i had always judged people who worked longer hours, people who worked overtime. I've always thought that they allow themselves to be slaves of unjust work loads and tight deadlines. but i judged wrong.

ive been with my company now for almost half the year. I never realized that when they said overtime is pretty common around here especialy in our department, it was for real and that is was necessary. During my first week, I just shrugged off any guilt I was feeling when I would secrelty shut down my PC and walk quietly away from my work area while everyone else was staying, not really noticing that it was already time to leave.

And then work load just got heavier and heavier. I would have wanted to just leave it all for next days things-to-do. But then schedules and deadlines become tighter so I was left with no choice but to do the much dreaded 'overtime'.

Complaining didnt do me any good as I watched other departments shut down their PCs, re-touch their make-ups ( I dont really understand why they do that), fix their desks and get their bags as they prepare to leave. So I  continued working on the report that was already 2 days past due.

After several hours ( I left at 930pm), I realized it wasnt all that bad. As a matter of fact, I think I liked it. Lesser noise and distractions. I could actually play my ipod without worrying that my seatmate would be looking all-weird at me. I have almost 1/3 of the floor to ourselves- no shrieking voices, no noisy keyboards, no moving chairs and no frantic footsteps. just me, my music, and my report.  A short pizza break with my co-departments overtimers like myself wasnt so bad too. sharing a few laughs while complaining on diiferent clients, sharing work-related stories and joking about life in general.

And as the day ended, (as others would say), " All in a day's work"