Proxy Venting

Here's a contribution from someone who's notable for being not me:


Ever heard of working poors? Very common here in Cali, a state blessed with sunny weather and high tech firms. With stock options, stock grants, stock discounts, bonus checks... many of us worked hard and we spent even harder. I noticed that people kept wishing they had more money. Nothing wrong with this particular wish. I myself always wish I had more money from time to time. But many times what happens is that while yearning for more wealth people don't quite enjoy what they have NOW.

In a typical tech firm fashion, we all worked like there was nothing else in life -- 60 hour week is nothing to complain about. Stress level was high. How do I know? My doctor said that 90% of his patients are from my company and more than half had to seek Rx for depression or insomnia. We worked like ants carrying food that's 100 times their body weight. For what? I don't know. Ants get to put food on their table. We human work our a@# off to have "Whole Foods" and drive Lexus. After MBA I worked for 8 years, in a gray cubicle, in and out of meetings all day and yell at engineers for having no financial sense. I worked from 7 to 5, then I would eat at the dinner table dreading the 9pm meeting with India. The job did pay for my Whole Foods, but not sure if I achieved anything worth mentioning, promotions is always a happy occasion but it simply means a little more money or boss more people around, it's nowhere near self-actualization at the top of Maslow's Hierarchy. Not for me anyways.

I missed my baby. I'm lucky that actually HAD a baby. Infertility rate was so high in my company that they started to offer reimbursement for expensive infertility treatment as part of their initiative to "balance work and family life". HR even gave out raffle prizes for people doing stretching exercises twice a day in a "designated area" (a cubicle intersection on each floor, great place to meet people btw. Sad, but I did meet great people during these official breaks of the day), blood pressure checks were readily available, and set new rules that people can work from home more (people end up working MORE at home b/c they don't have to commute, I'm sure this is all a well planned strategy to "increase productivity"). Everyone had nightmares about work. When we gathered over water fountains and shared our work nightmares in the office the next day as funny stories, you know we're a sad bunch of people. If we were a sad bunch of people at work, we sure make it up by spending lots of money when we're not working.

Working poor is a trend in this town. It doesn't mean welfare mothers go back to work and end up losing more money due to daycare and taxes. Working poors here are those who "have it all" and still aren't satisfied. Have a 3,000 sqft home? Too small, how about moving to a 5,000 sqft one? I can't change my job to do something I truly love, I've got bills to pay (BMW SUV, for example).

The cars on the street are new and expensive, the local high school's auditorium is so obscenely luxurious it puts a modern movie theater to shame. Everywhere I turn I see green (money, not trees). But many think they're poor and they MUST keep working to generate more money to "survive".

It's like people smoking crack. They're so obsessed with making more money I just don't think saving another $100,000 in cash next year will truly make them satisfied either. Only sky is the limit. They'll be chasing after that dream of building more wealth all their life even tho they already ARE wealthy compared to most. Count your blessings people and treasure what you alreayd have. Money won't buy you happiness -- The last time I heard a mega rich girl bragging about how happy she was on TV together with her hubby... she filed for divorce the next month, shaved her head bald, and went in and out of rehab.