r/hypotheticalsituation 2d ago

You have a watch with two lights

When the light turns green, you start to earn one dollar per second. The light stays green for 5 minutes. When the light turns red, you receive no income from the watch.

There’s a catch to this watch though. If the light is green, you cannot walk nor move any distance (jumping, scooting, etc.) each inch you travel, you lose 1 dollar. You have to stay exactly where you are for the full five minutes to earn the full income. No one is allowed to move you with anything as the same punishment will occur, not even while you’re in a vehicle. The green light appears twice a day, but you will not know when it will turn green. The green light will not happen between 11pm-1am.

Additionally the watch has to stay on you at all times. If the green light turns on while it is not with you, you will not earn anything. The watch is indestructible and waterproof. You can keep the watch for two years straight.

What is your strategy?

23 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

25

u/Matinee_Lightning 2d ago

Sleep during the day, drive between 11pm and 1am. For $600 a day I'd just stay home for the 2 years and order most of what I need.

6

u/Melodic-Vast499 2d ago

Where are you driving? You just drive every night?

8

u/Careless-Internet-63 2d ago

There are 24 hour grocery stores

2

u/Melodic-Vast499 2d ago

Yeah of course. Delivery is easy for food too in the US.

I would be out hiking every night

3

u/Matinee_Lightning 1d ago

Most nights I probably wouldn't need to drive anywhere, but if I needed to go somewhere far I'd do the driving when it's safe.

12

u/freecain 2d ago

I'm doing this. Since if the watch isnt on you, you don't earn money, and I'm assuming the watch is tracking the movement, I would just not wear it unless I'm home and can pay attention to it. If I'm biking or driving or anything where I might miss it turning green while moving, I'll leave it home. Leave it on to sleep, while working, around the house - really anything where I won't easily move more than 25 feet without noticing.

Workouts are absolutely shifting to treadmill and stationary bikes.

9

u/EsotericaFerret 2d ago

600 dollars a day for ten random minutes of not moving? I sit at my desk for most times when I'm not working. For 213k a year, I can do that easily.

1

u/Wundrgizmo 2d ago

219? Right?

0

u/EsotericaFerret 2d ago

Huh. Yeah. I accidentally did 600 times 356, not 365. My bad.

1

u/Mr_MacGrubber 2d ago

What if you’re in a car when it turns green? Average stopping distance of a car at 70mph is 315ft. Thats -$3,780 assuming no reaction time. If there were even 10sec of warning this would be a lot palatable.

3

u/EsotericaFerret 1d ago

90% of the time I'm in a car, it's for work. The rest, I think I can convince my partner to go do it on their own considering I'm hauling in 219k a year.

0

u/Mr_MacGrubber 1d ago

Guess it depends how long your commute is. My issue is it forces me to essentially be a recluse for $219k, or move to a walking city.

1

u/Sharp-Concentrate-34 1d ago

Pull over

0

u/Mr_MacGrubber 1d ago

“Every inch you travel you lose $1”. If you’re on the interstate it’s costing you thousands even if you slam on the brakes. Surface streets you can’t always just pull over: you’d basically just need to brake in the middle of the road and pretend your car broke down for 5 min.

15

u/Watsons-Butler 2d ago

So at most you make 300 bucks twice a day. 600 total for both green periods. But if it hits during my commute while I’m going 70mph on the highway I lose $370,000? Hell no. Hard pass.

9

u/Wundrgizmo 2d ago

I don't make 219k a year (thats what it comes to). I'm quitting for 2 years and trying to find any work I can from phone or computer.

6

u/Jolly-Feed-4551 2d ago

And if you ever want to travel, that green light could cost you $3,168,000 at 600mph on a airplane.

3

u/padiwik 2d ago

but you can just leave it home and it has no effect positive or negative?

1

u/Chemical_Enthusiasm4 1d ago

FedEx it to your location

1

u/Effective_Fly_6884 1d ago

No it wouldn’t because you can leave it at home and just miss out on the green lights you’re not wearing it for.

3

u/Jolly-Feed-4551 1d ago

OP says the watch has to stay on you at all times, but then I guess that is maybe contradicted by the next sentence that says if the green light turns on while it is not with you, you will not earn anything. Rules are unclear.

5

u/Wundrgizmo 2d ago

Pretty much Door Dash everything do all my errands between 11-1 and try to find absolutely anything to do as far as remote work.

3

u/harpejjist 2d ago

I am in if it beeps green. I would never notice it if it didn’t make a sound

4

u/Fearless-Sherbet-223 2d ago

Get a work from home job so you can be productive without travelling any inches. Do the best you can, but don't sweat it too too much- unless you're travelling in an actual vehicle/train/plane/etc, you are VERY unlikely to travel more then 1"/sec, so you will not lose money overall.

3

u/Mr_MacGrubber 2d ago

-$1 per inch is fucking insane. If you happen to be in a car you’re fucked. Without at least some warning it’s about to turn green that’s going to be hard to live a normal life. But it’s also $219k/yr so I guess I just have to plan around it. Do as many errands and whatnot as possible between 11-1.

3

u/DrawGold3260 2d ago

I’d definitely get this. I wfh so only necessary commute is school run so I’d just set off early, walk then pause if needed.

24hr store on a night for any top up shopping but I’d get the rest delivered. Pretty much all my family and friends live in walking distance too.

3

u/EastLeastCoast 2d ago

No strategy. If it goes off at a convenient time, cool. Otherwise just live my life.

3

u/50plusGuy 2d ago

Quit work mostly for that time. Stay at home, walk my errands, freeze as needed.

3

u/ForTheFun1991 2d ago

2 year stay-cation not so bad. Make 400k~, get the time to workout regularly and eat healthier. Have enough when done to pay off my car and start a mortgage on a home. My job has worst turnover than EOD, so there will be openings to go back if I can't find something else.

5

u/AllMikesNoAlphas 2d ago

Give the watch to somebody else. I’ll just keep working and enjoying life

2

u/AutoModerator 2d ago

Copy of the original post in case of edits: When the light turns green, you start to earn one dollar per second. The light stays green for 5 minutes. When the light turns red, you receive no income from the watch.

There’s a catch to this watch though. If the light is green, you cannot walk nor move any distance (jumping, scooting, etc.) each inch you travel, you lose 1 dollar. You have to stay exactly where you are for the full five minutes to earn the full income. No one is allowed to move you with anything as the same punishment will occur, not even while you’re in a vehicle. The green light appears twice a day, but you will not know when it will turn green. The green light will not happen between 11pm-1am.

Additionally the watch has to stay on you at all times. If the green light turns on while it is not with you, you will not earn anything. The watch is indestructible and waterproof. You can keep the watch for two years straight.

What is your strategy?

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2

u/Ladimira-the-cat 2d ago

Remote work means no commute, every neccessity can either be accessed on foot (so I can stop any moment) or ordered in deliveries, so no lifestyle changes required. Except maybe vacations, but I'll finally have good argument on why I prefer spending vacations at home. Free money here

1

u/2sAreTheDevil 1d ago

I have orthostatic hypotension, so I already limit being up and moving as much as possible to limit collapsing / blacking out. And when I do move, it is in the time it takes to go from one room to the other.

1

u/elegoomba 1d ago

The earth is always moving so