The Real World...
In 2004, I was trying to find an academic post that paid enough to attract income tax, but was beginning to lose hope. I got a job with my local council, not knowing whether it'd be a stopgap, or whether it'd turn into something longer-term.

The money was pretty good, and I figured that it would be easy to jump between jobs, getting promoted each time, and find myself earning quite a bit quite quickly. (I have insider information that this is comparatively easy in local government.)

I was taken to an office, which I had to share with one other person. The job was explained to me - but very cursorily. Or maybe not - maybe this was all there was to it.

I spend a couple of days sniffing around, working out how I had to do what needed to be done, and then working out that this would take no more than a couple of hours each day. I was salaried rather than waged, so this ought to have meant that I could just go home. However, for some reason, the council decided that I had to clock on or off, because, clearly, how many hours I spent at the office was much more important to them than whether the job was done. So I had vast chunks of the day to fill.

Fortunately, I also had a council-wide parking permit, and a few sites around the area that I was responsible for overseeing.

Thus I would spend a lot of the day driving around "meeting project managers", "overseeing" and so on. Not usually because I had to - more often it was just to get out. And that was how I spend my day - and your council tax.

All the same, doing nothing to the clock is a horrible thing. I was getting more and more stressed with the thought that I must have missed something important. I hadn't, but for the money, the job seemed ridiculously undemanding. So when, four weeks in, Keele University offered me more work in return for less than 15% of the money, I jumped at the chance and resigned.
"Oh," said the Director of whatever-department-I-was-in. "We thought you'd not be in this post long, but, frankly, we didn't think it'd be this quick. But you've been here a month now. That means you've generated two days' paid leave. I suppose you ought to take that as well."

So I did. I've not worked in the real world since.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 8 Jan 2009, 12:56, 4 replies)

Sorry
but did I see the words 'real world' related directly to 'a job with my local council'?

Surely not?
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Thu 8 Jan 2009, 14:38, closed)

You took more than an 85% pay cut?
Is that a typo...?

If so, I admire your tenacity in finding a worthwhile (but low pay) job, and I'll be right there to lend you a pound if you need one :)
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 4:58, closed)