This Is the Booming Movement To Abolish Work as We Know It

Joe Weisenthal (0:10)

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. I'm Joe Weisenthal.

Tracy Alloway (0:16)

And I'm Tracy Alloway.

Joe Weisenthal (0:18)

Tracy, we've obviously done a number of episodes about the so-called labor shortage, but as we kind of expressed, and it's sort of the case that we almost always hear about this story from the perspective of a frustrated employer having trouble or finding solutions to hiring people, but usually, like we don't get the other side, which is the perspective of frustrated workers and why workers may not be wanting to take jobs that they might have taken pre-pandemic.

Tracy Alloway (0:49)

That's right. So we hear a lot from companies or businesses that are saying, all our workers are resigning and we can't figure out why, and we're giving them higher wages and we're offering to pay their college tuition and we're providing flexible working arrangements and still no one wants to come work for us. And I think in one of our recent episodes, you were talking about starting a beige book for the labor market, which might be able to get at some of this, because in some respects, it almost doesn't feel like an economic shift. It kind of feels like a cultural one.

Joe Weisenthal (1:22)

Yeah, that's the thing. Everyone's sort of poking around for different theories. I think they all hold some validity. There's probably an element of, still very significantly the pandemic itself, whether that's affecting childcare arrangements or the desire to go to a work site, I think it's real.

Early retirements, maybe due to the wealth effect, could be a thing. Some changing of perspectives. I think a lot of people are burnt out over the last two years, or realizing that they were burnt out previously, and that could be a shifting thing. So, lots of theories, some supported by data, some supported by anecdotes, but there's not like one, from what I can tell, like one answer to why this is. And I don't think we're ever gonna get one answer.

Tracy Alloway (2:05)

No, I think that's right. But you mentioned anecdotes, and there's one place that has become sort of the go-to place to get those anecdotes about the great resignation and about people quitting. And it is, of course, the subreddit, the AntiWork subreddit.

And if anyone's ever seen those screenshots of people quitting in a really satisfying way, I have to say, you know, responding to bosses who are just being completely jerks.

That's where a lot of those get posted.

Joe Weisenthal (2:36)

Tracy, can I tell you something?

Tracy Alloway (2:38)

Yeah.

Joe Weisenthal (2:39)

I once quit a job in a really satisfying way. Did you do that?

Tracy Alloway (2:42)

No, I didn't. What did you do?

Joe Weisenthal (2:45)

I was working at a deli making sandwiches, and I don't know, my boss annoyed me, and I totally overreacted.

And I just like, that's it, I quit, and I threw down my apron, and I walked out, and it felt really good. And then 10 seconds later, I was like, oh my God, I just quit my job, I don't have any money. But it did feel really good. Anyway, I'll tell you the longer story sometime. But anyway, yes, let's get to the point at hand. As you mentioned, the subreddit, our antiwork has been exploding.

I think it was a pretty small one at the beginning of the year, now over a million members, I believe.

Absolutely surging, sort of capturing this zeitgeist that gets beyond economics of frustration with the labor market from the perspective of employers, or employees, or would-be employees. So I'm very excited. We're going to be speaking to Doreen Ford, one of the original moderators at our AntiWork. Doreen also goes by the pseudonym Doreen Cleyre online. And she was the founder of abolishwork.com. And so I'm very excited about this. So we're gonna be learning about what the AntiWork movement is all about and what brings people to the AntiWork subreddit. Doreen, thank you so much for joining us.

Doreen Ford (3:58)

Yeah, absolutely. Man, I really would have loved to see you throw your apron down on the floor. That's like out of a Hallmark film or something like that.

Joe Weisenthal (4:07)

It was really satisfying. It was like, I was overreacting a little bit, but I was annoyed and my boss said something about how he'd messed something up.

And I felt like I was a pretty good employee. And I was like, I've had enough of this. Yeah, I've had enough of this.

Doreen Ford (4:20)

Yeah, shocker. I've had really frustrating bosses. Never quit though, surprisingly. I'm pretty stubborn.