Blogs: Richard's job log: 11

Richard currently works in a Birmingham law firm, after a contemporary history degree. He's thinking about a paralegal career, but also has media ambitions.

Recently I ran into an old friend and work colleague in the pub. I hadn’t seen the chap in question for a good six or seven years and whilst it was great to see him and catch up, our conversation inevitably snaked its way around to our previous work life together.

When I left for university my friend was an enthusiastic and well-liked member of our team. In fact he was one of the most popular people in our entire office. However, by his own admission he was a little unreliable, and as the youngest member of the team he was rather prone to getting himself in a spot of bother with the higher-ups. Verbal warnings about future conduct, hushed up meetings with line managers, that sort of thing. His natural charm got him out of a lot of scrapes.

Fast forward to 2011 and my friend is now a middle manager with the same company and he is hated. Actually ‘despised’ was the word that he used. This filled me with a profound sadness, as it turns out that my friend is the man that is required to increase the efficiency of the various different departments within the company. (If you have ever seen the movie ‘Office Space’ then you will know what I am talking about here, if you haven’t then go and rent it now.) Basically my friend's job is to tell people that they are being made redundant. He is a kind of office-based Grim Reaper, and by all accounts he has been quite busy lately.

Carving out a career by sending others to the dole queue must be an odd existence but in some ways he seems to have come to terms with his new found status as public enemy number one. Although it is with a heavy sigh that he tells me that ‘at least it pays the bills’.

I would like to say that this is an isolated incident; however, this is just one example of a number of rather similar tales I have been told recently - people accepting a depressing lot in life in order to keep the proverbial wolf from the door.

But what price can we put on happiness? Gainful employment is a privilege at the moment and there are literally millions of people out there who would gladly trade places with my friend should he decide to throw the towel in and walk away for a quieter life elsewhere. I have often considered quitting my job to pursue a career that I am more passionate about. Pragmatism soon puts a stop to that idea.

So sadly he, like many others up and down the country, will just have to get on with it. He may be roundly despised but least he isn’t calling himself into his office for a ‘quick chat’.