The vast majority of people would not do their jobs for free; they need that reward for them to keep doing it. I have found that being paid for it is necessary

The vast majority of people would not do their jobs for free; they need that reward for them to keep doing it. I have found that being paid for it is necessary but not sufficient. I have quit jobs once I have grown tired of them, with no new job lined up to go to. I won't turn up without being paid, but if there's nothing else to it but the money, pretty soon I'll stop turning up. I have a secondary gig that I turn up to about 35 days a year, that is less well-paid (but still pays, pro rata, above the median day's pay in the UK) - I've on occasion forgone some pay from that, at my discretion; the motivation on that job clearly isn't the money either. I certainly don't think of money as a "reward" for going to work; I grudgingly accept the world of work because I don't have the option of pursuing my interests full-time. Thinking of it as "reward" feels like Stockholm syndrome. If work was unpaid, I certainly wouldn't choose my current job. Many people are not as fortunate as I am; they can't pay the rent and bills without constant inflow of money. I wonder, if everyone was as fortunate as I am and could survive a while without work, would more people simply stop turning up if their job was nothing more than a way to pay the rent?