The reformed office worker

I always knew I'd work in an office.

I mean, let's face it - I wasn't going to be a tradie (yuck, dirty work) or a doctor (have I ever told you how bad I am about germs?) or a teacher (all those children!) or a scientist (apparently paying no attention in science classes wasn't a good start) or an athlete (I did anything possible to avoid sports at school). So I was office-bound.

Working in an office was good. It was hard work, it made me feel important. It also meant I had a time in my life where I climbed a ladder and earned lots of money. Cool.

Then I left and became a reformed office worker. You know, like a reformed smoker - all refreshed now that their view isn't clouded, ready to take on the world that's now clearly ahead of them.

Remember in the movie Mary Poppins, when the father loses his job? He suddenly loves the world, he gets the joke. (And becomes slightly mad.)

That's me.

Kind of drunk on the height of my new life.

And then I want to reform everyone. Mention your bad day at work to me and you're at risk of hearing my rant - 'Just leave and follow your dreams!' If I read an article about how leaving the office at 5.30 every day revolutionised a person's life, because they now get to eat dinner with their kids - I want to ring the person and tell them that being grateful for seeing their kids for an hour a night just sucks.

There is more out there. Take a jump.

I want to tell people that we all need to take a stand together, show the corporate world that it just can't work like that anymore.

And I feel angry at businesses. I really do. So many women I know, and now I'm starting to hear the same of lots of men - they just can't keep it up, they're leaving to spend more time with their families. And with themselves.

That whole world has beaten them down until they finally realise that none of that shit matters.

And so the business in question shrugs, says they'll replace that person. That's that. They let them go.

I know so many talented people out there whose doors should be being knocked down. Man, that makes me angry. Businesses should be begging these people to work with them in whatever capacity they can.

They're not. They're too stubborn, too short-sighted to see that just because people don't fit into the 9 to 5 box, it isn't the end of the story.

Hey corporates? The joke's on you. At least, that's my hope: that so many of us will take a stand that they'll have to learn differently. (Idealistic? Me?)

I always knew I'd work in an office. But even at the height of it, I knew there was more for me - whether that was to run the world or earn squillions more, I wasn't sure. Turns out it was neither. Surprises tend to happen when you take a jump.

Now, I get the joke.