> Wait, so what you're saying is, you work for a company that takes advantage of you by paying you call center wages to do IT work that would otherwise cost the company much, much more to have done. This also possibly takes work away from some poor out-of-work IT shlub who isn't getting a contract to do this work because you're doing it for pennies on the dollar. And you're happy with this?
>
> Well, ok...
>
> -- Dave

Actually, the situation for IT folks is a bit worse than that. In it's infinite wisdom, my company decided at one point that it had no need for an onsite help desk. They figured that any computer problem can be fixed over the phone, for less money. So they promptly fired every single help desk employee (or laid them off, or whatever), and then went and outsourced the entire department to India.

This, at a company where the average employee is about as computer-savvy as my great grandmother (and she's dead).

Anyway, it took about a half-hour before the productivity of thousands of employees ground to a sudden, lurching halt. It was about 3 or 4 days before the upper management was willing to acknowledge that they had made a big mistake, and that we do need those on-site geeks after all. But the contract had already been signed, so there was no choice except to fly some help-desk folks from India to the US to do whatever it is that on-site helpdesk folks do.

My company looks at information technology as if it is a needless expense. My degree is in Information Technology (or at least it will be, when I complete it at around March). Can you guess what kinds of exciting career prospects I can look forward to with this company?

That's one way of looking at the situation, and it is a valid one. But there is another perspective.

I have lived a hard life. I once saw a list of the ten most painful experiences that a human being can experience in a lifetime. Of those ten, seven have happened directly to me or my family, and one of the remaining three came close to happening. I'm not about to claim that I've had more pain than anybody else - I know that that's not true. But I have definitely had enough pain in my life to know what is and what isn't important. And - believe me, money is not important in and of itself. The purpose of having money is to pay your bills - past, present, and future. Sometimes you have it, and sometimes you don't. When you don't have it, life is hard.

But it's also at those times when life is at it's hardest, that God lets me know just how much he cares for me. It's not that things get desperate, so I get all pious, and God decides to have mercy on me; rather, it's that God really is in control of the situation all along, and *all* I need to do is to let him handle it. I don't have to understand it - after all, if he really is an all-powerful, all-knowing God, then his thoughts are already far beyond my own. I either trust him, or I don't. And if I really do trust him, then I don't worry about my present circumstances. (I mean, what's the worst that can happen? I can die. And then I get to meet him face to face. Whatever heaven is like, it's got to be better than this place.) All I really need to know is that I *am* here for a reason, and that reason may not be one that comes to my mind.

That is enough to provide contentment amid bad conditions. Contentment is something that eludes even billionaires. And as for happiness - real happiness - well, it sure helps to have people around you that know you well enough to know your weaknesses, but who choose to focus on your strengths instead. Around such people you can be yourself, and it's still considered to be a good thing.

- Enigma