Monday 13 July 2009

Working in the belly of the beast

This summer I have sold my soul to the devil. Socialist by word, I am confirmed capitalist by deed. In desperate search of money, this holiday period I am 'earning' money in one of the only businesses in the land actually making money out of the economic downturn, the insolvency business.

Insolvency practitioners are actually nicer than you might think. Yes, they profit from the financial misery of others, but they're actually quite decent people to hang around with. They are friendly, generous and in possession of an impressive gallows humour. My favourite example of such humour was when a colleague, reflecting on the financial collapse of one older lady who had lost her house and most of her savings, almost shed tears at the sheer sadness of such a thing occurring. The moment briefly passed, however, as said colleague then strolled over to a large bell attached to the office wall in order to ring it loudly and mark the arrival of another few thousand pounds of profit for the devil.

I console myself with the fact that I myself am not pickpocketing these poor souls, but merely packing boxes and filing papers for those that are. I also like the people I work with, so will not judge them too harshly. I just hope that in the future, whether I be writing leftist polemics, earning a wage at the Socialist Worker or unsuccessfully running for election as a 'labour' candidate, by dark capitalist past does not come back to haunt me.

1 comment:

  1. I'm not sure if it counts as gallows humour when the quips are coming from the executioner to be honest!

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