"It took him 38 years to find out he disliked his job - that would amount to a damn slow learning curve by anyone's standards."

I didn't say that I disliked my job, Teribus. In fact I loved it and was bloody good at it (even though I say so myself). What I hated, and came to loathe, was the god-awful 'management culture' that crept in,like some poisonous miasma, to pervade my workplace. I also came to despise the grubby, back-stabbing, talentless careerists who always seemed to float to the top like the proverbial scum. My actual job, the one described in my 'job description' was gradually displaced by 'targets', form filling, writing bollocks on flip-charts, arm-waving, 'Health & Safety' (aka: a perfect excuse for the talentless to boss others around) and meaningless 'hoop-jumping'. THESE things were a waste of my life!

I came to notice that my infrequent trips abroad - to Eastern Europe and South East Asia - came closer to being more fulfilling because people in those places had not yet been infected with the virus of 'managerialism' (give them time!). And don't even get me started on the vile, super-hypocritical dogma of 'team-working'!

Actually, I am now involved in voluntary work - and very satisfying it is too! Now I'm experiencing REAL teamwork - not the spurious, dogmatic kind forced down our throats in my previous paid employment.

I meet many fine people in the course of this work - some paid and some, like me, unpaid. In private the paid ones often complain to me about the same sorts of bullshit that I had to endure not so long ago.