Thursday, January 26, 2012

Monotonous synchrony

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...fingers fly over keyboards from 9 to 5, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, always resonating the same monotonous drumming across the office.

There is something deeply and innately wrong with America.  Forcing people to work from 9 to 5, five days a week -  no wonder we're all so fat, after staring at a computer screen for eight straight hours who has the energy to exercise or cook a healthy meal - by the time you get home it's well after 5, it's already time to eat, forget about cooking, just order something in.  And people HATE their jobs, they slug through the week so they can sleep through the weekend, there's no enjoying life.  And why do we succumb to this mind-numbing pace?  Because we have to.  Because America tells us that without a 9 to 5 job, plus overtime, plus a few weekend shifts, you won't be able to afford that big screen TV that lulls you to sleep every evening as you sit with your pills and greasy fast food scattered around you, with your feet up and the remote in your hand.  No, I think the Italians have it right, siesta!  Why don't we, at the very least, have siesta?  Or we could just work at a leisurely pace, at jobs we like, at trades!

But that is not what we do in America.  That is not our real world.  And it scares me.  After working this way for a month and a half, I know that the 9 to 5 is not for me.  I don't know where I will end up or what exactly I'll end up doing, but the 9 to 5 isn't it.  And luckily, I do not have to determine my fate just yet as I will be leaving in less than 36 hours for home where I will unpack and repack before setting off for a semester in Australia!

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