I’m furious. Before we left work on Friday, I asked Xiao Li to revise the presentation PowerPoint over the weekend, but she flatly told me, “Sorry, I don’t buy into that kind of pressure.”

“Don’t buy into pressure”? That phrase has been pretty popular lately. The young people who recently joined our organization say it all the time too. Was the PowerPoint really urgent?

It’s not exactly urgent—the client won’t look at it until next Wednesday. It’s mainly that the boss wants to see what it looks like. We’ve already revised it four times.

You’ve revised it four times? Has the content changed at all?

…Actually, not much. We’ve just changed the colors and rearranged the order.

No wonder she didn’t want to do it. Xiao Wang in our department is the same way. He’s not very enthusiastic about attending meetings that serve little purpose, but last month, during flood-control duty, he volunteered to stay until midnight without a single complaint.

So you’re saying they’re not afraid of hard work—they just don’t think it’s worth it?

More or less. They’re becoming increasingly clear about which pressures are meaningful and which are merely formalities. Young people today don’t really believe sayings like “You have to stay up late to get promoted” anymore.

When I first started working, my supervisor could order revisions at will, and I wouldn’t have dared say no. All right, on Monday I’ll explain to the boss that we’re not revising this version and have Xiao Li spend her time on the client proposal instead.