Years ago I loved my job. Now, because someone put money away for me, I am blissfully retired.

Why is it a waste? I understand your reasoning about wanting a job tthat at makes you happy, but that doesnt make other types of jobs a waste.

I get the feeling you think that your unique experience is somehow generalizable and translatable.

Work that you love can quickly become work that you hate if/when assholes come along and take charge of it. Good and fair bosses are a very rare breed.

I think we need to try a very radically different economic system. Perhaps a universal basic income paid for by the billionaire class. This would provide people an opportunity to pursue jobs they love.

Going back to work after 7 years of not working-can't survive on Social Security so got a fun job with candy company. If I have to work -make some money, have some fun!

I was raised in the shadow of Boeing, where the school system and socio-economic culture was focused around producing people to work for Boeing and/or one of the myriad companies that contracted to Boeing. That's just the way things were, here.

The near collapse of Boeing in the 70's made me vow to never work for them, and I never did. What it taught me, though, is that a company doesn't value you, only what you can do for them. If you cost more than you bring in you're gone. Simple as that.

I never had any delusions about loving my job - tolerating it over the long term was the best to hope for, really. That doesnt mean there werent enjoyable parts to the job, just that it wasn't meant to be enjoyed - why would I need to be paid to do something I enjoy? - money is the incentive to do things you normally wouldn't do voluntarily, in this system.

So I worked in a field I was extremely good in (commercial and high rise building maint and operations) with the intention to make as much as I could so I could only be forced to work as short a time in my life as possible. I was very upfront about it, never shy about telling my employers I don't really care who was signing the checks as long as I was getting as big a piece of the pie I was creating as possible, and put my head down and worked extremely hard, went to school when I needed to learn something or saw a way to enable me to make more money, and was able to quit working when I was 51.

Ideal? No. Would I like to still be working, doing something I love doing? No. Doing something I love also includes the ability to walk away from it for a day, a week, or even a year. Couldn't do that if money were tied to it.