Freedom tasted so sweet at 5pm today. Clocked off from the ward, grabbed my bag of weekend clothes and hopped into an Uber to the train station. The driver, a middle aged uncle, was friendly and chatty. Usually I like my quiet space during drives, but today I was in good spirits so we carried an interesting conversation throughout the short journey.
"You work here?" he asked. When I told him that I did, he mentioned that his brother, also a doctor, used to work here too many years ago. The same brother is now in Australia as an ED consultant after a 14 year stint in Royal Free Hospital, a hospital that I have come to be very familiar with during my medical school days.
"Do you have any plans of joining him soon in sunny Australia?" I asked. "No," he answered, "Australia is not a good place to live in, in my opinion. I like it better here in the UK. But I must say, if I had to rank countries, I would put Canada at the very top. Relatively cheap cost of living, great communities and good quality of life." After delving deeper into his travel history, he has lived in America, Canada, UK and Italy. He works as an engineer in an American glass making factory, and his company moves him around alot to set up shop. He grew up in Italy as a child and speaks fluent Italian but is actually Sri Lankan culturally. He is trilingual and manages a rental somewhere in the Italian suburbs whilst training new engineers in the factory that he works at located in Harlow. "If you go to the shopping centre in Harlow, look out for two tall smoke towers - that is where my factory is," he said proudly.
"You seem so busy, working full time, managing rentals on the side, and you drive for Uber? When do you ever rest?" I ask. "When I go home, I get bored. So this is my hobby now, driving people around. But honestly, I am not like the locals. I don't smoke, I don't drink - I have never even been in a pub before! Best to keep myself busy."
This conversation couldn't have been at a more opportune time. I just finished successive long on-call days, and here I am thinking I am tired and overworked. But here is this man, a man with such a good work ethic - who keeps his hands busy. Not like mine - whose hands are often idle, typing away on my phone or laptop on my off days - wasting my life away on social media and TV.
The generations before us had such different mindsets when it came to work. Working was a privilege and not a right, so it was not uncommon to work oneself to the bone. Even working long hours on consecutive days in efforts to find better opportunities for oneself and one's families. One was thankful to have a job back then - and more hours meant more financial reward. Back then, work was seen to be a means to contribute to society, whereas now, work should be a means of fulfilling the self. The table has significantly turned - it is less "what can I bring to this job?" and more "what can this job give me." A philosophy that brainwashes the entitled young to think that the world owes us. I guess that is why papa finds his juniors who are of my generation a puzzle.
To be completely honest, I find it hard to not grumble when it comes to Mondays, wishing that there was one more day in the weekend every week. And I feel that my peers will resonate with this sentiment. This serendipitous conversation was definitely something that I needed. A reminder to be thankful for my job that pays well, that gives me adequate rest after working long hours and that is ultimately a job that fulfils me. One that allows me to make a positive contribution to society. Yes, like every other job, it can be taxing, but having a job at all is true privilege, something that I shouldn't ever ever take for granted.
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