This might be a weird thing about me, but I view the value of free time differently from the value of time at work.

And largely this is just a practical thing: the value of my time at work has a set, pretty much guaranteed price, while everything about my free time is uncertain, and so I’m much less willing to spend it on things I don’t want to do.

And okay, that generalization probably applies to most people. But the specifics of how it applies to me– well, when I describe it, people tend to act like there’s something wrong with me.

example. A big part of my job is taking and making phone calls. I don’t enjoy that. But I can handle it, because the phone calls I do at work follow a particular kind of structure, and in the end I know just what payment I’ll get for that time.

I will do almost anything to avoid having to make a phone call in my free time. Or really any kind of communication with strangers where I’m trying to get them to do something. There is probably an amount of money I’d do it for, but I’m not sure where that threshold is. It’s high, anyway.

Today I ordered delivery from a local restaurant. The dessert was missing. Listed on the receipt, charged for it, but was not delivered to me. I do not know what happened to it.

I was annoyed, but I did absolutely nothing about it. Just ate the rest of the meal and went on with my day as if I’d gotten the whole thing.

I understand this is an uncommon way to react. But, my reasoning was: Sure, I could contact the restaurant and the delivery service. Based on past experience, each would claim the other one was at fault, and neither would be able to prove anything, and so any chance of a refund would depend on whether one of them had a policy authorizing refunds without proof.

In any case, getting it worked out would require an unknown amount of time doing what I absolutely hate – asking strangers for things on my free time– and the payoff I’d get for that unknown amount of my time (a possible refund or replacement) is also unknown. Could end up being hours of my time for nothing.

I honestly cannot fathom why someone would choose to gamble their free time in such a way.

It’d be like picking up some extra time doing call-center tasks at work, except they won’t tell you how much extra time it’ll be. And they also won’t tell you what you’ll get paid for it. Could be the cost of a piece of pie, could just be a literal piece of pie, or could be nothing whatsoever. Definitely won’t be more than a pie’s worth of money.

Fuck no, I’m not taking those hours. I’ll cut my pie-losses and get on with life.