Work or life?

A lot of people ask me why I do temping work rather than get a permanent job with one company. I guess it’s partly because of my father. He was a computer programmer for a big multinational company. His job was very important to him. He used to work very long hours. When we were kids, he often got home after nine o’clock at night – the time that we went to bed. Sometimes I didn’t see him for days and days. He did very well in his job. He got promoted. He became the manager for the whole of the country and then the whole of South-east Asia. He just worked harder and harder. I don’t think he was really happy doing what he was doing, but I guess he couldn’t see any other way. Then, when he retired, he didn’t know what to do. He was even more unhappy. He died of a heart attack when he was 68.

I don’t want to be like that. Doing temping work means I don’t have to go to work every day. When I work, I don’t have to do the same people every day. That’s why I like it. I’ve been with the same agency for about ten years now. They know I’m a good worker and I’m reliable – I’ve never been late for work – so I can more or less choose the jobs I want to do. Sometimes I work in the same place for a few weeks, sometimes it’s for just one day. I only get paid for the days I work, so if I’m not very well and take a day off sick, or if I want a holiday, I don’t get any money. I suppose that if I had a family, it would be a problem, but I don’t mind. Money isn’t that important to me. It’s more important that I can take time off when I want to. Some of my friends only get two weeks’ holiday a year. I often take five or six weeks’ holiday and go traveling all over the world.

At the moment, I’m working in an office as a secretary. I’ve been there for about three months. It’s a nice place. The people who work there are really friendly, but I’m getting a bit fed up with the work, so I think I’ll probably ask to change and do something else soon. I do quite a lot of office work because I’m good at typing, but I’ve done lots of other jobs as well. I’ve been a security guard and a barman; I washed cars one summer; and I worked in a hotel in a ski resort for two winters, which was good because I went skiing a lot. Not all the jobs are good, though. The worst job I had was when I worked in an abattoir, which is a place where they kill animals. I had to cut up the meat, pack it and send it off to supermarkets. Then I had to clean the floor. It was disgusting! My best job was working in a chocolate factory for a week. I went home with lots of free chocolate bars. That was great!

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The Couch Potatoes	\|	Ex.2. Read the article and answer the questions.

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