A mid-summer night hare (5)

As they walk for a while, Hareta and Emmy have already arrived the hall of ESF School.

Emmy sits down with Hareta. The info session has still not commenced. There is an awkward silence between the two strangers. Emmy seems a bit curious about Hareta’s past and turns her head towards Hareta. Emmy says, “Oh, Hareta. I hope you don’t mind me asking. What do you do for a living? You look very elegant. Are you some sort of office clerk or professional? My husband is an investment banker. He works around the clock. I hardly see him home! I feel bad for him.”

Hareta says, “I work at the Big Four. My husband too.”

Emmy seems a bit surprised. She says, “Me too! I used to work at Laitman and Ron. Which firm do you work in? I was in marketing for Laitman. As you know, Laitman went bankrupt. The Hong Kong branch was dismissed so I no longer work in the industry anymore. The economy was kind of bad at the time and I couldn’t find a well-paid entry level job. I was exhausted from my job anyways so I switched my career to become a private tutor. I didn’t even want to look for jobs after having Edison. It is pointless when you think about it. The pay at Big Four is good and I was earning around 60,000 a month as a fresh grad. But I hardly had time to spend all that money!”

Hareta gives a solemn look but she tries to act relaxed. After all, she still works at the Big Four. Because she is a new immigrant with a Chinese university degree and was hired as a local, her starting salary was just 9,000 HKD, one-fifth of Emmy’s starting salary. But with all these years of experience as a retained staff with loyalty, her salary has been adjusted according to inflation up to around 30,000 HKD a month.

But with that 30,000HKD of salary, she doesn’t work any less than Emmy. Hareta wakes up earlier than the rooster every day and goes into the office from 9 til 12 midnight. No exception. She works 7 days a week. The weekends are better but she still has to come into the office on Sundays. That is a minimum of 100 hours a week.

A lot of people find it hard to believe. If you are earning a few million HKD dollars annually, you are excused to work to death. But for a mere 30,000 HKD, why the hell are you working your ass off? Well, let’s put it this way: Hareta desperately needs that job. Since the death of her husband, she needs her job even more. She does not necessarily love her job but she really cannot afford to lose her title as a Big Four accountant. For a girl like her with no background, no social status and no prestige, she really desires the brand of a bulge bracket financial institution to make her look respectable. ”The halo effect” as you would call it. So even if she works til she gets hospitalized, she would never complain a word about it. The Big Four is indeed her identity-laundering shop.

Hareta acts rather firm and says, “Yes, we were all shocked to hear that Laitman and Ron went bankrupt. Thank god that I work at Saks and I haven’t got laid off. Touch wood. I have been working at Cooperham Saks for almost ten plus years already.”

Hareta is slightly disturbed. She thinks to herself, “Emmy, you are just a bitch who is forunate to have gotten where you are with your looks and outer appearance. Why do you deserve to have a salary 6 times as much as mine? It makes perfect sense that your employer went bankrupt. You deserve it. You deserve to be out of job. Your boss must have been a fool to offer you 60,000 a month. They must have gone bankrupt because they employed idiots like you. You stupid dumbo.”