Am I being a bitch?

I work for a NY based bank in LA. The bank maintained two offices and I was hired at office A. For cost cutting purposes the bank closed office A and is making us go to Office B 5x a week. Now, distance wise it’s only 7 miles but as you know LA has terrible traffic. It’s literally more than 2 hours of commuting a day, up from 40 min! I mean it’s really killing my mental health to be doing this. Am I being a bitch? Or do I have a legitimate complaint. I honestly want to quit. (This is not a hint to quit from the higher ups. It’s a genuine cost cutting exercise)

22 Comments
 

Nah. Start looking elsewhere. That kind of commute kills the soul. 

The important thing is never to let oneself be guided by the opinion of one's contemporaries; to continue steadfastly on one's way without letting oneself be either defeated by failure or diverted by applause.
 

I used to live in LA. The only people who did a commute like that did it because they were commuting from East to West LA and couldn't afford to live on the West side. They also weren't working IB hours.

idk what your hours are but if it's a 9-5 I think it's worth doing the commute if it saves you rent $. However, if you're grinding doing crazing IB hours then I would consider moving closer to the office. 

"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."
 

Can you clarify what your hours look like?  I know LA is bad, but if you are in the office and supporting the east coast timing, there is no chance you are coming in during a normal commute time...and if you are actually working typical banking hours, then you shouldnt have too much of an issue driving home around midnight.  

You are being a little bitch.

 
Most Helpful

As someone who spent ~2.5 hours commuting when I was bait and switched from a "predominantly remote role" to in office 5x a week, I have never left a job faster in my life. I think I was there something like 6 months?

Plenty of people who havent been in your position may call you soft, but regardless, when you work 12+ hour days regularly (this isnt even a bad day in banking ofc), the additional 2+ hour commute is HORRENDOUS for your mental health. 

I would recommend having a candid conversation about how this wasn't what you signed on for, and at least ask to WFH 3x a week. If they don't accommodate, dust off that resume. Sorry OP, this really sucks

 

You work for a bank.  You probably make a ton of money.  That's the trade-off.  No one is forcing you to work there.  If you don't like the working conditions, leave your job and work somewhere else.

But accept the possibility that you'll take a major pay cut.  That's life.

 

If you're working IB analyst hours on most days, then an additional 2 hours of commuting every day sounds pretty tough. Wouldn't be unreasonable for you at all to not want to commute that distance regularly

Lots of people in NYC seem to commute a similar amount of time from the suburbs to put things into perspective, but most people at that point are not working 80+ hours in excel every week either

 

I used to have a 45-60 minute commute each way when I was working in my old role. Regardless of whether you are working banking hours, or a standard 9-5, that commute alone can be soul crushing after a period of time. I wasn't in LA, but can't even begin to image how much worse it gets there. I got a new role and changed cities for my company. I moved a 5 minute walk from the office and cannot express how much of a burden was lifted just having all that time and freedom in my day back.

Some things I would recommend doing before you make any permanent decisions. Really lay out the pros and cons of the situation. Do you like the firm you work for/ see long term potential with this firm? If so, are you able to move closer to the office? Are there firms closer to you that might align equal to, if not better than, your goals? Or, like you mentioned, getting either a hybrid/wfh type of situation set up. I don't want to influence you on one way or the other, but I personally found a lot of relief in being walking distance from my office. 

 

7 miles? You're being a bitch by not just getting a bike that's like a 30 minute ride at a moderate pace...  

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

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