thankful

I went to get a haircut after the wedding on Saturday. The salon I always go to was fully booked. I tried some other salon's along the road, but they were all full as well. Some of them only had 1 person working, so was a bit short staffed. How can you have only 1 staff working on a Saturday? Stress.

So in the end, I went to this random salon. From the outside, it looked a bit... unconvincing? But I thought, I just need a trim, you can't screw up a 1 inch haircut. So I went in and was greeted by a Filipino lady. She said her sister will be cutting my hair. I didn't really mind.

While cutting my hair, the sister made small talk. Asked the normal questions ie where do you live, where are you from, etc. She then asked me about my fiance (as I was wearing my ring), asked what he does etc. I told her and she said I was very lucky.

I asked why? And she told me that she works 5 days a week at a hospital as a lab assistant. She works weekends at her sister's salon. And 3 nights a week, she irons clothes for other people.

That means no weekends, and no time off. 

I suddenly felt so bad. All my constant whinging about how bad work is, the long hours, feels so insignificant compared to what this lady goes through. I told myself then and there, be thankful for what you have. Other people may be suffering more than you. Stop complaining!

This was my mantra to myself as I switched on my work laptop at 8am on a Sunday morning...