枯竭的白領
職場無憂
Priyanka： Good morning， Wesley！
Wesley： Oh， hey， Priyanka. You’re a bit later than usual this morning.
Priyanka： It couldn’t be helped. I pulled an all-nighter last night to bang through the Anderson case. But now that it’s done， my desk is finally clear for the first time in months！
Wesley： ①Uh， Priya， I wouldn’t break out the 1）champagne just yet.
Priyanka： What are you talking about， Wes？
Wesley： Someone left a present for you this morning. Go look on your desk.
Priyanka： You’ve gotta be kidding me！ There must be three…four new case files here！
Wesley： ②It seems that cases are breeding like flies these days. Priyanka： How can this be？ ③Just when I saw a light at the end of the tunnel…
Wesley： I hear you. But our industry is like a 2）hamster wheel. No matter how many files you knock out， there will always be more waiting for you.
Priyanka： I felt such a sense of 3）accomplishment when I finally finished the Anderson file last night. ④Now I feel like it was just a drop in the bucket.
Wesley： Don’t let it get to you， Priya. Actually， this is a good sign. All these new clients mean that the economy is on the up， and our company is on the rise.
Priyanka： That’s great， Wes， but all this success comes at what cost？ ⑤We’re being worn ragged just to keep the wheels moving around here. How does all this success benefit us？
Wesley： That’s a good point. But realistically， the industry is just that competitive these days. If we want to have a good job in a good firm， then we have to put up with these kinds of workloads.
Priyanka： Yeah， I know all too well that
there are crowds of interns and recent
grads just waiting to take our places.
Wesley： ⑥For us， it’s sink or swim.
Priyanka： It wasn’t always this way.
Just a couple of generations ago，
nobody was pulling 14-hour days just
to keep up.
Wesley： That’s true， but the economy is developing quickly these days. ⑦I hope that things will level out sometime in the future， and we’ll be able to have a good economy without having so much overtime.
Priyanka： I’m sure it will， but it’s already too late for Johnson.