“We make reports, we operate systems, we maintain the database, we do this, and we do that, but what we get in return?  I am telling you, totally- totally not worth it!” those words gushed out bitterly from L.  

“Yeah”, I said halfheartedly. I was also tight in my schedule, and beefing about that certainly was not the solution to my problem.

 Disappointed by my indifferences, she picked up the phone and found another one to vent.

As a non-technical staff in a technical world, basically we are nobody, at the bottom of the foodchain. We are doomed to be overworked and underpaid. Things got even worse after the recently organization restructure. Due to this reform, we have two managers to report now. These two managers have their own concerns and prefers and neither of them likes to make any compromise. So now we have to make two set of reports to meet their different needs. It’s bothering, of course, but not something that I can’t handle. For L, it’s a different picture. With so many hours chatting over MSN and QQ everyday, she could barely cope with one. Two certainly is too much.

After made a dozen calls to complain, L finally satisfied and put down the phone.

“Do you know what’s Tracy doing now?” She asked. The eagerness in her voice told me no need bother to figure out the answer, so I just listened quietly.

“Taking a one-month vacation, in Sweden, with her husband.” She emphasized every word with envy. “That’s what I am saying; better marry well than work well!”

I don’t want to be judgmental. We have only one life to live. Every body has his right to live better. And face it; most of us hate what we are doing. We remain trapped all our lives in those mindless and necessary tasks. And there seem to be no escape in sight. If marriage could give us a second chance, why don’t take it?  Of course not everybody can feel comfortable about the challenges such marriages often face. I've went out with those "good catch", and it usually turned out to be a nightmare. So I know I could never handle the pressures and gave up that dream long time ago. But that didn't give me the right to judge anybody.