Since a lot of people wonder what I really do, I work from home. This essentially means that I am a full time employee of an organization and receive regular pay for my work even if I do not have a comfortable swivel chair or work under the AC.
Why am I making this post? Because I am tired of people assuming that simply because I work from home I do not have a job. I am sick of people giving me a dismissive look each time I tell them that my job does not take me to a swanky office and that I do not have the time to visit people or do odd jobs or even take random phone calls only because I am at home. I am tired of people accusing me of being jobless and happily so and not making any effort to get a “real” job. People, my job does not entail 4 hours of travel time in a local train or a bus, a cubicle with a phone buzzing constantly, bitchy co-workers and a big brand, but I have a “real” job, believe it or not.
And my “real” job consists of deadlines, a boss, instructions and work ethics. No, I do not sleep each time you call me, and I do not watch television soaps all afternoon. I W.O.R.K. And if I don’t, I won’t get paid. And this job and its pay work for me way more than your kind of a “real” job. I do not spend half my pay on commute and I do not spend my days howling in the bathroom about why I was not promoted. My job gives me the satisfaction of doing what I do best, and I do not have to live my life on any compromise. At least I do not have to do something brain-numbing only because I can’t find anything that really interests me. I do not take coffee to the boss and I do not have the pressures of keeping up appearances at work.
And contrary to what you think, I am not wasting my education sitting at home. In the first place, in spite of all efforts invested into me, dropping out of education was my own choice, and I am proud of it. I made a conscious decision to pay for my own things, my own cigarette and my own shoes, and that is what I have been doing all this while. And I am not even highly educated. I am a simple second-class literature graduate and I have no other degrees, know no other language and have no other competencies. I have fully utilized the ones I have in my job, and I am happy about it. Sure I cannot afford a lot of things, and often I have to depend on others for a lot of things. But that has nothing to do with my job. I am a pauper because I spend a third of my pay on cigarettes and another third to fund eating out, after I am done using up what my guy earns.
I cannot give you things, and I cannot flash my diamonds. In spite of that I have a job. My job keeps me alive, because I have a debilitating disease and I cannot afford to skip lunch because I am in a meeting with the boss. I do not get propositions to sleep with co-workers. I have been spoilt from childhood because I always traveled comfortably in cars. I cannot take a bus to work. That is my preference. If I stay at home and earn as much as the next person, you’re mad to complain.
And no, working from home does not mean I have been given a day off, so I cannot raise children. If you still don’t get it, you can go complaining to the next pillar and I won’t care.
“Nuff said.
Filed under: Bitchy bitch !!, Goa Blues, Inside the wall | 11 Comments »