In Korea it's called gwarosa (과로사/過勞死)
China, guolaosi (Traditional:過勞死 Simplified:过劳死)
For folks who commit suicide due to the stress of work, "karōjisatsu (過労自殺)."
Giles Prentice: A broken what?
Secretary Baird: Broken Arrow. It's a Class 4 Strategic Theatre Emergency. It's what we call it when we lose a nuclear weapon.
Giles Prentice: I don't know what's scarier; losing nuclear weapons, or that it happens so often there's actually a term for it!
---Broken Arrow Movie
Highly related to my previous post, You always have a choice.
Many times, people think they are trapped. But the reality is, many people are not. Some people ARE trapped. Loads of debt, many dependents, young kids, etc. And then, others are not trapped.
Now, if work is really really soooo painful and stressful that someone dies from it. Either by overwork or suicide, this is usually not a one day incident. It's probably has been going on for many months. So the working conditions for that person must be terrible.
So my very simple question is... why don't they leave?
I've heard of someone who committed suicide in Singapore. Really young. Apparently the reason was too much stress at work.
And the thought that went through my mind was... why did she need to kill herself? She could just basically NOT turn up for work. Drop and go. Forget it. Anything is better than dying. What can the company do to you if you don't turn up for work? Worst case? Fire you. That's it. Then you go find a new job. That's it.
Why the need for suicide?
Same for those folks who work in terrible conditions, bosses who expect them to work 18 hours a day, regularly, etc... Ok sometimes, once or twice, during peak periods, if you're in a particular industry. That's expected. Ok I give them that. But if it's regular, like daily? Or 80% of the time, then it's a terrible condition to be working in.
And if you think about it more, it's not going to get better. A company or boss which allows this kind of working condition to continue for a period will continue to drive their workers like slaves. So it won't improve.
Many people tend to hope... they like to hope things change so that they don't need to. So people stay in a bad job, hoping someday it will turn out good. Or they hope working conditions change. And yet, the person with the most control over any situation is usually themselves.
So back to my point, there's always a choice, and what's the worst that could happen?
Leave your job without a job, be an Uber driver, $4k per month, not too shabby, be a waiter, take up an apprenticeship, etc.
Working til death or poor health or suicide is entirely irrational.
How can death or sickness be better than losing their jobs...
Eh... then again, we're talking about a culture of people who used to commit senpaku...
Seppuku (切腹, "cutting [the] abdomen/belly", formal on reading of original Kanji), sometimes metathesized as harakiri (腹切り, "abdomen/belly cutting") which is a native Japanese kun reading.
--- Wikipedia
So maybe to them death is better...
No but seriously it's 2017, I doubt anyone thinks like that anymore.
Like that girl who committed suicide, there's no reason. There's always a choice. There's nothing that a company can do about it if she just doesn't turn up for work.
We are all FREE people. We have the freedom to choose.
So I really don't get it when people tell me that they have no choice.
When we were younger, my wife used to work long hours. Not really late, just relatively late compared to what we considered acceptable. So she was saying it's normal and all that. And I told her.
"Look, when you fall sick, your company isn't going to cry, if you don't turn up for a period cos you are sick, they will appraise you poorly and someone else will just take your job. If you die, they will just find someone else to replace you. They might send some condolences but within a week life goes on for them. If anything happens to you.
The people who suffer aren't your company people. It's the people around you, your relatives and friends. Your company doesn't love you. Even your colleagues who consider your friends during that period, won't miss you when you leave. So don't sell your life to the company.
Recognize the company for what it is. You want to work and build a career, fine, you want to make money, fine, but draw a line. You have a life beyond the company, and that is your REAL life. You may love your job, but work is part of life, it's not the other way round."
Anyway, after that she started managing her time better, so she left relatively on time and worked better hours.
Essentially, work will never be completed, that's why you are employed. To continuously do something. And it's up to the individual to take control over that and manage their time around it.
So if you ever feel trapped in your work or feeling depressed about it, remember, you always have a choice, if someone tells you... "It's like that one, just live with it..."
Remember... IT'S NOT. You can take control and change it. Life doesn't have to be miserable cos of work. You just need to have the confidence and will power to want to change it and take active action to make your situation better.
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