Thursday, June 12, 2008

Be thankful


For the last few days, it has been very cold in my office, particularly in the third floor where my cubicle is located.
I guess the pouring rain and frequent shower in Jakarta have contributed to the the room temperature drop. With the air-con still blowing, I had to bear a room temperature of 21 degrees Celcius. That is cold! I have been practically shivering all the time it was raining.

Having been born in a city by the sea like Surabaya, I am absolutely not made for living in areas with low temperature. Maybe I would never go and live in Europe or America with this physical condition. But then I should thank God for that, or I will not survive a day. Am I exaggerating? Perhaps yes. But I'm telling you, you can keep me - with jacket and head scarf - in a room without air-con. I would gladly stay in that room than in that space of mine in my office.

Still, I need to thank God once again because as I was shivering, at least I had a job.

According to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, today there are 10 million people unemployed and 19.5% of them are youngsters (detikFinance, 6/11/08). Wow, that's a lot of people to compete with. What's more, having had high education does not guarantee one a job.

Yesterday an old friend sent me a text message saying that she was still waiting for the result of her last interview. She was my companion when I studied for my postgraduate degree. With her eloquence and interpersonal skills, I suppose she should not have a hard time finding a job. But no. Until today she is still searching for a job, all the while her husband is unemployed.

Another acquaintance from my postgraduate years had also contacted me recently. She has been busy being a mother of two, and now she believes the right time has come for her to start working. As a professional, I mean. I guess it won't be easy for her. She does have a master degree, but I don't know whether that will give her a bigger chance to get a job.

At the same time, my ex-house maid has asked for my help in finding a new boss. At home, my current house maid is also trying to get her sister a job. And this morning, while I was on my journey to the office riding an ojek, the driver asked me if the company I'm working for happened to have a vacancy for office boy.

Sometimes I envy my college mates who are now already a manager. Some even get to be an AVP (assistant vice president). But then I come to think that all this time I haven't had much difficulty in landing a job. Except when I was studying for my master degree, there was never a time when I did not have a job. And I hope there will never be.

Really, I should be thankful to God I have a job.



5 comments:

Reza said...

Metmet,

Betul sekali met, kita memang harus bersyukur. But it should not keep us from getting a better job. Punya kerja ya bersyukur, tapi kalo dapet yang lebih ya jadi lebih bersyukur ;)

ps: link nya udah gua bikin...hehehe ;p

metty said...

'Tul. Gue cuma mau ngingetin diri sendiri yg kadang2 suka kurang bersyukur.

Btw thanks ya udh pasang link gue. Nah, gue penasaran, itu gimana caranya sih bisa pasang link sekaligus judul posting terakhir kyk yg elo bikin?

Trus gue gak ngerti, RSS feed blog kita itu liatnya di mana ya?

Pencerahan, please? :)

Reza said...

ah my Dear Metty, that's a brand new feature of blogger.com, just go to "Customize" and then "Layout" and just clik add item, and on the top of the new window that just popped up, will say "New", and there it is, an option to add a blog list :)

good luck!

Reza said...

gile, that was quick met ;)

metty said...

Well, what do you know? I'm a mind reader, it turns out. Hehehehehe.