I am a City lawyer and I am ginger.
Or, more accurately, I used to be a City lawyer, because today I handed in my notice. Now I am no longer a City lawyer but (unfortunately) remain a ginger.
It all started this afternoon when I broke the cardinal rule of the office. This is a rule I’ve religiously observed ever since I first started life as a professional. Never cry in the workplace or, at least, if emotion does overwhelm you, only let tears mess up your mascara once you’ve reached the safety of the ladies’. Today, the one rule I had held so dear throughout my (undeniably short) legal career, was openly violated. Worse still, this display of emotional vulnerability took place in my boss’s office.
I chose an insignificant Friday in the middle of these credit crunch blighted days to throw in the legal towel, with no job to go to and only a vague idea of what I wanted to do. No cosy alternative career in banking or management consultancy lined up, no swift side-step into legal recruitment on the horizon. Don’t get me wrong, this was not a spur of the moment decision made in the face of one too many comments from brandy-breathed clients about my legs or one too many late nights spent looking at spreadsheets and dying on the inside. No, this decision was arrived at after six months of consideration.
In my boss’s huge glass office, my announcement was met with consternation: “But, I don’t understand, you have no job to go to, what will you do? You do realise we are in a recession?!....” I reassured him that the country’s economic plight had not passed me by and tried in vain to explain that I did not want to spend the rest of my days measuring my time in six minute units and using such terms as “let’s not reinvent the wheel” and “shall we touch base”(which always struck me as slightly obscene anyway... no one's touching my base).
He told me he would hold onto my resignation letter until I had re-gained my senses. I told him he could do as he wished, but my mind was made up.
So tomorrow I will wake up as an ex City lawyer.
Jobless.....and ginger.