I quit Domino’s two days ago. Two. Days. And in that microscopic slice of time, I’ve done more actual work at home than I did in months of clocking in, clocking out, and pretending any of it mattered. That should bother me. It doesn’t. It explains everything.

For years, I was exhausted but accomplished nothing. That’s the magic trick of modern work. Keep people tired enough they stop asking questions. Keep them busy enough they don’t notice they’re spinning in place. Domino’s wasn’t a job. It was a loop. Same stress, same fake urgency, same promise that if I just pushed harder, it would magically get better. Spoiler alert. It doesn’t.

Two days free and suddenly I’m fixing things, organizing, thinking clearly, finishing stuff. Not hustling. Not grinding. Just doing real work like a functional human. Turns out when your brain isn’t marinating in constant chaos, it actually works. Wild concept.

What really gets me is how normal this is. How many people are trapped in jobs that drain everything and give nothing back, then feel guilty for being tired. That’s not ambition. That’s burnout wrapped in a paycheck. If you want a name for it, there’s plenty written about it on sites like https://www.healthline.com. Nothing new. Just ignored.

Quitting didn’t make me lazy. It exposed how fake that whole setup was. I wasn’t unmotivated. I was misused. There’s a difference, and anyone who’s ever worked food service knows it deep in their bones.

The funniest part is the silence. No tickets. No alarms. No manufactured emergencies. Just time, clarity, and actual progress. Turns out productivity isn’t about suffering. It’s about not being stuck in a system that feeds on it. Read up on the myth if you want. https://www.theatlantic.com has been yelling about it for years.

Two days out, and I already feel like myself again. Not refreshed. Reclaimed.

Eric Foltin

Ordained Pastafarian minister. Spy vs. Spy fiend. Tech-tinkering, people-dodging geocacher with punk roots and hard-earned dev chops. Runs Mad Cow Social Labs.

I make my own writing prompts because WordPress and Jetpack keep recycling the same tired questions. I pull mine from real life, irritation, and whatever won’t shut up in my head. If it’s boring, it’s dead. The results end up here:

ericfoltin.com