“Is there not a job for you closer to home?”
Commuting to work. Something that a lot of people grumble about. Trains delayed weather cold and not enough time in the morning.
For me, I book my taxi either the night before or in the morning. I’m grateful that it gets me there from door to door. It takes about 40-60 minutes each way depending on traffic. I enjoy thinking about my day ahead, do the usual small talk or get into a deep life convo if it’s a usual driver. Coming home I’m shattered and enjoy watching the sun go down, text any friends I need to, check social media and think about what I’m having for my dinner.
Sometimes I get a driver who I’ve not seen before. There may be traffic ahead. And on occasion (it’s getting more and more lately) I will be asked: “is there not a job for you closer to home?”
Now, this baffles me for several reasons.
Those who work, commute. I’ve just googled it and apparently, at the time of writing this, the average commuting time in the UK is 1 hour. So, I can’t help but feel frustrated that I get asked this question.
Just because I use a form of transport that’s different to others, (because my local train station is inaccessible) it doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Something that “seems a lot of effort” is actually what everyone does. Being disabled doesn’t make something less important to do. It also doesn’t lower your aspirations in life.
I can’t help but think when people ask me this question, they really mean. Why do you bother?
The point is, I love my job. I studied Media at Uni and I have an actual job related to it. I’m not given a job “to get out” (I get that a lot too). I have skills to bring, projects to complete and work colleagues to enjoy my day with (and office snacks to eat obvs).
The fact is people commute to the job they want to commute to. They don’t go for the first job that’s closest to them. In fact, most of the time it’s so difficult to get a job – you are grateful to have one and understand commuting is part of the package.
And I am exactly the same. I want to develop myself and my career and that’s what I’m doing. So there’s no lightbulb moment to this post. It’s just answering a question I get a lot. When someone asks isn’t there a job closer to home for me.
I say, no, no there isn’t.
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Can I just ask?