Rat Race

In 2006, I got an opportunity to do a one month internship in the accounts department of a major Stockbroking firm in Lagos, Nigeria. As a university undergraduate it was my first real taste of the world of work so I was full of excitement initially. On average I worked for 10 hours and spent another 5 hours commuting to work. Of course I couldn’t complain about this because it was nothing new to millions of lagosians. In just two weeks, I began to experience a growing dissatisfaction with the job. Ironically, this had nothing to do with the stress of commuting or the work load but it was about something quite unusual; I was bored. As early as 12noon everyday I would start looking at the clock, wishing that the day would come to an end quickly. Even though I didn’t know what TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) meant then, I always looked forward to Fridays and dreaded Mondays. Yet, I wasn’t so idle. Despite spending just one month my immediate boss and even the managing director of the company were impressed by my commitment and performance on the job.