Living in the office had many unexpected perks. But it was far from a permanent solution. When the company started to show signs of budgetary collapse, I began to plan for my future. What did I want life to look like post-office?...I had to read that last sentence 5 times before I understood it! I was like: What do I want my life to look like? Post office?!
Having spent over a year rent-free, I realized I valued how I spent my expenses differently. Dropping over a grand every month on a single budget item felt like it ought to result in overwhelming returns. Instead, the housing options were bland. Each had a laundry list of glaring flaws—aging units with no parking, thin walls with no outdoor space, poor walkability and a long commute. What’s more was the sense of entitlement on behalf of many landowners, like I was doing them a favor by handing over 40 percent of my income for a glorified doghouse. The transaction felt oddly imbalanced, a product of seriously misplaced supply and demand....Terry K. now lives in a tiny house built on a truck... and blogs: here.
Ultimately, the company went under. I was part of the first round of layoffs. I lost my job and my home all in one, but I saved over $20,000 in living costs and 216 hours of commuting.
ADDED: I don't know how you can be a writer and write about this subject without mentioning "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street."
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54 comments:
"I was part of the first round of layoffs."
Why am I not surprised?
I don't know how you can be a writer and write about this subject without mentioning "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street."
He's not well educated? If he has an office (these days you have to go fairly high up the corporate ladder to merit better than a cubicle), he can easily afford decent housing. He's just cheap.
If I lived alone, though, I might go for a micro-house.
I had the same thought as Paco.
I slept for a year in my office in the basement of Eckhard Hall at the University of Chicago. The earliest-arriving students always saw my car parked nearby and just assumed I was the guy to beat!
What’s more was the sense of entitlement on behalf of many landowners, like I was doing them a favor by handing over 40 percent of my income for a glorified doghouse.
If the landowners had a sense of entitlement, wouldn't the landowner feel that he was doing the writer a favor by taking over 40 percent of his income for a glorified doghouse?
My kids and their friends in NYC (where rent is insane) solve this by apartment sharing. A three bedroom apartment (tiny) with three or four "renters."
Works for them. They're not really there that much.
I assumed that this story was a lead into Eudora Welty's "Why I Live At The P.O."
The obligatory "Seinfeld" connection: George sleeping under his desk.
I am Laslo.
A funny thing happened to [me] at my [Wall Street-tech firm-shitty entry level job] today which I've held for over (20 yrs-10 yrs-7 mo).
A bolt from the blue, I realized I wanted to be a (writer-journalist-unpaid contributor for a political rag/ideological sweatshop) and that I wanted to change the world and enact change (actually learn something---share hard-earned wisdom---write template fluff about my shitty entry level job and bad life choices that might get me published at a political rag/ideological sweatshop).
I'm guessing they didn't have security cameras, and he timed his sleep to begin after the last janitors left, and maybe kept his car parked somewhere it wouldn't be seen. Businesses will fire employees for this sort of thing, for liability reasons alone.
So he went 500 days without inviting anyone over? Sounds like a hermit!
Instead of the mini-house, how about: Micro-apartments paid for by micro-loans in macro-planned towers designed by the latest starchitect.
A big, green beehive. Bzzzzzz!
Brutalist architecture, on-site life coaches and ethics officers, Eco-friendly food pellets and bi-monthly meetings to elect equity council heads for each station chief's well-being community guideplan.
Landlords, rent obligations and the real estate market...banished forever!
Freedom to write!
I couldn't help thinking of this guy, surviving the way his forefathers did.
tim maguire,
One should almost always click the link before commenting on an Althouse post. There was no office as you imagine it. It was a 10 sq foot workstation. Now either that's the truth and he was working in say a call center, or the size is was a typo, or it's all bullshit. I call bullshit.
