Still hung on the Chilean miners’ story. Indeed their lives will never be the same again. Already, offers for TV appearances and book deals are pouring in. They’ve been invited to tour Greece among other places and Steve Jobs, offered each one of them an iPod. The biggest offer so far is from Chilean businessman and philanthropist, Leonardo Farkas who set up accounts for each of the men and apparently, donations have been pouring in from around the world and each account should have at least $1million now.
Makes me wish I were in their place. It’s such a happy ending to 69 days down under. Most of these men are so modest and I remember one asked to be treated not as a celebrity but the miner he is. In keeping with their solidarity, they also agreed to share any proceeds from their tragedy as a group and I find that admirable. Things can only get better for these miners who until two months ago were nobodies.

Unfortunately, stories like theirs, where someone’s luck changes overnight, don’t happen often. I like to dream and many times, I have imagined what it would be like to win the lottery or come across this abandoned stash of cash or simply discover a goldmine in my backyard. Childish I know but hey, a girl can dream.

Away from the daydreaming, I’ve been thinking about where I want my life to be in the next few years. That inevitably led to the kind of work I would like to do and in the process, my mind wandered to jobs I think wouldn’t cut it for me.

I must stress that I don’t look down on these jobs. I just prefer not to do them, as I’m sure many of you would also choose certain jobs over others. Well here are mine:

Teacher: Patience has never been my virtue. If there’s a queue at the bank or supermarket till, I will be itching to jump it and if I wait more than five minutes at the bus stop, I start cursing.

So, I doubt I would have the patience most teachers have to have regarding their students. I’m no Einstein but I’m not "slow” either. I can’t stand it when I have to repeat a joke for someone to get it. That’s why I believe I can’t teach. I simply don’t have the patience. How teachers do it year after year with difficult students beats me.

Nanny: I love babies but only when they’re cleaned up and not screaming. Once they start crying, the love is lost. For one, you don’t know what they want. Perhaps if they could talk, it would be a lot easier but they just cry when they want to sleep, eat, susu… Like a friend said, crying is their way of talking. I’ve heard stories that nannies in the developed world earn a decent salary but even that is not tempting enough for me.

Security guard: I have a lot of respect for security guards, more so if they’re women. It takes a lot of courage and I’m such a coward. I always wonder what I would do if say armed robbers attacked premises I was guarding. Run for my dear life I guess.

Traffic policeman/woman: Have you ever seen a traffic policeman/woman on a break? Me neither. How do they do it? Stand all day and not hunch over, work through the heat or rain and stay on the road till late! We owe them a lot.

Public toilet cleaner: For lack of a better term for this (but you must all know what this entails). There’re not as many public toilets here as there are in Kampala so some of you may not have issues in this area.

Personally, I dread any job that involves cleaning up after others. Sometimes you find a toilet so messed up you wonder how the person who last used it could have left it in such a state. Now imagine having to clean up after such people for a living! I once read a note pinned to a toilet door that said, "Leave the toilet as you would like to find it.” Good point I think.

Now you know my least favourite jobs. What are yours?

To be continued…

nsophie77@yahoo.com