I was basing it on the finest anecdata! But yes, I was thinking about artists waiting tables. My spouse works in theatre, and it's normal even for modestly suc

I was basing it on the finest anecdata! But yes, I was thinking about artists waiting tables. My spouse works in theatre, and it's normal even for modestly successful actors and artists to be working service jobs. I have asked why they worked those kinds of jobs when they were clearly smart enough to have better-paying white collar jobs, and they always say that quittability was one of their top concerns. In the period where one could live in San Francisco for a non-insane amount of money, I knew lots of visual artists and sculptors who lived like that. (Anyway, all of them are now coding or have left.) I don't mean to contradict your experience: the word "artist" covers a pretty wide swathe.