Work, Anti-Work, and That Secret “Third Thing”

Are.na's Arena is a partner column with Are.na, a platform for connecting ideas and building knowledge. This piece was originally published in the 2024 Are.na Annual, a yearly anthology of writing from the people of Are.na.

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In the summer of 2020, I got my first well-paying job. Well-paying, meaning I could cover my rent, get take out dinner when I wanted, and still watch my bank account grow. I remember the hot and conflicted afternoon when the recruiter from a software company reached out to me. I was in bed with my laptop, just following up on a $200 invoice for a piece on covid evictions in Queens that I’d spent three months reporting.

I considered it for an hour, then agreed to an interview. Then, I agreed to a second interview. Then, I agreed to negotiate an offer. When the salary came, I didn’t say no. It felt, for the first time, like I was doing life right. It wasn’t just the salary. It was also the 401(k) match. The FSAs. The non-taxable wellness stipends. The Pilates classes. The education stipend that went to that expensive trilogy from Proust.

Of course, I wouldn’t have time to read the trilogy. I would spend the hours that I wasn’t working in escape, dreading my return to work. I found what I did unfulfilling. In fact, one weekend, I picked up David Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs and found my exact job on a list he set out; “one so pointless that even the person who has to perform it every day cannot convince himself there’s a good reason for him to be doing it.”