Like being dead, but paid better.

Today I beat the jokebox bloody, tortured the service engineer's tiny mind (he didn't have our jokebox's extensive service record to hand, so decided to start from first principles: "You must be using dodgy tapes." I killed him, of course) and closed four tickets. Number of quickly-closed tickets is my metric to fiddle. (Luser: "Uh, what colour of database has the most RAM?" Me: "Mauve." Luser: "Thanks." Me: *ka-ching!*)

I also read far too much LiveJournal and felt my brane slipping further into creaky cobwebbed disuse. No wonder I'm braindead every day when I get home from work. It really is getting time to have a word with the bosses about finding some variety.

One of my co-workers has just departed because of visa troubles. Which sucks badly for all concerned - we are now sorely missing a highly competent NT admin. Any of you reading this in London (actual knowledge and experience preferred to a McSE, though the latter certainly won't count against you), I may have a job spec to steer you towards forthwith. But it does mean I have scored my desired 10am-6pm shift yet again. If you're working a sinecure, you shouldn't be working one that requires you to get up early.

The subject line of this entry is how I characterised a data entry job I had a few years ago. Phenomenally highly-paid - audio typing from 1-900 book ordering lines, 35 cents per name/address/credit card number; having done a fanzine many years ago, audio typing is something I just happen to be shit-hot at. I was making the equivalent of AUD$50,000/year as the lowest of the low. I quit that job to get half the pay doing tech support - a career step, rather than something to mark time and get a cheque.