Is it worth it?

Unless you’re a certain pastor, you must be feeling the Sunday evening depression (a.k.a. pre-Monday blues) or… you’re already into your Monday blues, depending on when you’re reading this. Well, you shouldn’t be… remind yourself that you won't be working this coming Tuesday and Wednesday and… you should be have some element of Friday bliss.

But! Yeah, there’s always a but… some of you may have to work. You will probably have your usual it’s-my-peak-period or I-have-some-urgent-work reason. Or maybe, you really have something to do, you genuinely need to finish some stuff that if you don’t, your ass is on the line.

Well, whatever your reason may be, I think you should read this piece of news which was sent to me by my friend last Friday. Oh… being a responsible blogger, I google-d her name and actually found that she is all over the news and is also mentioned in some Romanian blogs. Have a read…

Romanian media debates death of E&Y "exhausted" young manager

Romanian media on Thursday debates the death of Raluca Stroescu, a young manager for Ernst&Young (“EY”) Romania, whose passing was blamed by a newspaper earlier this week on exhaustion at work. Raluca was buried at a cemetery in Ploiesti, north of Bucharest in the presence of the family and hundreds of young people yesterday.

Experts could not provide clear information on the causes of her death on Tuesday and Wednesday and that the necessary data will be available within weeks, but told reporters that she might have died of heart failure.

The Evenimentul Zilei <http://www.evz.ro/> newspaper on Wednesday reported that the background cause of the death was physical exhaustion as she was working too much for a salary of a couple of thousand euro, which is a very good salary in Romania.

Gardianul <http://www.gardianul.ro/> on Thursday quotes Raluca's former colleagues who say that prior to her death she "was looking like a ghost. She was in a hurry. She had to put up a report". According to the newspaper, "Raluca had worked so hard to become somebody until she collapsed. Still, who is to blame?

"Is it worth dying for a salary of 2,000 euro?", Evenimentul Zilei <http://www.evz.ro/> wonders in its edition today. The newspaper reports that Raluca's death has sparked a huge public response about the conditions of work Romanian employees have to cope with and whether is it a good thing to abandon personal life for the sake of money and career.

The issue of career opportunities and what one can do to seize them is very hot in Romania where economy has been booming for years and salaries are still low compared to other countries, prompting major companies abroad to relocate businesses here.

Gandul <http://www.gandul.info/> quotes a doctor who examined the woman's body, according to whom Raluca was underfed as she weighed less than 40 kilos. "She was not eating or she couldn't assimilate food" the doctor said, while others said she also had problem s with her heart and hormones.

Raluca, 31, had been working for EY Romania for two years and a half. She previously worked for Vodafone. E&Y's only manager that could be contacted by Cotidianul <http://www.cotidianul.ro/> yesterday refused to comment the tragedy.

I found this blog and seems like the blogger knows her in person. The blogger has this to say…

“She (the deceased) was a loner, who buried herself in her work, a workaholic if you will. She was ambitious, but ambition is not a sin. She had wishes, which naturally followed from her ambition. She may have had heartaches, quickly smothered, buried beneath files, forgotten in front of the computer or left wandering on the side of the roads she travelled. And in search of what? The desired high social status with everything it entails? A certain happiness? Whatever she was looking for, she paid the price and was way overcharged.”

Have you been working so hard till you feel like you’re a loner? Do you find yourself buried beneath work? Are you searching for high social status with everything it entails?

Yes, I know, success has its sacrifice. But do you know what are you sacrificing? In trying to increase your bank account, did you also increase your cholesterol and blood pressure? Ask yourself… is it worth it?