Everyone has a price, but I think the pandemic taught us that there are things we value more than just money. I have a 1 year old. I eat breakfast, lunch, and

Everyone has a price, but I think the pandemic taught us that there are things we value more than just money. I have a 1 year old. I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with her every day. When I'm done work, instead of commuting for 40-75 minutes, I immediately get a big hug from her. She'll go to daycare in a few months when my wife goes back to work- but I'll get to walk her there every morning. If I had to pick between a 30% pay cut to stay this way, or to stay at the same salary and commute every day, I'd take the pay cut. It wouldn't be a hard decision at all. Now, if you started offering to double or triple my salary but it's in-office, there would be some hard decisions to make. But nobody is. They want to pay the same money, but with the commute- and I will continue to politely decline.