You’ve got questions? she’s got answers (but you probably won’t like them)

Dear Ayi，

After working “996”1 for a decade at a tech company， I was fired. The human resources department said I was unable to keep up with the younger programmers， but I have a family to raise. What can I do？

Jason Ma

Damn those 萬惡的資本家 （w3n'- de z～b0nji`， evil capitalists）！ They feed you 心靈雞湯 （x～nl！ng j～t`ng， “chicken soup for the soul”） like “You can succeed if you put in more effort than the others，” and claim that your job is a 福報 （f%b3o， blessing） you should be grateful to have. They call you 兄弟 （xi4ngdi， brother） just to keep you in a cubicle， sweating day in， day out to make them money. Meanwhile， they would not hesitate to discard you like a piece of garbage， simply to cut 成本 （ch9ngb0n， overhead）. I say 起來 （q@l1i， rise up）！ Bring a 革命 （g9m#ng， revolution） on their heads， and 推翻 （tu～f`n， overthrow） their 壓迫 （y`p7， oppression） like the good old days！ Sounds like too much work？ Well then， just sue their ass.

1 Slang for the notoriously long working hours （9 a.m.- 9 p.m. six days a week） at Chinese tech companies

Got questions for our Agony Ayi？ Send them to agonyayi@theworldofchinese.com