Overworked and underpaid

When I look around the office, I find myself wondering why some of my co-supervisors are still sitting in front of their computers, when they should have gone home 2 or 3 hours earlier. The longest that I've stayed in the office after my shift...probably an hour. Am I such a slacker for leaving the office on time? Are these people doing this because they feel that they have to finish everything before they head home? Or perhaps a force of habit?

Most of the workers here in our country are overworked and underpaid. That's not surprising, considering the fact that we are in the Philippines and it is a third world country after all. Despite the bad things we often hear about this country, I have no desire of leaving it to pursue a better life in another country to earn those green bucks that many Filipinos are dreaming of. I love it here. This is my home.

This precisely why I refuse to stay in the office after hours. I do care for my agents but if I don't think about myself, who will? Definitely not my boss. I have to look out for myself somehow. I don't want to stay in the office for long hours and end up whining about it. When it's 4AM, that means my shift is over and I have to go home. After all, I'm not getting paid for extending. Come to think of it though, it is not about the money. I just feel like I deserve to go home when my job is done. Perhaps a supervisor's job is never over, but so is everyone else's. A doctor's job is never over because people will keep on getting sick. A lawyer's job is never over because there will always be conflict that need to resolved. A magtataho's job is never over because whatever he's earning will never be enough to sustain his family's needs. It's such a sad fact of life. If I had known that life as a grown-up would be this complicated, I would've stayed a kid like the little prince.