I read as far as curiosity took me and skimmed much of the rest. My first thought was where did he bathe? Early in the article, he claimed to get up early each morning for a workout and shower. Again I thought, where? A cash strapped guy keeps his gym membership? OK, maybe. But what about his possessions? These conveniently went more or less unmentioned other than his clothing which he claimed to have kept in his workstation along with an air matress. He also claimed to be able to control the office lights and thermostat. Lights perhaps, but I don't think I ever worked anywhere where I could control the thermostat. Indeed what financially strapped company or real estate management firm wouldn't notice strange changes in their utility bills. I finally stopped reading when he plaintively cries, "What happened to my American Dream?"
Having stopped at that point, I don't know if he evend addresses any of the following. Eating. Eating out every day would consumne a good chunk of what he saved in rent. Even with a office kitchennette people would notice that someone was storiung more food than just lunch and snacks. Cleaning crews and security. Other employees working odd hours. And finally, access. If there was office building security, how is it that he could come and go as he pleased without there being a record. Was he issued key(s)?
My skimming suggests that his main interest is discussing various manifestations of "homelessness" and tiny living options. I believe he thought adding a personal story would make it more compelling. He said he went to LA to realiuze his dream ( that word again) of being "creative." Well, this story certainly is that?
Many businesses have motion detectors that will set off silent alarms when the place is expected to be empty, thus making office-as-bedroom use impossible unless you can remain motionless.
In any case, the first round of layoffs almost always clears out just the deadwood and others with zero (or less) net value to the business. It's only in later layoffs that actual contributors get hit.
What's the real story here?
CWJ--the writer didn't explain, but I would assume he kept a gym membership (really cheap ones can go for as little as $15 a month) and probably got rid of most of his possessions and kept the rest in his car. Maybe used the office kitchenette to make food (brought his own hotplate and blender?). Maybe got a P.O. box for his mail, though not sure how he kept a car registration without a home address.
Sounds like a pretty miserable existence, and I don't know how someone can make it work for over a year. I always found shared housing a reasonable option when rent is high, but maybe this guy has the sort of personality that drives away roommates.
"What's the real story here?"
The real story is if DeBlasio keeps up with his rent control mumbo jumbo, every office worker in NYC will be living like this guy before long.
I second the call of bullshit. His story has the smell of the apocryphal. What kind of desk job does "a budding writer, documentarian, traveler, and odd-jobber" have?
If you can't afford to live someplace like Los Angeles or New York, move. Make your living where the cost of living is more rational. I work in Manhattan, live in a crappy house in New Jersey, commute five days a week. My salary just pokes into six figures. But I hope to be spending my retirement in Arizona. I can't conceive of making less money and continuing to live here.
"Terry K." should learn to manage his life better.
I own a successful business. But I once lived in my car while working a corporate job. I did not sleep in my office, as I preferred to keep it private that my home was a Buick.
The company had a small workout room with shower and bathroom. I got there before the earliest person who was actually using the gym.
I wasn't doing it by choice then, nor would I ever choose to do so just to avoid paying rent I could actually afford. People can adapt to really small spaces, e.g. small homes, but I really go nuts in such confines. I have friends that have crewed boats for long periods of time, like a year. A shared 10x10 cabin and no place to take a walk. I'm afraid I can't choose that for myself.
Emerson redux. Self reliance in the big city. But was there a pond in the park nearby?
I will not opine on the veracity of the story but the concept is fascinating. I think that I could live out of my office if I was a single guy rather than being married with three children living at home.
I do not have a private office, just a cubicle. The building has showers, a cafe lockers and refrigerators. I would trade-in my GMC Yukon for a conversion van, where I would sleep. The building would provide bathrooms, showers and food preparation spaces.
What’s more was the sense of entitlement on behalf of many landowners, like I was doing them a favor by handing over 40 percent of my income for a glorified doghouse.
He got that backwards, didn't he? He's suggesting that it was "like" the landlord was doing him a favor by renting a doghouse for 40% of his income, when in "reality" he'd be doing the landlord a favor.
Brando,
I granted him the possibilty of keeping a gym membership. Why bring it up again as if I had completely dismissed it? We don't even if there was a kitchenette? And assuming your hypothetical, I can only imagine his coworkers saying "Terry, Dude, what's up with the hotplate and blender? You living here, or something?"
Everything else is as you say, maybe.
