One Day In The Life Of A Frustrated Man

Jason was riding the train on his way to work this morning. As usual it was crowded. The bigger people crowded out the smaller people like him. The passengers who were standing in the train were all uncomfortable. He was used to this discomfort but this always makes him angry.

He would usually content himself with reading a book, but not this day. The train was so crowded that there wasn’t even space to stretch your arms a bit while you hold the overhead hand rail of the train.

On top of it all, the students onboard the train were playing music using their mobile phones and iPads. They did not care if they were disturbing the other passengers of the train with their loud music.

But no one dared to do anything about it. Everyone was scared of being ganged upon by the students or of being accused of berating a child. Everyone just bore the discomfort of having to ride with unruly and bad mouthed students.

When he arrived at the office, there were more frustrations. Even before he can sit on his desk, there are already plenty of calls from the clients of the company asking for his assistance. Some were nice while most were downright rude.

They were rude because the Billings Department had made an error with their invoices and as a result, their clients were billed more than they should be billed. It was not his fault, but he bore the anger of their clients.

He was especially angry because he was not supposed to work doing customer service, but the recent company reorganization had the bad effect of reassigning him to the customer service department. He hated every minute of working in the customer service department.

His boss was angry, “Why didn’t you arrive early Jason? You know that there would be many angry calls today because of the blunder of the billing department.” “But I’m not due to work before 8:30 in the morning. I haven’t even had my morning coffee yet.”

“Where is your team spirit, Jason? Don’t you see that occasionally we have to make small sacrifices for the company?” Jason bit his lips, “Don’t you know that I have been starting work much earlier than 8:30?”

“But you work in customer service now and customer service means having to work continuously.” Jason sighed, “But when I applied for the job I was only supposed to aid the customer service and not be it.”

“But the company is having a hard time these days, everyone needs to do their share.” “Then how come the others have easy jobs and don’t have to talk to clients throughout the day? It seems the customer service department is always working while the others are doing just fine.”

“I don’t care if the others are having a nice time in the company. You are a customer service and you should do your job,” said his boss.

The newspaper delivery man arrived in their office. He is occasionally one of the smoking buddies of Jason. He gave the signal to the newspaper delivery man to meet him in the smoking section of the building.

The newspaper man smiled, “Hey buddy, you’re awfully quiet today. What’s wrong?” “I hate my life. I hate my job. I hate my salary and I hate my officemates. I feel like quitting and finding a new job.”

“Why? Don’t you know that if I were to choose, I would pick your job over mine,” said the newspaper delivery man. Jason laughed, “Why did you say that?”

“Do you know that I work from 5 in the morning to 7 at night and get paid less than minimum wage?” Jason was surprised, “What? You work such long hours? That is illegal. You can’t be paid less than minimum wage.”

“I’m uneducated and an illegal immigrant. Newspaper delivery and helping out in the newspaper store is all the job I can get. You’re lucky, you’re being paid more than minimum wage and get to work only regular hours.”

Jason sighed, “So you hate your job too?” “Yes, more than you hate your job.”

Jason was still frustrated with his job but it has lessened because of what the newspaper delivery man has told him. After a while, he became busy and stressed out again with the number of angry calls he was getting.

Then he saw that there was an old courier delivering office letters. It was an old woman with a disabled hand. Jason pitied her, “How come this very old woman is still working at her age? She’s also disabled. She can hardly carry anything. She should be at home just relaxing.”

Jason took the office letters from the old woman. Up close, he can see that the woman was shaking as she walked. Jason can’t help it. He asked an older colleague if she knows the woman.

His colleague sighed, “I know the woman. We’re neighbors. Her husband died a few years ago and her retirement money is not enough to support her. This is the reason why she is forced to work even though she is already very old and should just be resting.”

“But is there no one there to help her?”, asked Jason. “Unfortunately, there is no one to help her. She would have to work for the remainder of her years.”

Jason thought about the old disabled woman courier while still having lunch. His colleague who is more younger than her noticed that he was troubled. She offered a few of her lunch to him.

“What’s the matter Jason?” “I just saw an old woman who has to work until the day she dies.” She smiled, “That is why I work several jobs so I can save money.”

Jason grinned, “You’re still young. You should be enjoying yourself instead of saving money.” “But I have to save. Have you seen the house prices these days? They are becoming less and less affordable to young people.”

