fuck this job.com

[b]"This is the LONDON stock exchange, not the BOMBAY stock exchange, do you understand?!?!" screams the BOSS. (Exact words have been changed to protect the sanctity of my behind, and to also add comic value)[/b]

Obviously he was an unloved child. The rant continues, and goes on to include such things as [b]"You need to decide what life you want to live - one of mediocrity or excellence"[/b]. BABY cringes, needs to change his diapers, and so crawls off to hide in a corner.

I sit at my desk writing this, and just ignore it. BABY moans and groans, and the MANAGER perfects the art of the silent snicker. A regular day at the office. Monday morning no less.

Just today, I received word from a friend who had recently been transferred to a nice job with nice perks in a decent European country. He relocated with a smile on his face, and with copious amounts of sympathy for the peons he left behind. He was going to lead a better life, one free of the shackles of indebtedness, the chains as a result of endless credit lines.

He will be in town, staying at a good 5* hotel, attending seminars at other 5* hotels, mingling with 5* people, having 5* food, and just generally avoiding the 0* piece of shit job hell I am in now. Well, he definitely wants to meet up, and so I will need to oblige, put on a brave front, and just go back to work before the manager decides to notice my absence, and subject me to some torture he conjured from the deep recesses of his soul.

Another friend of mine, has now been promoted to managing a department at his MNC. He has had a little more time than me to get that promotion, but he works on average 3 hours less per day than myself, gets paid now almost 80% more, is encouraged to take his annual leave, and has the luxury of falling ill, because he has private medical cover with 15 days paid sick leave. I'm genuinely happy for him, I just think it would be a stretch of the mind to imagine something similar here. A long stretch - to the point of no return.

The job market almost requires a penance for any mistakes you have made. The market is tight, and employers notice flitting from job to job, so people like myself, who cannot afford to risk an 'out of the frying pan, into the fire situation' stay put. I will have to endure 11 more months... at least. Why 11 months? By then, hopefully, if I have managed to study enough, I would have passed the majority of a postgraduate course, and would be marketable. With 2 years work experience shovelling shit, (which with some fine tuning, would hopefully resemble growing prize roses). Or so I can only dream.

I like this quote:

[b]" At the centre of your being, you have the answer;
You know who you are and you know what you want" - Lao Tzu[/b]

I only I hope I'm not too jaded when I get the chance to grab it!