Blogs: Richard's job log: 18

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

OK, quick survey for you. Hands up if you would like lots of money? Right, now hands up if you would like to, in the grand scheme of things, not do a great deal for that money? Say, in comparison to people such as teachers, nurses or soldiers. I imagine that pretty much everyone reading this put their hands up in response to both of those questions. You would have been a fool not to. Final question then, would you like to be paid an inordinate and frankly obscene amount of money to do something that you had dreamt of your entire life? Assuming your final answer is yes, that is pretty much everyone then.

Yet, if you were a certain Argentinian footballer that has been in the newspapers a great deal recently, I would think that the whole ‘putting your hand up’ lark would have seemed like an awful lot of hard work. Perhaps you would rather have someone else do it for you.

That’s right; I am of course talking about Carlos Tevez, the professional footballer who refused, mid-game, to play football. Now I will be honest, growing up I didn’t feel a burning desire in my heart to work in an office doing admin, yet I go every day and I get on with it. Kind of like the millions of people all over the UK who are lucky enough to have a job in these times of economic strife.

If I got to work one day and mentioned to my boss and co-workers that I didn’t really feel like doing anything today I imagine they would, quite rightly, be a bit annoyed. Especially if I had spent the previous 12-24 months telling anyone who would listen how much I didn’t really like the company I worked for and that I would love to go and do the same job almost literally anywhere else. They would take umbrage with all of this and with enormous justification. I would seem like an ungrateful, spoilt mercenary.

I also imagine that my boss would encourage me to seek gainful employment with these other more attractive companies on account of my being rather unceremoniously fired.

Are there times at work where I feel unappreciated? Yup. Are there times where I don’t really feel like dragging myself into the office at all? Absolutely. Do I just get on with it and thank my lucky stars that I have a job? Yes, yes I do.

It is a shame that no one is going to introduce Mr Tevez to the real world, because I imagine he would absolutely hate it.