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I get to work from home every day, and so does my wife.
We each have our office space so we can work in peace but at any point in the day we can just have a chat, we can have lunch together, we can have our evening planned and be out of the door at 5pm
It's just all so much better than the old office-based life
Nothing about that is absurd
It would be if you had this exact same scenario 5 years ago. Itβs absurd if you remember what it was like before, and it highlights how absurd return to office mandates are.
You could even, oh my god, have a hug or touch her nose.
Boop!
Clean tap water.
People have no idea how fortunate this is until it's gone. Several years ago we had a bad algae bloom in the river that supplies our water and we couldn't drink it for a couple weeks. Every store in town was out of water and you had people with well water leaving hoses and signs out front of their house offering it up to people. One Pilot gas station tried scalping 6 packs of Dasani for ~$50. It's so crazy how you take it for granted until you can't just go to the sink to fill up a cup of water (we have excellent tap water) along with taking for granted the fact that stores have bottled water on the shelves.
Ever since then we've kept a small stock pile of water in the garage just in case.
Air conditioning, indoor and safe plumbing/water supply, Internet to name a few
Growing up in the Midwest of America I took AC for granted. Pretty much every home and shop had AC, and if it didn't there were at least window units. Moving to the Pacific Northwest with a more mild climate almost no one had AC, and it's just normal not to have it.
Until the heatwave a few years ago that melted power lines I didn't care, but I realized it was a safety issue and had a heat pump installed. That's when I realized it's a luxury. Almost $10,000 to get it integrated with my existing HVAC.
It's wild, it's definitely a luxury that most people just assume is normal. You have to go somewhere that doesn't have it to truly appreciate what it does and how much it costs.
I have a genetic predisposition to be a night owl. I proved it with a DNA test, comparing my results with actual scientific research on various genetic-related conditions. Plus, my mother's side of the family always stays up super late every night.
Unfortunately, I signed up for the US military when I was 17 and they require you to get an early start every day. So I spent 20 years going to bed when I'm not tired and getting up at godawful early hours of the morning. I would basically get a lack of sleep for a few days until I was so tired, I'd pass out early and get a solid night's sleep, then start the cycle over again. My days off were the only days I got to sleep in.
Now I'm fully retired and have nothing important going on each day, so I can finally let my body adjust to its preferred sleep schedule. I'm wide awake until 2-4 AM (sometimes later), then I sleep until 10 AM to 1 PM. It's so nice not having to set an alarm anymore and naturally wake each day. I've never felt so rested!
I get to handle over $1 million in musical instruments every day for my job.
(Iβm a church organist and pipe organs are insanely expensive)
I can afford to buy groceries from the expensive supermarket!
Having my washing machine and dryer inside my home. After having lived in an appartment with a shared laundry room for 10 years, that chore isn't as tedious.
Work from home and live near a very nice park. When I am stressed or bored, I just put a fake meeting on my calendar or set my Teams status to busy and go for a walk to clear my head.
No human had a hot shower before a hundred years ago and now I have at least one a day
I live in a tropical humid place that regularly gets 40+Celsius temps even during "winter" (it is currently "winter")
But I can afford air conditioning. A lot of people in my country cannot, and have just an electric fan and a lot of water to get them through the days.
WFH.
My ABCC11 gene is in it's recessive AA form.
Which is more common in Asians, but I am European. This means my earwax is almost white and completely dry, which makes it just crumble/flake out. But more importantly, my sweat is almost odourless. I am a bigger dude and sweat a lot as it is. When I used to take a certain medication that made me sweat insane amounts I would literally be wet above the belt when I walked a minute. No stank. I check regularly and have my partner check my smell but I legit have to shower more often because my hair is greasy than because of body odour. When I had super short hair the thing that made me want to shower is when my skin gets oily, which happens after about five days. I still shower every other day because hygiene, but it's a really nice perk.
Don't be too jealous though, nature balanced that out with heaps of mental health issues.
