To Be, Or What To Be?

I have just been informed by a young man that he’s a chef. So? you may ask -  well, exactly; that’s what I thought. But he was under the impression that I would fall at his feet and worship him when he informed me of his profession.

Seemingly, to be a chef is the new superstar status? He wasn’t too pleased when I told him it was, ‘just knocking up a bit of dinner!’

He then took great pains to tell me just how difficult it is to create a new ‘taste sensation?’ He should have gone into advertising.

As I seem to say on far too many occasions, I am part Italian, and have grown up to eat a Mediterranean diet. My Grandma was, in my opinion, one of the greatest cooks ever to live. It’s not just me that thought that, all my friends were introduced to pizzas way before they were a fashion in Britain.

I now cook all the food in my house and have, on many occasions, sold some of my recipes to chefs who want to create their own new, ‘taste sensation!’ But it’s still just knocking up a bit of dinner.

The problem we have is that young people don’t regard some skills as skills anymore, while worshipping the useless.

Some professions that I hear that young people aspire to all the time are;

Actor.  Someone who pretends to be someone else.

Model. A person who puts clothes on and takes clothes off.

Footballer.  A person who kicks a ball

Celebrity.  A fuckwit!

Now, please don’t get me wrong; if I was offered the chance to do any of the above jobs (with the exception of model) I would jump at the chance. And I write and tell stories for a living which, let's face it, is not rocket science, is it?

When I left school, I became a joiner on the building sites, because that’s what my father did for a living.

All the building industry is now suffering because there are no apprenticeships and no skilled people to do the jobs. Being a joiner or brickie or sparkie or plumber is skilled, hard work and deserves to be regarded as such. That’s why they earn so much money now. The same has to be said of engineers and any other artisan skill.

The next time you have a flood in your house, call a model and see what use they are. Most skilled trades people, what ever their trade, would know enough to avert a total disaster. I’m not saying that other jobs are not worth while; on the contrary, I’m saying that any job is a worthwhile pursuit. Try going without your bins being emptied for a few weeks and just see how important refuse collectors are. If I were a refuse collector, I think I would still prefer to be called a ’binman’, though - I don’t know why, but it just sounds good.

So it’s about time that all people were shown their worth, whatever their jobs whether they are hard working teachers, nurses, trades people or ’binmen’.

People should realise that yes, some actors can earn quite a bit of money, but most are just struggling by.

I know lots of young people in the eighties all wanted to wecome wankers...wankers... sorry the key for the letter wetween A and C is not working. They all wanted to work in finance and wecome wankers.. .And they all achieved their dream.