| [ | grooving to |
| | Anberlin - Cities (album) | ] |
Today, I haven't gone outside for the first time in about two years. I've got my lazy bottoms on and I have literally done nothing. I probably should have gone to the dentist and done some banking and done this, that and the other, but it is the first CHANCE in two years that I've had to do nothing.
It's kind of made me think about what my life has become. The majority of people now have smartphones (including pretty much all of my unemployed friends), lots of my friends have been on week-long+ holidays this year and moaned when they've had to come back, some people can't live without their daily dose of Starbucks, and I'm sure everyone has bought new clothes with their nice pay cheques.
And yet I book a four-day break (Orkney next month, heeeellll yeah!) and people tut and say, 'not another one'. In the past two and a half years, the most time I have taken off in one go is five days, and that ended in disaster because God forbid I leave the shop in someone else's hands; most of my holidays have been a two-day city break. Bear in mind that I also often only get a couple of days off per month, I have forgotten what it is like to have a "weekend" - sure, I schedule Mondays and Tuesdays off, but in the hope that I might get one of them off. It's been a long time since I've bought clothes from a shop other than Primark, I buy cheap meals and ingredients in Tesco, I only drive my car when I have to, I have a shitty phone (not that I want a smartphone), I never buy make up or jewellery, and when I buy toiletries they're usually on offer in Superdrug.
I'm not coming on here to moan about it, I'm just stating what my life is like because some people have no idea how lucky they are. I book holidays because they're the only thing I have to look forward to, they're the only way to guarantee that I can get away from the shop, even if it's not for long and even if I worry about what I might come back to. Simple day trips are reliant on getting staff to cover the shop, nothing planned is concrete in case someone calls in sick and the whole time there is a chance of someone calling with a disaster.
I am scared of going back into employment, but I long for a time where I can take a whole week off and not even have to worry about what's not being done at my work - and even get paid for not being there! Where I can finish work one day and know I don't have to face anything for the next couple of days. Where, although I am naturally a saver rather than a spender, I can actually afford to live my life and not be thrifty all the time because I HAVE to be. I enjoy responsibility but sometimes it does get too much.
So naturally, it annoys me when people complain about not being able to afford something while they earn double what I'm earning, or have a pop at me because "not many people get to go away that often". The average worker gets 120+ days off per year (that's including weekends and paid holiday) for working 35+ hours per week. I work 50+ hours per week and in the past year I have taken 13 days of unpaid (in fact I have to pay out for staff) "holiday", 10 days of which have been during my "weekends". UK full-time employees are entitled to 28 days paid holiday, I have taken 3 unpaid. How dare you complain that I take time off? Or that you work too hard and need yet more time off? When I leave the shop, I am actually going to feel guilty for being paid to take a week off.
I think some people should count themselves lucky because they don't even realise. I don't count myself unlucky, I know there are plenty of people worse off than me, but I hope that in a consumerist, I-want-it-all-and-now society (particularly highlighted in the recent riots), this might put life into perspective. |