Work Won't Love You Back book review

I am giving you hours that I will never get back. When I leave, you'll replace me or eliminate the job. What do you think your time is worth in exchange for money? Keep reading to find out what book I'm talking about today. 

Hey, I'm Kyla DeNanyoh. Today, we're talking about the book Work Won't Love You Back, written by Sarah Jaffe. It is a nonfiction book about business history. 

There's a significant quote in the book that I will jump right into. This sets the theme for me. That quote is, "Labor is us, messy, desiring, lonely, frustrating human beings." That quote is important to me because many things in this book were broken down in a way I hadn't thought of.

Work has always been really important to me. I'm the person who gets obsessed with my colleagues. I'm celebrating your birthday, right? I'm sending you flowers if you're getting married. But work doesn't always love you back. 

I have a video about 15 things to do when you're out of work. And that's because I lost my job in December 2021. And losing my job really rocked me. It did because I had never been laid off before. And I was working in a small firm. I was working remotely. I was doing tasks at the moment. And then I'm contacted to say, ' Hey, your services are no longer needed. ' The rug was pulled out from under me. And I was like, OK, I'm part of the labor force. What can I do? 

Thankfully, I was able to file for unemployment and get paid because I was let go without warning. But labor is us—frustrating, desiring, messy human beings. I'm part of the labor force, or at least I was. Making YouTube videos is a kind of labor, but all of it is work. It's all about giving your time, energy, and effort to another person or corporation in exchange for money. 

The book goes through a long history of how the automotive industry was involved in child labor and how women were proactive in saying, Hey, I'm going to leave the house. I am going to get a job. And it is like, wait, but now you still need someone to cook and clean for you. Now you're paying to have someone come in and watch your kids as a nanny or clean up the house as a housekeeper, so yeah, you're proactive that you can go out and get a job, and now you're hiring other people because that work still has to be done. 

A whole section of the book discusses the wages of the housework movement, which I had never heard of. Never, never, never. There was this movement where housewives were like, I'm cleaning, I'm cooking, I'm caring for the child, I'm buying groceries, I'm taking care of your laundry, I'm doing this, I'm organizing the house, I'm keeping all these things afloat, I'm working as a project manager, I'm working as a corporate organizer, I'm managing the budget or I'm stretching the five dollars to make sure it lasts, right? I'm putting together packed lunches. I'm doing all of this stuff. And if I were in a business, I would be paid for this work. So I want some wages. 

I had no idea that that existed. I had no idea that women were like, "No, this is legit work. Somebody needs to recognize it." And that was important to me because I have been able to look for jobs. I haven't been able to get a full-time job, but I've been doing consulting on the side. Then I've been able to stay on my husband's insurance while I'm not full-time employed, and even that is a privilege. 

This book discussed how your health insurance and most life insurance are often tied to work benefits, and that's still the case here. You can pay for it with your private account. Still, typically, it will be costly, so you're reading the book, and you're like, why is all this stuff still the same from when the first car was invented in the 1800s? We're still tying so many things to our employment. So much of your value is tied to your employment. So much of your benefits are tied to your employment. Are we still doing that? 

The book's historical aspect was essential because I thought this would be terrible. Make sure you have a work-life balance. Make sure you prioritize the important stuff because nothing else will matter. Instead, I was sitting here, thinking, What? I'll never get that time back. This time I'm spending on recording, I'll never get back. I'll never get back the time I spent working. And you exchange that for money. So, no wonder people want to make a decent wage. I am giving you hours that I will never get back. And when I leave, you'll replace me or eliminate the job. So, of course, you want to make money off the time that you're spending. Of course, why are we even fighting about this? And so the book had me radicalized for a little bit. I thought, 'I don't know if I can get a job again. ' 

I've asked my husband whether I went to law school to become a housewife. He's like, of course, you did. And you went to law school to learn this and that and this and that. And to create a life that makes you flexible enough to stay home. I'm like, yeah. That's true, but also, man, this book makes you want to say, if all that matters is being able to pay your bills so you can go out and do things, buy food, and do whatever you want. Think about where you are spending your time. Think about how it feels. What do you think your time is worth? And that's a, that's a huge part. 

Until the next book review, Kyla