meet the new job, same as the old job

.

i've never talked much about what i do for a living, because at my age and level of education, i'm not particularly proud of it.

suffice it to say i'm sorta like a racehorse [or kobe steer, depending on your point of view]--i spend most of my so-called working day in luxuriantly idle pasture, surfing the internet or engaged in other similarly self-serving pursuits in anticipation of that moment when some million-dollar partner or other may [or may not, depending on the day] require my highly-specialized ass to drop everything and fly like the wind RIGHT NOW.

when that moment comes, i'm all-of-a-sudden extremely important--until the moment passes, and i'm relegated to the back burner once more.

*    *    *    *    *

it's a sweet deal on its face--good salary, 7-hour day and lots of perks.  top-tier medical, dental and vision plans are basically free, and there's the generous [by non-union standards, anyway] 401(k).

and then there's the little things:

the subzero on the right is constantly replenished with every variety of soft drink and bottled water imaginable

while the one on the left is mostly devoted to orange juice, lemonade and [three kinds of] milk--oh, and there's all the starbucks coffee you can swill, if you're into that sorta thing.

and every day at five, there's a spread laid out very much like this [although, sorry--you caught this one at the tail-end]:

fresh popcorn, lots of snacks, usually tons of other food all over the place.  lunch and dinner are always made available, delivered, from a variety of vendors.  and later, when you need to burn off all those calories

there's the fitness center, free to all employees

complete with lockers, showers and towel service.

[i.e., once you're in the building, they really don't want you to leave.]

 *   *    *    *    *

this week i billed a total of 8.75 hours, and put in maybe another 5 or 6 on general non-billables; the rest of my time was mine.

the week before was roughly similar, and if the past is any indication of the future, next week probably will be about the same.

*   *    *    *    *

back when i first fell into this line of work, i was thrilled beyond belief--great pay and perks for little effort and even less responsibility; what's not for a brilliant underachiever to like, right?

back then i couldn't for the life of me understand why all my well-paid co-workers constantly bitched about their jobs, but now i get the learned helplessness.

see, if you're good enough to do what we do, you're gonna get paid ridiculously well, enjoy short days and an extraordinarily easy working life for the entirety of your career...

and never go any higher.

understand, this isn't some sudden new realization on my part, and i've never, ever complained about the devil's bargain i knowingly struck so long ago.

of course--and just like them--back when i first started doing this shit i thought i'd only be in it a for a couple of years, too.

that gilded cage, it gets a little tight after awhile.