Non fiction

Catching up with an old friend

Hello? Oh , hi Marc, man, it's so nice to hear from you. We haven't spoken since…wow… since graduation I think. How are you? Are you still dating that girl…aahm, yes Sarah was her name. Oh alright, married and two kids, I see. So Marc aka “the boozer” is a family dad now, hahaha! Yes, yes, I'm fine, you know, you get older and stuff, but I can't complain really. But come on, what's the matter? You haven't called just to check my well being, have you? Oh, alright we could meet to talk if that's better for you. Some evening this week? Let me check my calendar….Monday: Tennis, you know you gotta do something for your health. Tuesday: Golf, my boss wants me to do that to keep up the ‘good customer relations’. Wednesday: Oh, it's Jenny’s flute concert. She's been playing the flute for 2 years now and I still haven't managed to hear her play, so I promised her that I'll be there. Thursday is the dancing course I'm doing with Susi, my wife, do you remember her? She’s annoying me because she wants to spend some ‘quality time’ together, apparently, it is important for our relationship and stuff! Hah, women, hilarious. As if I don't have more important things to do. Anyway: for the weekend, I'm afraid, I won't be around either; there's a teambuilding event from our company in a cottage in Wales. Sorry mate, but maybe it's best if you just tell me what you're calling for?!...I see, you need a job. I'm so sorry, I'd really help you if I could, but the labour market is so bad at the moment. I promise, I'll ask around, but it doesn’t look good….ah, oh man, yes, I see. Yes, I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you something more promising! Yes, definitely! It was nice catching up with you! And I'll get back to you as soon as I hear something! See you, yeah, and say hi to your family! Yes, Bye.

Reflection

I wanted to pick up some things we talked about in the last session before Easter. In a world that some people describe as running up and down escalators, it is not possible to do things just for fun any more. Even your hobbies or what you are doing at the weekend must be sophisticated. Spending your free time relaxing or at home with your family equals wasting time and everything that you are doing has to be related to work or yield something positive for your CV.

This is a phone call between Marc and Stephen, who have not spoken to each other since graduation. They both studied Business Economics and now, 10 years later, Marc has lost his job. He got married and has 2 children, so, the pressure to find a new job as soon as possible is strong. He has undertaken many attempts to get a job, but all of them were unsuccessful. He is even as desperate as to call his old friend, whom he has not spoken to in 10 years, just to ask for a job. Stephen, by contrast, has become a successful head of department in the meantime: he has a permanent contract for a well-paid job. However, nowadays, with this comes a long list of obligations. He has to combine several roles such as the father, the husband, the head of department and so on. It is not surprising that he is not able to manage all of his tasks satisfactory. Stephen wants to meet Marc and be a good friend, but he has no time for that. He wants to be a good father, but he has not managed to hear his daughter play the flute for 2 years. His wife forces him more or less to take a dancing course with her because he is so busy all the time and she wants to spend time with him too. Stephen does not acknowledge that, instead, he is annoyed that he has to spend his valuable free time doing such useless things. In addition, he uses his free time in a way that is helpful for his career: golfing for customer relations or a team building trip for the weekend. These events may be useful for his work, but it comes with negative effects for Stephen himself. He feels constantly stressed and does not have time for himself to relax and just do pleasurable things. And I guess that right after he hangs up the phone, he has already forgotten about his friend’s request because he has too many things to do.

Sonja Schneiderbanger