“But you’re still young. You have plenty of time to save money.” “But before me and my boyfriend can even afford the downpayment we would be near our thirties. Then we would be very old already before we fully pay for our house.”

Jason smiled, “And I thought I had problems. Even younger people have more problems than me.” “You’re right. You’re lucky you would inherit your parent’s house. My parents and I only rent.”

After lunch, Jason went down the building for his after lunch smoke. He was speaking with an acquaintance from a different office. His acquaintance puffed his cigarette, “So how are things going in your office? How is the customer service job going along?”

“It’s not so bad, I’m getting used to it,” said Jason. His acquaintance was surprised, “But I thought you hated customer service? That you wanted to quit and find another job.”

Jason smiled, “I still hate it like hell, but I’m taking it easy now. I realized that there are other people in much shittier position than I.” “That’s the spirit, but if you must know, there are also people much luckier than you. Like me. I just got promoted for all the hardwork I’ve been doing in my office.”

Jason felt jealous, “You’re lucky. I wish I was as lucky as you.” “Don’t be so jealous. I’ve got to work late nights for years just to get promoted. My family has never had a vacation in years. I’ve devoted years of my life trying to get promoted.”

“Well, you deserve it. I can’t help but feel jealous. You’re younger and now more richer than me.” His friend laughed, “You can bet on it, I’m about to pick my brand new car in a few minutes. We’ll see you, I’ve got to go to the car dealership. I’m buying a sports car you know.”

It might be due to his acquaintance’s happiness that as he crossed the road, he didn’t see the very fast car heading his way. It instantly hit him. He instantly died. There was a crowd and soon there was a police to take care of his dead body.

Jason was still in shock when he returned to the office. It was the first time he saw anyone die a horrible death. His colleagues also knew what happened. They asked him to rest awhile before resuming his work.

He looked at his officemates, sure they just witnessed a horrible death but right now, everybody was back again at work. The clients of the company were still angrily calling the company and Jason has to do his job.

Jason lifted the phone, “Good morning sir, sorry for the delay but there has been an accident in here…” The voice in the other end of the phone was angry, “I don’t care if anything bad happened in your office, I called to complain about my invoice…”

But Jason didn’t care what the caller said, “So, this is life. A person just died but there is no time to grieve. Everyone has work to do and they must do their job first before thinking about anything else.”

Jason sighed, “I’m sorry sir. Please accept our apologies on behalf of our billing department. There has been a computer error that is why you have been overcharged. We would do our best so that this does not happen again…”

Then from afar, he saw and heard that his boss was being scolded by the owner of the company. His boss wasn’t speaking, but he can see that his boss was eating his pride. He can clearly hear the owner of the company insulting his boss in front of his staff.

Jason was onboard the crowded train again, as usual, even though it is already late at night there are still many people who need to go home. There is barely an elbow room to move.

A man suddenly spoke, “Good evening passengers of this train. I know that you are already weary with your lives. Look at you, working from morning to evening until you die.” Then the man began quoting the bible.

Then another man spoke out, “We don’t want to listen to your preaching. This is a train and not a church. Let us enjoy our train ride in peace.” Another man said a similar thing to the man preaching.

But the preacher just became angry, “I would not be silenced. The word of god needs to be heard by any man anywhere.” There was a commotion in the train as a few men had a verbal argument with the preacher who won’t stop talking.

When Jason was at home, he was surprised that a few of his friends were at his parent’s home. “Why are you guys here?” One his friends tapped his shoulder, “We were just about to eat out when we remembered you.”

Jason smiled, “Forgive me, I was just so frustrated lately with life that I forgot about you guys.” “That’s what we thought, Jason. Your parents actually called us. Cmon eat out with us. Please have a few beers with us. I guarantee you would forget about life’s problems.”

“We could save money and eat here in my parent’s house. We don’t need to go out,” said Jason. “Really, Jason? Am I hearing what I am hearing?”

Jason smiled, “I learned a lot about life today. About work, money, my future and life in general. I need to change. There are still so many things I need to learn from life.”

His friend smiled, “Then tell us all about your day today. We would want to hear it over a couple of bottles of beer and some delicious food.”

Jason, his friends and his parents ate delicious food and drank beer. Jason immediately forgot all about his frustrations in his life. At least for the moment, he feels content that he wasn’t facing the frustrations, difficulties and even dangers of life. He was happy at the moment.