It's a job...

In a previous post I remonstrated about the misplaced ambition that I believe many young people suffer from in the United Kingdom today.  I talked about people living in an unrealistic world, where they think they will become rich and famous overnight, or that they will automatically (without effort) become successful and wealthy.

This blog will add to that on a personal level.

I now have a job.  I'm a Branch Manager of a retail finance store in Hereford, dealing with lots of money on a daily basis, managing a team of people, and responsible for the building in which we all work.  The business is my responsibility, with support from higher managers and the greater national business network.
Sounds great huh?  Yes, because I made it sound great.

I am the Branch Manager, that is my job title, but I have 1 member of staff and we work for the Cheque Centre, an American spin-off business providing cash by various means to low paid or unemployed people.  The shop is 20ft by 20ft.  So, not really that great.

My point is, as I pointed out in the previous blog I mentioned above, that we are driven to think that we should aspire to the top and that we will achieve great things.  I include myself amongst those who believed this kind of thing.  I knew I would have to put in hard work, but I just imagined it would be a bit more... impressive.

Am I guilty of being big headed?  Did I want to show off and make others see that I had a better, more aspirational job than they did?  Did I / do I think that I deserve better than this?  Did I think that my rise to the top would be quicker? Possibly.

How do I feel about it?  Indifferent at the moment.  When I get into it and have been doing it for some time, perhaps my feelings will change.

I realise now that my previous job in Student Recruitment, which I thought at the time was the bees knees of jobs.  The best thing I could be doing.  Impressive, enjoyable and fulfilling (at least to me), was a unique and lucky opportunity, something that will never come around again.

What the last 6+ months have taught me about work is:

• It's a paid job.  I will now have money, and can engage in a lifestyle of sorts (One that my 40+ hours a week will allow)
• I am fortunate.  Don't complain.
• I shall NEVER complain about having too much to do EVER again.  Unemployment is so boring and mind numbing, I cannot understand anyone who would want more than a week or two's time off all at once.
• Life isn't as easy as we think.  Reality bites at some point.
• I have been living in a very thick bubble, possibly for years.  Now it has finally burst and I am faced with that reality, and no cushioning.  I have moved down a peg or two.

Please feel free to add any further points to this, as my one sided view of myself (I have come to realise) is not just bias, but sometimes totally out of touch.


To those of you who have been supportive and understanding of me and my weirdness in recent months; my thanks and appreciation.  I promise of some reward for the loyalty and friendship rendered.
For those who will never understand me; "meh".