My cousin in Silicon Valley says she has no time to sleep!

[Winston]

Hi all,
I sent my cousin in San Jose the "10 unique things about Winston Wu" article along with my latest video lecture, and she said that she barely has time to sleep, let alone read a whole article.

She is a typical Silicon Valley workaholic in the rat race there, with a husband and children as well. When we visited them, I saw their nice big house, fancy modern cars, etc. It was all very nice. But that life must be very stressful.

Here is what she wrote to me:

Hi Winston,

Glad to hear from you!
Where are you these days?

An advise for you, we normally cannot finish reading an e-mail that's more than 10 lines long.
Some picture may helps.
I have to find some leisure time to finish reading your article and watching your video.
We don't have so much time at our hand at the moment. Barely find time to sleep.
But glad to see you live and kicking somewhere at the otherside of the internet.

Take care!
Roseann

Gee what a life huh?

Momopi, you used to live the corporate drone life too right? Would you say that it is worth it in the long run and overall scheme of things?

[Winston]

Btw, here is a picture of my cousin Roseann when I was a baby on my first birthday in 1974. She is the girl wearing red in these photos, while I am the baby in these photos. lol She became pretty hot when she grew up.

[jamesbond]

Winston, don't you know that in America work is supposed to be the most important thing in your life? lol If your not working 60 hours a week, your considered lazy! In the USA, it's life, liberty and the pursuit of a paycheck!

Americans get the least amount of time off from their jobs than any country in the world! In France and Germany for example, they get 5 to 6 weeks of paid vacation each year! In the US, you get 1 to 2 weeks of paid vacation a year! What a big difference! The protestant work ethic is alive and well in the USA!

[momopi]

Momopi, you used to live the corporate drone life too right? Would you say that it is worth it in the long run and overall scheme of things?

Yes and no.

I voluntarily signed a contract and put myself in a cubical, because I didn't have a college degree and the company offered to pay for it. You've been to my old office in Brea, 7 mins from my school (CSU Fullerton). The company agreed to pay for my BA and MBA, plus I could take time off during working hours to attend some day-time classes, subject to manager's approval (you're expected not to abuse this privilege).

I was responsible for supporting Asian Pacific offices and had to work late due to time-zone differences. But I also got sent to Asia office every few months to attend meetings, conduct training, and build relations with local employees. The company also had apartments abroad, and you could "borrow" them on vacation for $30/week cleaning fee if nobody else was using it. It was part of my benefits and I started with 3 weeks paid vacation, increased to almost 5 weeks by the time I left. I spent at least a month abroad every year and the company paid for most of the expenses. The 6 figure salary + benefits was icing on the cake.

So, in exchange for having someone else pay for things, you repay in labor and sit in a cubical, knowing that it'd have been a great day to go fishing. I had a coworker who was responsible for supporting European offices, he took a 2-year assignment and lived in Geneva. That lucky @#%# got a company apartment with great view of the lake. In retrospect I should have asked for an assignment to Tokyo office, ah well.

Then my whole department got laid off in 2009, LoL. Jobs got in-shored from CA to San Antonio TX. We were offered relocation few years ago but didn't take it. Now I work for a small (30 employee) company. Very different and much lower pay, but I get to be a big fish in a small pond. At my last job people just play corporate politics. At this job clients call and try to wiggle or argue their way around support contracts and warranties.

Every week I deal with people who want to argue so they don't have to pay, ask me questions formatted to make me agree with them, or better yet, "dare" me to do something, like kids at a playground. LoL. I just type up a bill while they rant on the phone, then casually remind them that I'd be billing them for my time, plus whatever else they need that's billable. No money, no service. And if they demand that I fly to Canada to fix their problem or train their staff, that would be $1200/day plus expenses.

Some people just don't understand that if all they needed was a few $0.25 springs, they could've just asked nicely and I'll put it in an envelope and mail it to them for free. But nuuuuuuuuuuu~ they have to be an a-hole about it. OK buddy, I'll bill you for my time, 1 year support contract renewal, plus parts and shipping.

[Adama]

Your emails are way too long. You also tend to be very repetitive.

[momopi]

Your emails are way too long. You also tend to be very repetitive.

He probably never worked in an environment where you received 100+ e-mails per day. I usually just scan through the first few lines and ignore the rest.

At my last job I couldn't even afford to spend 1 minuet per e-mail, there was just too many being CC'ed all over the place in a company with 12,000 employees and contractors. I usually just delete them and had macro's made for common replies, like "your request has been completed".