Conversation in the Procrastination Household

"Chris, can you make this essay go away? I don't want to write this essay."

"Sure. We'll just call up your supervisor and tell him that you're quitting the program. The only problem then will be money. The way I figure it, I couldn't get another teaching job in Saskatchewan until the fall, and so we might as well stay here until then. But I have a plan: even though there aren't a lot of jobs in your field in this city, I could get you a job at the call centre. You know, they'd start you off at $10/hour, but after a few months, you'd be up to $12/hour! And that's forty hours a week, which is way more than you're getting now!"

"A job...?"

"You know, this plan just might work! Because after you've worked at my centre for a few months, I'd get you to fill out a referral form and I'd get $300 for referring you to that job! And we'd need it, because with you not being a full-time student, we'd have to register the car in BC, and we'd have to get BC health care, which we know is not cheap..."

Chris knows how to put everything into perspective for me. He didn't try to convince me to get back to work. He didn't try to convince me that this essay's going to be life-changingly good. He just reminded me what real jobs are like, and that I'd far rather write an essay than get a job.