Not wanting to work is not a recent fad. Being glad to have a job and wanting to work are too separate things. If people wanted to work, you would never hear of people planning for early retirement.

Working for the money (or health insurance) is what most people do.

Quiet quitting vs. gunners. Some people think that they possibly can work their way up the food chain to a better position and other people know they can't or don't want to. Some people are duped into extra effort with a false promise of future rewards.

Most people would, if they had the money, be on permanent vacation. I know people who would use up the whole years sick leave before the end of February and no it was not because they were sick. They would come to work sick. They used their sick leave like vacation.

I worked on a farm (decades ago) for a while and some of the workers would go on a bender when they got paid and not come back to work until the money ran out. We would always be shorthanded after payday. The drunks got paid less per hour than sober people who could be depended on. The dependable people got hours even when they were not needed.

I have had jobs where I looked forward to going to work, I enjoyed the work. I would work long hours for no added compensation. It was like being paid to play. I was as close to my coworkers as I was with my family.

It is way more varied and complicated than your story.

TEK