GORDON LIGHTFOOT | Culture
BRAVE FACE
A 33-year-old Ministry of Health employee is doing his best to keep smiling this weekend, despite quietly acknowledging that Sunday afternoons are now reserved for a creeping sense of existential dread.
Tom Pritchard, who has spent nearly a decade in the public service, insists to friends that he is “grateful for stable employment.” Behind his cheerful demeanour, however, lurks the growing awareness that his job is funded by an endless churn of taxes and inflation, and that one day the music will stop.
“I know it sounds grim,” he said with a grin that looked just slightly too wide. “But once the global money-printing scam collapses, this cushy public service life is over. So, you know, better enjoy the team quizzes while I can.”
Colleagues describe Tom as upbeat and professional. But in quieter moments he admits that the bureaucracy is taking its toll. “The people here aren’t bad. Everyone’s just pushed to the very edge of their sanity by a system that makes turning around a one-page document take three months,” he explained. “Still, at least we get morning tea.”
Pritchard says he tries to soothe the Sunday fear with distractions like a run along Oriental Parade or a takeaway curry with his partner. “I’ll tell myself everything’s fine. Then I remember the state of the balance sheet, the global economy, and the fact that I’ll be back in the office tomorrow trying to format a Word template that six managers still need to sign off.”
Despite the gnawing awareness that he may be wasting his best years, Pritchard insists he will carry on. “Look, it’s a paycheck. I’ve got to put bread on the table. And if that means spending my life in Teams calls with six people who all say ‘let’s circle back,’ then so be it.”
For now, he’s determined to smile through it all. “You either laugh or you cry, right?”
More to come.
