Bunbury

True. Luckily I haven’t needed to stand in a long while. Makes the commute a lot less fun when that’s necessary. But at least there’s audiobooks.

Fair, it’s not for everyone. I was admittedly pretty burnt out after the 2 years of 2.5 hours. That was too much long term for me too.

Currently only 2 days a week at the moment. And 4 of those 12 hours I’m in public transport, most of which is in the train and no longer inside is the city. So meh, not really.

But even if that were true, what’s the argument you’re trying to make? Already spending 12 hours in a polluted city so I shouldn’t bother with the other 12? Also weekends still exist.

Ah, yes. UPS. In the Netherlands they suck too. We had something delivered from the US 3 or so years ago. It was quite expensive and we knew import tax would be required. Though we weren’t sure if it had been pre-paid by the seller or not. When we heard that the delivery was on its way to our door we thought all was good. Nope. Dude showed up and before we even got a word in he announced in the most snobbish “I’m not paid enough to deal with your bullshit” way that we better pay up in cash on the spot right then, or he’d send the package back. The amount had to be exact as he had no change. We didn’t have cash on hand and supposedly there was no other way to pay.

Called customer service after the guy left. They agreed that there was no other way to pay. They did agree to send the guy back later that day. It was a weird amount that neither the seller nor UPS had communicated with us. So not only did we have to head to an ATM but then had to go to a shop to split things out into specific coins.

When we paid the UPS guy with too many coins he cursed us out loudly and kept on cursing all the way to his delivery truck where he got in, slammed the door and then sped down the road, cutting another car off in the process.

Complained to customer service again. They basically said they would ignore my complaint.

So… how do other delivery companies tackle the same taxes? They send you an email with a payment link. If you don’t pay within x time they send you a letter with a request to pay. With some of them you can even pay using your card at the door. Never have I ever before or since encountered the way UPS dealt with this. When I see that UPS is the only delivery option a store has I won’t order from them.

Maybe if it was just me I’d do that. But I love our house and garden and the quiet and dark late at night and the clean(er) air. And with a husband and pets a cohabitation situation in a small place in a city just isn’t ideal. The only thing it would save me is commute time, but as I use my commute to be productive or relax it doesn’t feel like nearly enough of a burden to even consider it.

If I still had to do the commute daily I’d switch jobs though, but I wouldn’t go and live anywhere closer to where most of the good jobs are.

Well, for 2 years I did 2 hours each way, then they changed around some public transport times and it was 2.5 hours for another 2 years.

I did most of my homework, solo parts of projects and studying in public transport.

Statistically most of those people likely live in a city themselves. Of my direct colleagues 70% have similar commutes to mine. They also all live in the countryside somewhere or in smaller, less expensive cities. Most of them use the car instead of public transport though.

During university the only financially viable way would have been student housing. There wasn’t any that would have taken in me, my husband and our cat.

And since then see above: it’s nice to not live in the busy air pollution of the city and be able to afford a house with a yard. Best thing possible within 30 minutes of work within our budget would have been a small apartment with roommates.

The Netherlands mainly

I’ve in my entire life never had this short a commute. All the following is one-way commute: 45 minutes to school growing up. 2,5 hours to university 5 days a week for years. 1,5-2 hours to work since. Since the pandemic only 2 days a week though, which is a relief.

Sure it would be nice if it were shorter, but using public transport helps. At least I get to relax, play a game, knit, etc. And not living in a polluted city and having a yard makes it worthwhile.

I would try to walk. That would instantly make our one cat sprint to my feet to get directly under and infront of them.

For the other cat saying “soft food” would work. She’ll come screaming and expect to be served. Lord help me if I don’t have food on me though.

I just don’t drink alcohol in the first place (and also don’t get the hype, lol), but I can see how it makes more sense at a friends house.