocery shopping with every fiber of my being and always have. Shopping became a bigger challenge when my dad moved in with me. It's a large store and he insists on coming with me. The shortest trip we made was 45 minutes, but most of them were at least an hour, sometimes more. So 1 hour doing something I loathe versus 10 minutes. No brainer, baby!
This was a few months ago now, but more recently I saw another author on FB talk about "work ethic" and how she and her husband don't pay anyone to do something they can do themselves. The words work ethic rubbed me the wrong way. It has nothing to do with work ethic.
I pay someone to clean my house every two weeks. I pay someone to do my yard work. Can I do these things myself? Yes, but I hate both chores a lot and I have allergies, so yard work means days of feeling crappy afterword even with antihistamines. I'm fortunate that I make enough to be able to do this, but if my situation changed, I'd give up a lot of other things before I'd give up my cleaning service and my lawn guy.
It's not work ethic.
I work full time. My commute is long--let's round it off to an hour each way. I need to sleep at least 6 hours a night (although I'd prefer more). I need time to get ready for work. I take my dad to doctor appointments. I blog here. I try to get writing time in. I'd like to get training in for my next 5K race. I need to knit to handle my anxiety. Don't forget to factor meal time into this. And you know what? I'd also like time to just sit down and catch up on The Good Place, you know?
Everyone has their priorities. I like a clean house and a nice-looking lawn, but I don't want to waste what little time I have doing these things. Apparently this other author prefers to spend her time cleaning and working in the yard. Her prerogative. Just don't denigrate other people's work ethics because they value their time differently.
