 I am giving you hours and I will never get back. And when I leave, you'll replace me or you'll eliminate the job. What do you think your time is worth in exchange for money, right? Keep watching to find out what book I'm talking about today. I'm Kyla Denigno and you're watching Kyla's Reading Day. So today we're talking about the book, Work Won't Love You Back. This book is written by Sarah Jaffe. The book is in the genre of nonfiction and the theme of the book is business history. So there's a really important quote in the book that I'm going to jump right into. And this really sets the theme for me. And that quote is, labor is us, messy, desiring, lonely, frustrating human beings. That quote is important to me because there are so many things that were broken down in this book that I had not thought of, right? So work has always, always been really important to me. I'm the person that 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 out there where I talk about 15 things to do when you're unemployed. And that's because I lost my job in December 2021. And losing my job really rocked me. It really did because I had never been laid off before. And I was working in a small firm. I was working remotely, right? I was doing tasks at the moment. And then I'm contacted to say, hey, your services are no longer needed. I really feel like the rug was pulled out from under me. And I was like, OK, I'm part of the labor force. What can I do? Right? So thankfully, I was able to file for unemployment and get paid because I was, you know, let go without any kind of warning. But labor is us. Frustrating, desiring, messy human beings. I'm part of the labor force, at least I was, right? Doing YouTube videos is a kind of labor. But all of it is work. All of it is giving your time, giving your energy, giving your effort to another person or corporation in exchange for money, right? So the book goes through a long history of how, you know, the automotive industry was and child labor and how women were being proactive to say, 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. You still need someone to 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 actually hiring other people because that work still has to be done. And so there's a whole section of the book that talks about the wages of housework movement, which I had never heard about. Never, never, never. And 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 last. Right? I'm putting together packed lunches. I'm doing all of this stuff. And if I was in a business, I would be paid for this work. So I want some wages. And I had no idea that that existed, right? I had no idea that women were like, no, this is legit work. Somebody needs to recognize it. And that was really important to me because I have been able to look for jobs, haven't been able to get anything full time, but I've been doing consulting on the side and then I've been able to, you know, stay on my husband's insurance while I'm not full time employee. And even that is a privilege, right? This book talked about how your health insurance and most life insurance are attached to work benefits. And that's certainly still the case here. You can pay for your own private account, but typically it's going to be really, really expensive, right? And so you're reading the book and you're like, why is all this stuff still the same way, right? From when the first car was invented back 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. We're still doing that. So the historical aspect of the book was really, really important to me because I thought this was going to be work is terrible. Make sure you have work-life balance. Make sure that you can prioritize the stuff that's important because nothing else is going to really matter. And instead I was sitting here like, I'll never get that time back. This time I'm spending recording, I'll never get back. The time I spent working, I'll never get back. And you exchange that for money. So no wonder people want to make a decent wage. I am giving you hours and I will never get back. And when I leave, you'll replace me or you'll eliminate the job, right? So of course you want to make money off of the time that you're spending. Of course, why are we even fighting about this, right? And so the book had me a little bit radicalized for a little bit. I was like, yeah, man, I'm getting a job again. So I've had the conversation with my husband where I'm like, did I really go to law school to become a housewife? He's like, of course you didn't. You went to law school to learn this and that and this and that. And to be able to create a life that makes you flexible enough to where you are able to stay at home. I'm like, yeah, that's true. But also, man, like this book makes you really want to be like, if all that really matters is making sure that you are able to pay for your bills so that you can go out and do things so that you can buy food so that you can do whatever. Really think about where you are spending your time. Really think about or how it feels. What do you think your time is worth, right? And that's a really big part. If you're still here, thank you for watching. Please like this video. That really does help YouTube share the video with other people. Get them to come aboard and see what fiction and nonfiction books I'm reading and get my take on them. Okay. So thank you for sitting with me as we discuss the book. Work Won't Love You Back. Until next time, I'm Kyla Denigam. And thanks for watching Kyla's Reading Day. Bye.