I have a smartwatch, which I got for my birthday. I have no real need for such a thing, but I really do enjoy it. I spend most of my time at home, and it's nice to not have to do stuff like go find my phone and take it outside with me if I want to sit on the deck in case I get an important text or call or miss an alarm.
Also, because other people are mentioning audio and music- my dad was born in 1931 and died in 2016. He absolutely loved classical music and was a real expert on it, especially the Russian composers. He pointed out that in his lifetime, if he wanted to listen to recorded classical music, he had to go from multiple 78 records, about 3 minutes per side, which you had to just keep flipping over and switching to the next one if you wanted to listen to something long (this is where the word 'album' came from, it was originally a literal album full of 78s) to a smartphone or mp3 player that could hold virtually every CD in his massive collection.
That was definitely a luxury, but a luxury that gave him a whole lot of comfort in his old age.
Edit: I just hung up on a telemarketer from my wrist. God, that was satisfying.
I have 2 lap cats who will fight each other over who gets to sit on my lap.
And I live in a house from which my lap cats and I can take a walk into the woods and onto a beautiful apple orchard on a private path without meeting anyone else. But it's also within 10 minutes bicycling distance to the center of a beautiful historic city, which is an international tourist attraction (Heidelberg).
I pay 500β¬ rent per month for the house, an acre of land, a 3-storey barn, a shed that fits 10 bicycles and my workshop, and a small log cabin.
Day AND night moisturizer for my face and eyes feels pretty absurd and with inflation over the last four years is entering what I consider to be luxury territory for my budget.
But, I love taking care of my skin and looking nice, and my face feels amazing after applying the moisturizer, so whatever.
Reduced work hours and work from home with good salary.
A King Charles spaniel.
A bidet seemed like a luxury until i started using the one that was installed in the house that we rent.
Now it seems more like a requirement
Clean water, a place to live, a doctor, able to vote in a free election, driving a car,
About once every 3-4 months I take a 4hr hot bath with, phone in a waterproof sandwich-bag, bluetooth speakers, tunes, Epsom salts, and reading material.
It's excellent self-care. (No, the water doesn't go cold, I let out half the water and top it up with more hot, when needed).
Highly recommended.
I have a human who feeds me and does whatever I want, even lets me sit on their lap all day π±
bidet with warm water hookup. the toilet seat kind, I donβt have the space for a whole extra thing
I work 24 hour shifts but also get paid to sleep. This results in 6-7shifts a month to cover a full time job. It allows for a lot of free time and also easilly able to add extra shifts if needed during tough times
I have a lot of kids and I work hard at being a good dad so I get a lot of hugs and occasional unprompted "love you". That is the truest luxury to me.
I get to be depressed while having a (shit) apartment, a job, a phone, and a car.
Globally I'm hitting a home run every day. In the US I'm a worthless schmuck who will never own a home or retire.
Ridiculously expensive tea from artisanal tea gardens. Like four bucks and more per portion (which you can brew 6-12 times in that sitting, though). It's addictive and sets your standards so high, I can't drink cheap tea anymore
When I was a kid, we had a single family home in a major city. Amazing being able to walk or take transit everywhere but also not share walls and to have a back yard. That crappy little house is totally unaffordable to me now.
Fiber. In addition to my cheerios every morning, the kind that gets me reliable gigabit symmetric internet service with lag consistently only a couple ms. You could argue I overpay since I donβt use anywhere near that bandwidth, but it just works. Internet use is so much nicer than neighboring towns with shitty Comcast monopolies
Lawn. I have a lawn. Just grass. Takes water and space. Makes a little O2 and that's it.
FWIW, I'm trying to get rid of it. Plans to build a solar array in the back yard, cover the patio with a greenhouse that connects the house to the garage, side yard is going to be raised planters, and the front is going to be mostly wildflowers with some small pathways and nooks for reading and relaxing. I'd like to get it to the point where I can "mow" the whole property with just a string trimmer.
