Look angry.

I work a job that has a desk. To say it’s a desk job would be untrue, because it’s actually retail. I sell books to people, ironically – books I can’t read. I sell the oldest form of recorded music known to man, in a word or two… I sell sheet music, and I can’t read a note of it to save myself.

Though it’s only paragraph two, and I have already digressed – albiet set the scene – in my music book shop there’s a desk. It’s grey, light grey, and about one and a half of my arm spans long and just under one wide, and on that desk sits a computer – which is, as I have just noticed, the exact same shade of grey as the desk, and for several moments of the day when I’m not helping people or laughing about, I sit behind this desk. Right here – and take a moment to bludge. A co worker of mine calls it “wage-theft.” I check my emails, read the news and read about anything and everything on Wikipedia.

And would you like to know something I’ve discovered?

Well, if you ever want to do a bit of “wage theft” at work and hop on the internet… all you have to do is stare angrily at the screen. It’s a fact.

Happy smile and whisps of laughter? She’s on Facebook. Fired.

Frown? Furrowed brow and clenched jaw? She’s doing work. Excellent.

It’s interesting you know, and a little bit of a shame I think, that we have somehow ingrained in our job and career culture that to be sullen is to be synonymous with work, and to be visibly happy is to be synonmyous with anything but. It’s a real shame actually, and it makes me wonder if perhaps more people didn’t give up on their dreams, and fiercely followed their hearts and passions… we’d have a few more smiling faces in our offices, and a lot more truly contented people in the world.

I know life isn’t all bunnies riding scooters on rainbows listening to the Magical Mystery Tour – heck, none of it is come to think of it unless you’re watching Anime… but I think that if you’re waking up more often than not looking dismally ahead to what your day holds… then perhaps you’re not really doing what you’re born for.

Back to staring grouchily at the screen and reading about Jeff Buckley on Wikipedia I suppose though…