A friend of mine, while he was attending Stanford Medical School back in the 50s when it was still on the main campus, camped on an open part of the campus. During the day he stored his few belongings in a tree. The campus cops never caught him or ignored him.
After a year, he married his wife, who was a stripper, and moved in with her. That worked out well except for her hours and the fact that she lived in the city and he had to get a car.. When I knew them they had been married 30 years.
"I granted him the possibilty of keeping a gym membership. Why bring it up again as if I had completely dismissed it? We don't even if there was a kitchenette? And assuming your hypothetical, I can only imagine his coworkers saying "Terry, Dude, what's up with the hotplate and blender? You living here, or something?""
The writer didn't fill in the details--I'm assuming all of that. It's possible to do the "live in the office" thing, it just seems a weird and spartan lifestyle (not to mention sort of unfair to the company--most commercial leases prohibit anyone staying overnight in the building).
The hotplate and blender--even keeping extra food in the office fridge--you could pull that off, just say to save money you're making lunches at work rather than eating out every day. That all assumes a kitchenette though.
I worked at a place once that provided free sodas, snacks and even lunch meat and bread for employees who had to work late or didn't have time to run out for food. Eventually it became a problem because too many of them made that their regular meals and the food costs shot up.
“My sister and I were pushed to make straight A’s, earning annual road trip vacations to diverse locales—beautiful Fort Walton Beach, Florida, historic Williamsburg, Virginia, or rustic Bangor, Maine.”
Rustic Bangor? I might have to call bullshit on that one too. Bangor’s not a bad little town, but it’s not rustic and wouldn’t make anybody’s top 20 lists of Maine tourist attractions. Maybe the family vacation included couch surfing section 8 apartments down in Hell’s Half Acre.
I don't know how you can be a writer and write about this subject without mentioning "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street."
I would assume the author simply preferred not to. Or more likely is ignorant of nineteenth century American literature.
kzookitty
Old RPM Daddy... That was great!
Ahhh, good ol' Bartleby. Haven't read that since high school. I remember enjoying it.
I would've bet a tidy sum that Dickens wrote it.
I think that if people like this would stop living and working in L.A. , the bloated real estate market in that part of the country would right itself in a few years.
If you ever talk to a security guard in a large institution you will find that this is not that uncommon. The length of time this particular guy managed is unusual, they must have had very lax security, but people go homeless all the time and the office/work place provides a shelter with electricity and plumbing. It beats sleeping rough.
"I think that if people like this would stop living and working in L.A. , the bloated real estate market in that part of the country would right itself in a few years."
Yep--simple supply and demand, made worse by government interventions which tamper down efforts to meet demand with more supply.
One way this could sort itself out is with an increase in teleworking--people might be more amenable to terrible commutes one day a week if the other four they can work from their home hours from the city center. But the most obvious solution to high real estate prices is allowing more development to meet exactly that demand.
I would rather not.
We had a faculty member in our department do the same thing. Matter of weeks rather than years, but still...
I'm skeptical that no one noticed he was living there.
I was thinking that one way to save on rent is renting out a monthly storage space, and just put a bed in there.
Other could places to sleep. Campus parking lots.
I have a close relative who right now is attempting to do the no-home, no-rent, live in vehicle or onsite at work thing.
I suspect it will work while he remains single and unattached, but will change when he meets a good female who appreciates the value of indoors storage.
I've already considered something like this, I think it might be called micro-living.
the biggest portion of my earnings go out in taxes, and obligations many of which are tied to my house. Let's start out with realestate taxes, I own my home, but pay realestate taxes of about 300$ a month. The bulk of which goes to my local school district, then there's electric, gas, sewer, water, home phone, Internet. (I ditched cable last month), the time I spend doing maintenance, and cutting grass. My wife has become quite accustomed to all these niceities.
If I were to suddenly find myself single, I could easily see myself "going mobile" I would of course keep my 30$ membership at Golds gym. I don't know why my brother in law who sleeps in the warehouse of the guy he delivers mattresses for doesn't just get a gym membership instead of taking showers at our house. But I digress.
when you're young, you have a lot of freedom, and few possessions, as you get older you find that you have a lot less true freedom, but many possessions. I'm at the point where I no longer feel that I own the things, it's become more a fact that the things own me.
