A Day in the Life

So what is my typical day like? You would be disappointed if you thought that I’m out there risking my life transporting supplies to the needy. The following is fairly typical example of my day:

- 7:00 am - Woke-up…got out of bed….
- 7:45 am – Driven to the office. Make instant coffee, start the gas heater in my office and turn on the computer.
- 7:50 am – Check the internet. Hhmm…, it appears that the e-mail delivery from Canada is out of service again, or something. Check websites for TSN and CBC…Canucks lose, Lemiuex retires and the Conservatives win. Stephen Harper said he's feeling upbeat and looking forward to rebuilding Canada.” I thought Pakistan had the earthquake?
- 8:00 am – issues to deal with today include budgets, payroll review, the next cash request, staff issues, and income taxes.
- 9:00 am – Samson, the office cook, brings me the standard breakfast of one fried egg on toast and coffee. I used to be a bit embarrassed when he called me boss; now I kind of like it.
- 11:00 am – Go to the bank. My service reps at the Standard Chartered Bank are a helpful and charming lot, perhaps the Pakistani equivalent of Keg waiters.
- noon – Lunch prepared by Samson. It isn’t as repetitive as breakfast, but it isn’t far off. Treats for dessert as Cecilio, our medical coordinator from the Philippines, has come to the end of his one-year term.
- 1:00 – 5:30 pm – chained to my desk. With Amsterdam being four hours behind this is when direct communication with head office occurs. I think Shahid my assistant is finding that as I get more tired I’m actually more fun to be around.
- 5:30 – 8:00 pm – finally get to the work that I thought that I would do at the beginning of the day.
- After work - walk home and pick-up something to eat on the way. Either read in my room or channel surf through the 80 cablevision channels. My theory used to be that if you surfed long enough you would eventually find something interesting. That theory has been destroyed in Pakistan.
- 11:00 pm – lights out.

Well, so much for saving the world. Still, I don’t understand why people think accountants are boring?