Seth and I started dating in December of 2019, right before the world shut down due to COVID-19. While I lost my job, Seth continued his research and worked over 40 hours a week most of the time.
That stretch of time was probably the least amount of hours we worked between the two of us. Now, people are constantly surprised when we explain how much we work.
As a scientist, Seth often puts in about 50 hours a week. That can raise to about 60 hours a week, depending on the time of year.
As a recent graduate with two to three jobs at any given time, I work about 50 hours a week, as well. During busy times, that number rises to 60 hours, too.
Neither of us gets paid overtime.
Both of us usually have to give explanations though. The prime example of this was at a recent wedding, when one of the guests was so surprised to hear how much we work.
For me personally, it is always awkward to explain my schedule and I usually joke about how we barely have time for each other, either due to exhaustion or straight up lack of time.
But, the thing is, it’s normal to us. It’s also normal to a lot of our friends who are in similar situations, either due to jobs or medical school or law school.
So why are older people, and even our peers, so surprised to hear how much people like us work?
I think the answer lies in the myth that millennials are lazy.
In a 2019 National Public Radio interview, economist Gray Kimbrough thought part of this belief could be due to the average economic growth in the 10 years since millennials reached the age of 18. For Gen X and the boomer generation, the growth was about double of what Kimbrough found for the millennials.
The full interview can be found here: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/03/766926986/why-all-those-criticisms-about-millennials-arent-necessarily-fair
Now, I’m not an economist and I haven’t conducted any research, but I can speak about what I’ve seen with the people I’m surrounded by. They are some of the hardest working people I know, and some of it has to do with living expenses.
I wouldn’t be able to afford rent without working multiple jobs, even in Laramie. I wouldn’t be able to afford loan repayment, even though I’ve saved up since I was 15 years old.
While I enjoy every single one of my jobs, they are also a necessity. That’s true for a lot of us.
Because of that, I’d like to ask that people hold back on their surprise when people like me explain our work lives. Millennials aren’t lazy, and we definitely aren’t incapable of working long hours and having lives outside of work.
Don’t judge the majority off of the actions of a few, because the majority of us are making ends meet in the only way we know how.
