I am having a bad day. It does not really matter why, I am just feeling emotionally trashed. So it was a nice surprise when a customer (I don’t even know his name) came up to me in the car park of a local shopping centre and thanked me for the advice I’d given him on his bean crop which was now looking great! I did remember the occasion when he came into my office for advice; we don’t sell beans or bean seedlings (pointless as they are sown direct) but I am happy to give out advice, and who knows, they may even come back with an order and tell their friends. Anyway, the clouds in a cloudless sky lifted slightly and I wondered if I should be in a job that deals with people more.
I passed through work this morning to pick up some seedlings for a friend. My landlord called into the office to tell me that the latest wage schedules were out; ZW$200000 per month for basic labourers. Wait for it -that’s US$5.71 A MONTH! Of course if you divide by the “official” rate of 250:1 then it’s US$800 a month which would make them quite well paid by third world standards. Still, it’s an increase of 200% over last month.
I subscribe to Newsweek but it usually arrives at least 2 weeks late and in batches of 2 or 3. The most recent one describes new techniques in reviving those who have had a heart attack and not got CPR in the first critical 15 minutes. It appears that the old method of jolting the heart and infusing massive quantities of oxygen into the blood was just killing the heart cells which could remain alive for several hours. New methods include cooling the body down and slowly infusing oxygen and starting the heart. One small study recorded an 80% success rate vs. 15% for the traditional jump-starting. Now that would be a really bad day if you ended up in the traditional treatment set!
Zimbabwe Absurdity 
My favourite saying is “The grass is BROWN on both sides”. Isn’t that about the most depressing thing to contemplate! Anyway as for having bad days. I know what things are like in Zimbabwe at the moment – very Tough! But just think of of living here in this communist/oppressed/ petty,wet and windy country of England. Sometimes I think it might be easier living under a dictator than (well possibly) Gordon Brown. I had another blow out with a pommie just yesterday. I was turning left into a my home stretch road and actually stopped for a bloke who was ambling across the road. He strolled onto the pavement then started shouting ‘Chav’ abuse at me for not putting my indicators on! I wished I could have run him over!
You in a job dealing with people is like saying I should be a marriage guidance councillor!