Wow this is so real. Thank you to share your anecdata! Internet jerks asks: "Who don't you just move to Santa Monica!!??" Zero trolling: Do you have a romantic partner who is tied to Pasadena area or is there a better(!) reason why you suffer this awful commute? I could understand well if you are caring for an elderly or sick person in Pasadena, but worked long term for a firm in Santa Monica. (Real life is tough.)

I was splitting an apartment with a family friend in my hometown in a really nice quadplex where I grew up, for $700/mo. Something comparable in Santa Monica would have cost well over twice that and I'd have a stranger for a roommate. The savings worked out to $10-20 per hour of driving so while not life changing, it was pretty substantial.

I quickly learned to cope by making full use of the company provided gym: I'd leave at 5am and spend 3 hours at the gym doing stretches, exercising, watching TV on my phone, and going to the sauna/steam rooms (daily! it was amazing). Since everyone was in the same boat wrt traffic, we'd all take a long lunch most days and leave later, like 7-8pm which made evening traffic more managable. Most weekends I'd drive 3 hours one way to visit family anyway so I got used to it.

Like I said, I have mixed feelings about the pandemic. Getting 3-4 hours of my life back each day has been incredible. Never going back to any commute.