The joys of work

I'll be the first to admit it, I have had some rubbish jobs in my time. In my first job, a paper round, I was given the route that was not only the furthest away, with dog yapping at the letter box everytime I arrived at the bottom of the garden, but it was also the worst paid of all the rounds. My luck only got worse when I got myself a proper part-time job, I was stuck on the kids section at Ravel's Shoes and worked in the complaints department at Transco Gas, receiving daily poundings from unhappy customers, to which I could merely reply 'Please just put that in writing'. This just made it worse.

So, when I began my work experience at the Millennium Stadium this summer I had reason to believe my luck had changed. I had completley forgotten about the yapping dog and mouthings from unhappy builders when, on my second day I was lucky enough to sit and watch the live draw for the Heineken Cup and meet such great stars as Craig Quinnell and Jonathan Davies. I had been extremely fortuitous in my first few weeks and when a paid job became available working for the Organising Committee for the Rugby World Cup I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of this great tournament

My earliest rugby memory was Rob Andrew's drop goal sailing through the posts in Cape Town to knock the Aussies out at the quarter-final stage back in 1995. Eight years later, in this same event, a more famous English fly half, and drop goal provided me with my greatest, and most of the nations, favourite sporting memory ever. So, when the job was offered to work as part of the team to bring a few games to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium I could not have been more excited.

When I took the job, friends envied the position I was in, and my mum proudly told whoever was in sight that her son was working for the Rugby World Cup. I imagined trips to Paris, Toulouse and Edinburgh to meet and greet the teams and contribute proudly to this famous event.

Two months later, however, this job gives me a different cause of optimism. It is not because of the opportunity it gives me to build contacts in the sporting world (which, of course it does) and the pride it gives me in contributing to the tournament's success. No. The reason, my job at Rugby World Cup gives me cause for optimism is because of the rewards it can give me, due to a new business venture I thought of today, while angrily sinking my finger onto another character on the keyboard.

My new idea is that my job, or more my situation, could become a succesful cure for depression. This premise comes from experience. Each person I have spoken to about what my day involves, manages to get an instant lift about themselves, A friend of mine spends his days building bonfires at 'work' and generally sweeping and still manages to feel better when he hears that I have performed one of my rewarding tasks, ranging from being a personal driver for whoever doesn't feel like driving, to changing tyres for colleagues can't be bothered to go to the garage to get them to change it for them!! And the tasks are bound to get worse, particularly after my boss reads this!

So, now I intend to visit hospitals across the country and offer this treatment for a small fee. It's a simple method really, anyone who is feeling slightly down about themselves just needs ten minutes with me, I will reel of my tasks for the week and what plans I have for the following week and they will instantly be cured. Its flawless!

I must go to sleep now as I have a hard day ahead of me tomorrow. I wonder what exciting tasks await me. Perhaps, the official cars need washing..although I know the toilets weren't their usual sparkling selves yesterday.

So there you have it. Oli's-quick-way-to-cure-depression. It can't fail.