Last Friday I won a couple of games at my lgs with a deck I brewed earlier that day. I think how fun commander is really depends on the meta of the group you play with. FWIW I do have more fun playing at my friend's house every Saturday night, but the 4 of us all enjoy playing mid power range decks, 5-7, for the most part anyway. We've been going for over 6 months now and I'm sure eventually an arms race will break out or something but for right now it's good.

Constructed events for cash is definitely on the complete opposite end of the mtg spectrum from commander, probably draft for cash would be the only thing further away from it, so it makes sense that someone into that would feel differently about commander.

I like the chill vibes and playing weird 5-7 range decks (that can also win games, btw, that is an important detail IMO). I'm still playing to win with my decks. We're sort of creating our own distinct meta that is separate from mtg as a whole by playing in our own separate pod and it's honestly fun af. If it somehow ended tomorrow I would immediately start looking for 3 people to start another new weekly commander pod.