have a sip of tea - life at first salary

life at first salary.

a good worker is like a candle,

it burns itself to give light to others.

it either work to pay bills,

or work toward passion,

or work without direction at all.

some say there is a “perfect job” out there,

but once it arrives,

it learns the truth:

the job is never just the job.

the environment matters. the people matter.

policies, rules, well-being,

all of it shapes the work.

new laws reshape minds. systems shift. it must improvise. management alters everything. money matters. its health matters.

the world is its oyster, they say, but when does the oyster become its world?

even those who make it “big” are pushed back by circumstance.

the world declares asian americans are suddenly “in," BTS, dramas, films, k-pop demon hunters, but visibility is not protection. & safety is not paperwork. a green card or citizenship does not make it immune. it can still be detained. it can still be slaughtered.

the prison system has become an industry. the childhood dream of “protecting others” morphs into “enforcing ICE.”

a job is not just a job. a dream is not just a dream. there are forces larger than either.

& people burn out.

a new generation designs facilities not for the elderly, but for those exhausted by their own dreams, their own passions, a place before retirement even arrives.

voices go unheard.

the environmentally-minded entrepreneur who works with bamboo, paper, bioplastics pays more to do less harm, & the market punishes it.

scientists invent new materials, creators craft bioplastic packaging, yet it remains niche, barely noticed.

how does it balance work and life?

the world insists: americans work to live. europeans work to enjoy. asians work to die. australians work to retire. africans work to survive.

these are the stories the world tells itself, but what are it working for? what is its dream?

the lawyer works to defend until the law rewrites itself, until “victim” and “murderer” share the same table, until the murderer becomes the leader.

the healthcare worker treats the body, depends on honesty, until the bills arrive, until medicine becomes corporation, until workers become scarce, until authorization becomes part of diagnosis, until malpractice knocks on the door.

the teacher educates in math, science, history, psychology, & becomes therapist for children from unstable homes, while parents attack, lawsuits threaten, & summers pay nothing.

the entrepreneur builds from scratch, brick or digital, & faces LLC paperwork, global regulations, advertising, algorithms, counterfeit products, AI threats, customs, tariffs, suppliers, shipping, inspections, software failures, and trend cycles,

more than a 9–5 job,

more than 10 hours, always balancing passion vs. profit.

the salon worker, nail tech, barber, laundry shop owner depends entirely on clients.

no clients, no income. no safety during pandemics. shutdown means zero.

yearly licenses, lawsuits, new laws, working more than 8 hours a day, barely seeing family.

the software engineer or IT worker earns well, joins startups, chases ladders, but some live in cars. long nights, bug fixes, competition against coworkers and AI. no social life at first. the big bucks arrive, with invoices attached.

through it all, constant job hunting, constant resumes, constant negotiation for fair pay, basic respect, & a chance at happiness.

& at day’s end, the worker is still a daughter, son, friend, mother, father, partner, balancing family, relationships, and caretaking, which is its own job entirely.

so for those who wonder why good workers do not stay long in the system, perhaps this is why: change the laws. set new precedent.

save lives, oops, did we just smack corporate pockets? it bad.

sue the workplace that thought burnout was part of the job description.

pack its bags, new state, new country, new market.

that’s how empire works.

middlefingerclown tried to break china, china said “lol no,” shifted its base,

& collected $1.2T elsewhere.

they keep saying,“it’s about the journey, not the destination.”

nah man, we're all trying to arrive with a billion.

"its cruelest enemy and critic, when left unchecked,

is it uncontrollable mind."

haiyaa. a candle can only burn for so long.

nah.

destroy the candle;

HAIYAAA!!

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#createtogether #haveasipoftea #lifeatfirst #lifeatfirstsalary