She works hard for her money.
Since return-to-office mandates have continued well into 2025 across corporate America, many employees are forced to take on long commutes to abide by their employer’s rules.
However, one 30-year-old woman has her eye on the prize as she willingly commutes nine hours a day to and from work to advance her career.
Luck wasn’t on Ruth Ajala’s side when she was job hunting in her hometown of Portsmouth, England.
After nine months of tirelessly looking for an information governance officer role, the 30-year-old figured it was time to get creative and apply for jobs outside her zip code.
Which Ajala was successful with — the only catch is that her office is almost four hours away in London.
The millennial took to TikTok to document her in-office days — which thankfully only happens twice a week. She explained that her day begins at 4:30 a.m. to catch a 5:15 a.m. train to make it to work in Heathrow on time by 8:45 a.m.
After wrapping up her work day, Ajala does the reverse commute — which gets her back in Portsmouth at around 7:45 p.m.
The millennial worker is strategic in how she passes the time during her hours-long commute.
She said she usually reads and catches up on sleep. “I avoid being on my phone because that makes me more stressed,” Ajala told What’s The Jam.
Considering the 30-year-old only has to make this exhausting commute twice a week, she said it’s all about mentally preparing for it.
“I prepare my mind because the stress is more mental than physical. And go to bed early on days I need to wake up by 4:30 a.m.”
Of course, Ajala had many haters reacting to her wild commute on social media.
“The lord knows I would break down after a week, please just move to London,” wrote one commenter.
“This is really not sustainable. do you plan to move closer?” asked someone else.
“Get a job where you live this is stupid,” quipped another commenter.
Luckily Ajala blocks out the naysayers: “More than 500 people have called me stupid, advised me to move, and think it’s the dumbest idea to commute,” she said.
“Whatever experience I get here is taking me to the next phase, so it’s worth it,” she added.
The only complaint the loyal employee has about her new job is having to miss out on doing her morning and night-time routine with her daughter back home.
Thankfully, Ajala has plans to move to London soon.
And as nutty as her story sounds, Ajala is not the only person willing to endure a super long commute to work.
A woman named Grace Chang travels from Arlington, Virginia to her office in New York City twice a week — which costs her approximately $1,000 each month.
A father of two named Kyle Rice is another person who doesn’t mind a long commute for the right job — because he travels across four states to get to his Manhattan employer.
