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In my 20s I did a year long internship in Japan and lived in a dorm owned by the company I worked for. Single room with bed and desk, bathroom down the hall, s

In my 20s I did a year long internship in Japan and lived in a dorm owned by the company I worked for. Single room with bed and desk, bathroom down the hall, shared cafeteria on the first floor with breakfast and dinner served every day (lunch expected to be eaten at the office). Not a bad set up for a young single person. Especially considering a lot of the dorm residents left early in the morning and didn’t return until the last train home.

jedimastert 1y ago
Dorms are fine, but America has a long really bad history with company-run housing.
LeifCarrotson 1y ago
Not a bad setup for an old single person either, or a married couple: it's much better than living under a bridge! Gets a little crowded as families grow, but people have made do in one-room houses (even with multigenerational families) for eons. Of course, the dorm room setup is less vulnerable to exploitation if the dorm is rented or purchased separately from one's employer, otherwise you not only risk losing wages (and, in the US, access to health insurance) but also your home if you're laid off. GP comment was obviously referring to Anatole France, who wrote sarcastically in 1894: > Cela consiste pour les pauvres à soutenir et à conserver les riches dans leur puissance et leur oisiveté. Ils y doivent travailler devant la majestueuse égalité des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain. > It is the duty of the poor to support and sustain the rich in their power and idleness. In doing so, they have to work before the laws' majestic equality, which forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.
- seanmcdirmid 1y ago
  Shared space living works as long as your roommates don’t come back horribly drunk and reek of alcohol. True story: when I moved to Lausanne I stayed at the youth hostel for a week while looking for a place to live. The police would bring in some people in sometimes who didn’t have a place to stay…and it was pretty horrible, I’m not even sure how to describe the smell even today. Suffice to say, I got out of that hostel as quickly as possible. Youth hostels used to be able to discriminate with a lot of requirements to prevent chronic homeless from using them (you need a passport, you need to be under a certain age) but as soon as those criteria disappeared, they basically become unviable.
jerlam 1y ago
I would love a local cafeteria serving edible food. The elderly (or the lazy) would also benefit from this kind of living arrangements.

jedimastert 1y ago

Dorms are fine, but America has a long really bad history with company-run housing.

LeifCarrotson 1y ago

Not a bad setup for an old single person either, or a married couple: it's much better than living under a bridge! Gets a little crowded as families grow, but people have made do in one-room houses (even with multigenerational families) for eons. Of course, the dorm room setup is less vulnerable to exploitation if the dorm is rented or purchased separately from one's employer, otherwise you not only risk losing wages (and, in the US, access to health insurance) but also your home if you're laid off. GP comment was obviously referring to Anatole France, who wrote sarcastically in 1894: > Cela consiste pour les pauvres à soutenir et à conserver les riches dans leur puissance et leur oisiveté. Ils y doivent travailler devant la majestueuse égalité des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain. > It is the duty of the poor to support and sustain the rich in their power and idleness. In doing so, they have to work before the laws' majestic equality, which forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.

seanmcdirmid 1y ago
Shared space living works as long as your roommates don’t come back horribly drunk and reek of alcohol. True story: when I moved to Lausanne I stayed at the youth hostel for a week while looking for a place to live. The police would bring in some people in sometimes who didn’t have a place to stay…and it was pretty horrible, I’m not even sure how to describe the smell even today. Suffice to say, I got out of that hostel as quickly as possible. Youth hostels used to be able to discriminate with a lot of requirements to prevent chronic homeless from using them (you need a passport, you need to be under a certain age) but as soon as those criteria disappeared, they basically become unviable.

jerlam 1y ago

I would love a local cafeteria serving edible food. The elderly (or the lazy) would also benefit from this kind of living arrangements.