English Short Stories for Beginners and Intermediate Learners: Engaging Short Stories to Learn English and Build Your Vocabulary (2nd Edition)

CHAPTER 5:
WORK
While John's social life was blooming, his life at work was the polar
opposite. He works at an office for an insurance company, and while the
pay is good, the workload is overwhelming.
Each morning, he checks his work email to find 50 new requests that
have to be immediately dealt with. If he doesn't quickly dispatch and
process the emails before lunch, he will get caught behind schedule and
most likely have to work overtime. It's extremely stressful and more so
when his boss is watching him over his shoulder.
John's boss has to be strict with all the employees. One mistake and it
could cost the company a small fortune. Not only will the employee be
disciplined harshly, but the boss will be too.
Insurance is a difficult business to work in. It is not for the weak.
Meetings, documents, and regulations are all of the utmost importance,
and you cannot afford to miss or forget anything. You could be fired for it!
"How am I going to make it to retirement?" John asks himself at
least once a week. And he's lucky if this question only comes up once that
week. Stress and anxiety are pushing him to his limits. It's only a matter
of time before he breaks.
What would life have been like if he had chosen a different college
degree? What if he went into computer science? Would he have enjoyed
Uploaded by S. M. Safi

---

programming more? What if he pushed himself harder while playing for
the college baseball team? Would he have made it to the professional
level? What if he had made it as a pro-gamer back in high school and got
to play video games for a living? It would have been a dream come true.
Life didn't turn out that way for John, unfortunately. He might be
stuck with a job he hates, but at least he has hope things will change. Many
of his co-workers seem to lack that same hope. Depression and anxiety are
common in his workplace, but there are a handful of colleagues who are
fun to talk to and crack jokes with to lighten the mood. They make it just
a little easier to get through each day. That makes all the difference.
There are others, though, who seem to be absolutely crushed by the
harshness of life and are now just shells of their former selves. Those
people scare John more than any boss ever has.
But when will things change? How will they change? The only thing
that is certain is that something must change.