[Ian Robinson]

I hate working with a passion , and if I must , I want to be paid a lot of $ for my time and the bother , hence , my target roles as a principal or chief process engineer (not many of that level role about, but I can afford to hang in there and wait for a suitable opening to materialise).

None of that short term contractor or FIFO crap for me (I keep getting asked by dim witted HR people if I am interested i in contracting and FIFO despite clearly stating in the second paragraph of all my job application coverletters that I am ONLY INTERESTED IN PERMANENT RESIDENTIAL ROLES !!!) - more bother than it's worth and too hard on relationships (in that nearly all guys I know on contract and on FIFO rosters who started off as married are no longer (married) and though they might have stacks in the bank , they are burnt out and cactus as functioning engineers after a few years , and stressed to buggery (high blood pressure , heart problems , no long term relationships) .... NO THANK YOU.

Come down to tintaks , most people only work to pay the mortgage and to subsidize the banks , health insurers, and finance companies (via credit cards and personal loans on cars, boats, holidays years ago, electron consumer goods like the biggest plasma tv and latest electron junk, and furnishings all bought on the never-never via those take it now pay in 2 or 3 years time scams you see on TV all the time (HND etc) , and to keep the kids in day care (so mum can work .... ummm where's the sense in working to be able to pay someone like ABC to look after your kids ?) , and to keep food on the table.
If you don't have debt or not much of it, and no longer owe anything on the home, and car is paid for and works OK , why bother working ?

What ever happened to our nice layed back and relaxed culture where there was a healthy work-family-social balance ?
.....seems to me it's gone out the window as we've become more and more americanised and way to wrapped up in buying stuff to do the same thing the old stuff did just fine (just a little slower maybe) ? Stupidity on a national scale all to keep profits up for mostly foreign shareholders who don't give a toss about anything but their short term financial advantage.