My co-worker may be out of his mind.

[Trekker4747]

I have a co-worker, I think he's out of his mind.

Here's why:

He lives a 40-minute drive away. (In-of itself not crazy, I admit.)

The place he lives is very rural and remote. (again, not by itself all that crazy.)

He lives in a one-room cabin on large piece of property owned by one of his best friends.

This is a one-room cabin.

This cabin has only a sink and toilet in it, so my co-worker bathes with a cold hose in outside the cabin.

The cabin has no electricity.

The cabin only has a pot-bellied stove in it for cooking/heat.

For meals, my co-worker fishes for catfish in a near-by pond for food if he's unsuccessful in retrieving catfish he eats beans from a pull-top can, which would otherwise serve as a side-dish for his fish.

I've told this guy I'm worried about him, he's living like the Unabomber.

Am I being a little out of line here in thinking that this guy is living a backwards hermit-style life?

 

[fek'lhr1]

It is backwards and hermit-like but if that's what he likes to then he shoul be able to do it as long as it isn't hurting anyone.

 

[Captain Shaw]

Maybe he's got money trouble at the moment and he can only afford to live this way at the moment?

 

[Joshua Howard]

I have a secret fantasy of buying an Aircraft Carrier and living on it for the rest of my life.

That said, when you think about the average person's source of psychological motivation, is he really that wierd? In a certain sense, the way many of us take refuge in progressive society is just as much a form of escapism.

Your co-worker is capable of catching, preparing, and eating a fish without anybody's help. In that particular sense, he is more useful than I am; In my life, I have not ever captured a fish.

If 200,000 people - the population of my town - had no help from the rest of the world anymore, and found themselves alone on an uninhabited planet, how would they survive? There would be no Wal-Mart; money would be worthless; they would not know how to mine for stone or ore, to fashion tools or build advanced structures. Without their network of support, folks accustomed to a daily Starbucks would soon be living like cavemen, chasing rabbits throught he woods in tattered rags and hoping not to starve or freeze.

Maybe the hermits will get the last laugh after all.

Unless your co-worker begins exhibiting unusually anti-social tendencies, appears violent or tormented in some fashion, it is probably safe to assume that he just likes living that way. One question worth asking; has he always been this way? If he had a family and a nice suburban home, and then fled it/them to go live in the woods suddenly, that is a sign of something potentially wrong. Just living in the woods and catching fish, however, really is not.

 

[backstept]

he's wierd . . . not out of his mind

he'd fit right in 150 years ago

 

[Trekker4747]

Maybe he's got money trouble at the moment and he can only afford to live this way at the moment?

He has no money trouble, he's "tight" with his money, sure, but he has no money trouble.

 

[Rii]

Am I being a little out of line here in thinking that this guy is living a backwards hermit-style life?

Yeah.

 

[Kelthaz]

It's weird, but kinda cool. If he's happy I see nothing wrong with it.

 

[Trekker4747]

He seems "happy" but it's just odd.

Thge guy is lake-caught catfish everynight and beans cooked in a can over a pot-bellied stove! He's sleeping in a one-room shack that has no electricity and is taking a "shower" outside with a friggin' garden hose!

What's he going to do over the winter?

It's just... bizzare. As long as he continues to show up for work, do his job, and is presentable I couldn't care less, it's just nuts.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Considering he goes to work every day and is a functioning member of society, where and how he chooses to live is no skin off my ass, or anyone else's.

 

[Joshua Howard]

Perhaps he is secretly constructing the world's first warp ship. The fish and garden hose bathing is just a cover story to throw off the media.

 

[KiraDax]

You think he's nuts, he probably thinks you're nosy and judgmental if you've expressed your 'amazement' to him.

Seriously, as long as he does his job and doesn't walk around with the glare of death, leave it. Living 'primitive' might seem odd to most in this day and age, but it isn't unnatural.

I'd love a cabin in the woods myself...

 

[Rii]

He seems "happy" but it's just odd.

Thge guy is lake-caught catfish everynight and beans cooked in a can over a pot-bellied stove! He's sleeping in a one-room shack that has no electricity and is taking a "shower" outside with a friggin' garden hose!

What's he going to do over the winter?

It's just... bizzare. As long as he continues to show up for work, do his job, and is presentable I couldn't care less, it's just nuts.

Maybe you could ask him? You've obviously picked up this information one way or another, why not ask the interesting questions whilst you're at it? Or are you worried that he'll convert you?

 

[Marie1]

Maybe he has debts he's told no one about, or a gambling or other addiction. Or he doesn't feel like paying for electricity...

 

[pookha]

it reminds me of thoreau and his cabin at walden woods.

 

[Trekker4747]

You think he's nuts, he probably thinks you're nosy and judgmental if you've expressed your 'amazement' to him.

Seriously, as long as he does his job and doesn't walk around with the glare of death, leave it. Living 'primitive' might seem odd to most in this day and age, but it isn't unnatural.

I'd love a cabin in the woods myself...

Ha has volunteered all of this information himself, I've pried none at all to retrieve it.

 

[MetalPants]

Sounds like quite the wonderful life to me.

Most people experience shock and awe that I don't watch television.

 

[Servo]

You think he's nuts, he probably thinks you're nosy and judgmental if you've expressed your 'amazement' to him.

Seriously, as long as he does his job and doesn't walk around with the glare of death, leave it. Living 'primitive' might seem odd to most in this day and age, but it isn't unnatural.

I'd love a cabin in the woods myself...

Ha has volunteered all of this information himself, I've pried none at all to retrieve it.

Are you sure he's not just fucking with you? If someone told me all that about themselves, I'd probably think they were taking the piss to see if I'd buy it. Have you actually seen any evidence of what he's told you?

 

[Mallory]

The guy doesn't sound crazy to me.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Sounds like about 1/3 of the population of Alaska.

In Alaska, unless you live in or near one of say, the 10 largest towns, there is a fair chance that at least some of the conditions you describe will apply.

And there are many people who WANT to live that way. They want to live a stripped down lifestyle - live off the land out in a cabin a hundred miles from nowhere.

My ex-husband, in fact, is doing just that, even as we speak. He lives in bush Alaska. Hunts, traps, fishes....the nearest road is a 4-wheeler/snowmobile's drive away....

And believe me...there are days here in 'civilization' where that sort of lifestyle sounds pretty good to me. Like, for example, when I'm sitting in Atlanta gridlock. Here I am, sitting in traffic getting all stressed....and he's up there surrounded by pristine wilderness...breathtaking mountains....crystal clear water, with no crabby and obnoxious people around to ruin his day.