What do you call a musician who just broke up with his girlfriend?
Homeless.
I read the article and maybe I missed it, but what did he do on the weekends? He mentions taking vacations, but not what he did on Saturdays and Sundays. I would think that staying in the building then would get someone's attention. And often buildings turn off or reduce the heating/cooling then.
I'm skeptical.
"I read the article and maybe I missed it, but what did he do on the weekends? He mentions taking vacations, but not what he did on Saturdays and Sundays. I would think that staying in the building then would get someone's attention. And often buildings turn off or reduce the heating/cooling then."
Also, how does he take a sick day?
We've had an employee living in his office for the last dozen years. It seems to be factored into his compensation, or at least, I hope it is. On the plus side he's in a secondary server room that nobody outside systems ever goes into, and the stink generally stays behind locked doors. The official rumor has it he's been sending his paycheques to a Ukrainian "fiancee", although I can't imagine how anyone would put up with that for twelve years. The minority report holds that he's deeply in hock to the mafiya, to the point that one former manager said he was always afraid that a panel van might pull up to the front of the building and hose it down with automatic fire one fine afternoon...
(He takes showers at the University, where he has a second job.)
"There's no way around it: we have to do layoffs. The only question is who goes in the first round."
"I say it should be that guy who's living in the office and thinks nobody knows about it."
"His cubicle smells like socks."
"I got here really early the morning of the DevelApp meeting, and he was standing at the water cooler in a bathrobe and slippers. He said he thought it was Pajama Day."
Eckhard Hall at the University of Chicago had convenient showers provided in case of chemical or maybe radiation poisoning accident.
I like the implication of Freeman Hunt's comment that the story may have an element of truth but that he wasn't fooling anyone. Nonetheless, I still call bullshit. The internal inconsistencies are nunerous.
Everything in his story conveniently supports his lifestyle thesis. The performance review where his boss has nothing but praise for him after he begins living small. Oh really? The "executive" position interview where he decides it wasn't a good fit, and didn't take the job. Was it offered? Nice job going from a 10 square foot workstation (doing what exactly?) let go in the first round to interviewing for an executive position.
Imagine meeting this guy at a party or bar and listening to his story. Assumng he passed the sufficiently sober non creepy test that you're interested, how far would he get before your bullshit detector pegged, and you started asking the uncomfortable questions for which this one sided Salon article doesn't allow.
Long story short. This must be the guy who actually raped Jackie.
I wonder if his company could've stayed in business if he'd paid rent instead of freeloading.
"I’m not your average homeless person. To many, I look like the typical middle-class young professional — clean-cut, well-spoken, well-dressed, hygienic."
-- That's insulting to the people who are REALLY homeless, and not just squatting in their employer's property instead of paying money they have for living conditions they consider beneath them.
Also... it sounds like he HAD a home. He talks about renting out his apartment. So, at least at the start, he wasn't homeless. At least, until he learned he could get away with more than likely breaking his agreement with his employer, probably a few laws that no one cares about, etc., etc.
Also: People get interviewed for jobs they're not qualified for all the time because hiring managers are looking for people who are less qualified, but will quickly grow into the role, that they can pay significantly less if they get lucky. It's normal.
I've gotten interviews/questionaires for jobs that claim to require a doctorate. I don't even have a master's.
Mathew Sablan's second comment.
But that appears to be his point. Despite his sneering, he's not above living in those conditions, he's just "above" paying for them. Witness his current living situation.
Hey - at least it's just his life he's messing with. It takes all kinds of people. If he wants to write silly articles, act, do odd jobs and live in the back of truck now I say more power to him.
I'd rather he do all of that than knock up a couple of women, who's offspring then I need to feed, clothe and supply with health care and EBT cards.
I think Salon must have used the same fact checker for this piece that Sabrina Erdley had at Rolling Stone.
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