> Neither paid well at all, and never did I get this sense of jealousy. You might just not be one of these people. For some people, the feeling of being on you

> Neither paid well at all, and never did I get this sense of jealousy. You might just not be one of these people. For some people, the feeling of being on your way to work is an existential dread. Or like you're leaving your life behind to live a different one that you don't generally enjoy for a while. Some of those people would likely do anything to avoid that feeling. I think for those people, working from home is epic. You get to go to work every day on what feels more like your terms and your life, whatever that life may be. Instead of molding myself into the image of my work environment every day, I can mold my workplace more into myself. Feeding me into: > but it was far from the giant sun lit home offices people seem to imagine. For some people, the ideal working conditions are a dimly lit basement, believe it or not. > [The generally unhappy state of front line workers yesteryear and this one.] Just 10 years ago, I was working front lines at a Super Target, making 15 cents above my state's minimum wage, which amounted to something like $8.50/hour. I'm in general a fairly.. well "stoic" might be the nicer word.. person, so faking a smile for the sake of a stranger's comfort would have cost me more in energy than my employer was paying me, if that makes sense. That's not to say I'm a jerk to people on purpose, by any means. But if I'm in a bad mood because I left for work at 4:30AM to make barely more than enough for a room to rent, peanut butter sandwiches, and my cell phone bill, it would have been difficult to summon the strength. This is mostly just to say that I agree with your observation, but I empathize more with the employees than the customers who feel they were under-helped. Observations from someone who will be entering the middling ages soon.