Little Secretaries

17 Pages 4257 Words

Look at our life today; look how it has changed.
Just one hundred years ago we could see O’Henry’s little secretaries typing for ten hours a day. Weak and deprived of rights, they could be easily dismissed, experience sexual harassment or encounter health problems. They had nobody to be protected by, nobody to turn to. Dark rooms, bad air, and sitting for whole day. It was cruel, but innocent world. Hours, after work, spent in front of windows of an underwear store, cheap food and little dark rooms with gas lighting in the evenings. When she stepped outside her office, she forgot where she worked, she stayed alone with herself, she was on her own planet, she was in her own world.
Today we can see the same girl in front of the same underwear store with a mobile phone in her hand giving orders to bank or suppliers. Life has changed. Rhythm has changed. Conditions have changed. For good or bad? Our little hero can’t be dismissed anymore, just because boss’s wife doesn’t like her. She can’t be forced to make things she doesn’t want to do. There are days when she works for 16 hours, twice more than she should, but she is paid for these hours. Her office is cozy, bright, and comfortable. She can be promoted. She can be sent to learn. She is protected and independent. But no matter where she goes with her mobile phone on her - it’s on. Always.
We find ourselves today, at the beginning of the Twenty-first century, in bright
well air-conditioned offices, protected by contracts in our pockets and by armies of different employees associations. We have become more productive with the help of personal computers, electronic mail, scanners, facsimile machines, and voice message systems. Our mobile phone can take us out of bed to solve urgent problems. “Super” clients can keep us at work on the birthday of our little daughter. Where is our privacy? Where is our real life? “Buying” rules have changed and so have “selling�...