Corporate America is a succubus and that’s the truth. Anyone who disagrees either gets paid so well that they overlook it or they have never held an office job before (People in retail, I weep for you too). In all honesty it drains your soul. It chews you up and spits you out and by the time you make it to retirement will you realize that the business consumed every part of your life and you don’t have too much to show for it.


Think of it. Most people work from 9-5 or 8-4 but never does your day start exactly at 8 or 9pm. For many the day begins at 6am or earlier (Try 4:45am). You’re groggy as you roll out of bed. Your shoulders begin to slump and your back begins to twinge. You do your daily routine and maybe in an hour or so it’s time to go outside. The commute is long and boring. The zombie-like trance kicks in and somehow you make it to work unscathed without remembering how you got there exactly.

You make it inside the office and settle in. The fluorescent lights shine upon you with enough brightness to irritate you and keep you awake but just inviting and monotonous enough to fall asleep. Your co-workers all have that same empty look except for the one or two people who are always perky and upbeat no matter what time of day it is (Where do those people come from?). Your cubicle feels like prison and before you have a chance to get settled the rush begins. The phones begin to ring off the hook, the work piles up and there’s 6 people in your ear telling you that what you’re doing is wrong and contradicting what the person before them told you.

It feels like an impossible climb just to make it to lunch and after you step foot outside you wonder when you became a vampire since the sun burns your skin and eyes. You spend 15 minutes trying to get something that you need to eat in 6 minutes so you can get back to the worst part of work. After lunch sleep is creeping up behind you (The Sandman’s priorities are off. He’s needed at 1am not 1pm). The struggle to stay awake feels like a losing battle and every passing minute feels more like an eternity. All noises become background noises and they all run together until 15 minutes before it’s time to go.

Now you have that second wind and you need it because that long commute back home is a killer. You’re on the bus or the train or stuck in traffic sandwiched between people like sardines and though you’re relieved you going home the reality remains that you will only have a few short hours of bliss before having to go to bed and doing the same thing over again tomorrow (Weekends are not long enough. I don’t know how people still fit in social lives with such little free-time). A little piece of your soul is gone and Corporate America has no intention of giving it back.