Don’t love your job

So while you may love your job, your job doesn’t particularly reciprocate, does it? Photo: ThinkStock
 Live Mint  :Sidin Vadukut :Fri, Jun 14 2013. 05 16 PM IST

Why shouldn’t we think of work as 25% to 30% of our lives that fund the remaining 75%? And seek ‘fulfilment’ elsewhere

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father maintained a strict control over the kind of television programme that I was allowed to watch. Football matches and wildlife documentaries were ok. Any television comedy programme that had a laughter track was totally banned. “What kind of idiot laughs at a joke because he has been prompted?” my father would say.

Quiz shows were kosher. Cricket in general, and Kapil Dev in particular, was utterly prohibited.

So I became something of a TV quiz show junkie. One of my favourites was a show called Blockbusters produced at a budget of approximately £20 per season by Thames Television and broadcast on Dubai Channel 33. One of my personal Blockbuster highlights was when the quizmaster, Bob Holness, asked a schoolboy: “What L is a feeling of great affection and warmth that you often have towards parents, friends and family?”

The schoolboy, no older than 12 or 13, slammed the buzzer, literally swallowed the microphone, and screamed: “Lust!”

Those were the days before Internet pornography and everyone had a nice long laugh, except the mortified parents of the contestant, who resolved to never bathe again in groups.

The correct answer, of course, was love.

Ah yes. Love. The empress of all emotions. The Shahjahan of all sentiments. The…umm…fedayeen of all feelings.

Now there is nothing an office culture columnist can tell you about love that a million poets, writers, singers and artists haven’t already. Indeed, I think Hindi film music had the final word on the matter of love when they recently claimed that “your love” is a “hookah bar”. (As opposed to “a rental car”. Or “Aleem Dar”.)

Now love is an emotion one often feels towards parents, spouses, friends, perhaps even certain public figures.

But is it an emotion you should be feeling towards your work or workplace?

A few days ago I “Google Hangouted” with a reader of this column who had just been laid off. She sounded deflated, as you might expect. But not entirely for the usual reasons.

“The laying off came as a surprise. It was my first day back at work after a vacation,” she told me. Apparently her company had been going through financial troubles. This was not entirely a secret, but the suddenness of the dismissal took my friend unawares.

But it wasn’t the sudden onset of unemployment that was bothering her. Oh no. It was the prospect of re-employment:

“I loved my old job you know, loved it. I don’t think I will ever find a job I can love that much again. Ever. I am so depressed.”

A job that you can “love” is one of the holy grails of modern existence isn’t it? It is one of those things we start striving towards as soon as we’re out of our schools and colleges, and catapult into our professional lives.

If only we could find a job we love. A job we actually want to do. A job that has us bouncing out of bed in the morning, instead of making us wonder what would kill us faster: ingested shaving cream or correction fluid in our sandwich. A job that fits our strengths and weaknesses and desires and ambitions like a glove. A job that keeps us happy. A job with no trade-offs or compromises.

What makes all this dreaming doubly agonising is the fact that so many people seem to attain this goal. Every friend circle has at least one person who absolutely adores his or her job. You ask them: “How was work this week?” And they say: “Lovely! I really do love my job.” And then you say mentally: “Excellent. Now I am going to smash this beer bottle over your head and stab you in the face with the sharp bits, you smug little...”

Even more infuriating is when the job lover is someone in your very own office doing your very own job. What in the name of Ahura Mazda can she possibly see in “insurance claims adjustment” that you don’t?

But then…maybe loving your job isn’t such a good thing. Think about it. As far as most organizations are concerned you are really just a fungible asset.

Yes, yes. You might like to think you’re special and indispensable. But really, you’re not. What causes greater discord in your office? You going off on a two-week break? Or the Wi-Fi router breaking down for 15 minutes? See?

So while you may love your job, your job doesn’t particularly reciprocate, does it? Which is why one day, like my friend, the job is going to nudge you out…and break your heart.

So what if we decide to ignore all that new-age self-help nonsense and decide to approach our jobs with a little detachment? Work as hard as you can. Get paid as much as you want to.

Why shouldn’t we think of work as 25% to 30% of our lives that fund the remaining 75%? And seek “fulfilment” elsewhere.

And then we can reserve feelings of true love and affection for the things that really deserve it: family, children, Anushka Sharma.

Cubiclenama takes a weekly look at pleasures and perils of corporate life. Your comments are welcome at cubiclenama@livemint.com.