Payday is like an illusion.

I saw this image when I was scrolling on my Facebook account then I saw a comment there saying " Gusto ko nalang bumalik sa kinder tapos magcolor color " and I smiled because I also want to be back as a kindergarten kid when problems didn't exist at all. I mean there's a problem but not as hard as the problem in the adulting stage.

I also felt the phrase when adulting hits you very hard and there's a lot of comments there saying about the bills and other expenses that they need to pay because they are an adult too.

Way back on my OJT days on the Accounting Department on our Municipal Hall , the staff there told me " One of the happiness moment of life is being a student. Once you graduated , that's the time that you will truly see the reality.

I don't have any idea of what she said until I graduated and got a job. When I was in college I want to graduate instantly and got a job so that I can earn money to help my family and buy the things that I want.

My first salary.

I spent my first salary buying my siblings and my parents pamasko in Baclaran. Baclaran is like Divisoria where you can buy affordable clothes. My first job was front desk assistant and my salary was minimum wage that time. My next salary was also given to my mother because it's nearly Christmas time that moment and we need money for that coming season.

As I continue working , my lifestyle also changed because my thinking was I will be having a salary and as a minimum wage earner I can't able to save some money.

No time for being lazy.

As an employee , you need to work 5 days a week or even 6 days a week with the given schedule of the company or sometimes rendering overtime for a couple of hours. Sometimes I feel that there's something strange on my body resulting that I just want to lay in bed and forget to go to work but I still manage to go because the daily salary is "sayang".

Payday is like an illusion.

Everyone is happy everytime pay day came but at the end of the day , pay day is just like an illusion because your salary is like sliding in your hands because of the expenses.

I remember everytime the pay day nearly coming , me and my office were talking on what to do with the salary next pay day. Yung tipong wala pa naman sa palad mo pero sa isip mo ubos na. You know how it feels? I know you knew.

Rendering overtime because you need money.

I experienced to work the whole month without rest day and go to work 12 hours a day because I need some money that time. Imagine I will leave the house 5 AM and go home 9 PM because the commuting time in Manila takes long because of traffic. Then time comes that I need to be in middle shift after I went to morning shift. Its like going home by 9 PM and sleep by 11 PM then woke up 4 AM. Sayang kasi yung OT.

Our supervisor said to us that time " Parang ang dami nyong binubuhay ah" because we are always present everytime there's an overtime. I almost earned 30 thousand that time and give it to my mother because she want to build an another room in our house and that's our room now. Katas ng overtime.

Looking for career growth.

Being a minimum wage earner is hard especially if you are a bread winner. It feels like you are just working to sustain the needs of your family and it's not fulfilling at all because the routine repeat itself and time comes that you want a career growth and better compensation. When I was working as a Data Lift Auditor , most of my batchmates that time already resigned and find a new better job with high compensation while us stayed on the company. We stayed on the company even if the compensation is not high like my other former colleague because of the friendship formed in our department. That time I am not minimum wage because our supervisor talk to our operations manager and asking for increase until I got pregnant and resigned.

But even if adulting hits me very hard , I still enjoy it because of the people around me. Even if theres a lot of bills to be paid , we make sure that we also reward ourselves every payday by eating in a fast food chain because that's the only we can afford special those bread winners. Eating after shift or calling the food delivery and eat on our break time.

Traveling can also be an option of rewarding ourselves but I only did it a few times because I got pregnant.

Authors note: I think most of the minimum wage earner will relate to this but if you are working with high compensation then sana all po .