The United Nations Headquarters has a small exhibit on its main floor depicting various aspects of the organization's history. Against one wall it shows a typical office set-up for a UN officer in the 1950s. Office workers are becoming increasingly obsolete now. I feel as if I am one of the last of a breed of 9 to 5ers. Among my friends and acquaintances with white-collar jobs nearly all of them have some sort of flexible work arrangement regarding hours and location. My Dad had an office job and during my many years of freelancing and contract work he would always be uneasy and encourage me to "join the mainstream" as he put it. Eventually he was able to see me fulfill that wish of his. But I've always had a certain ambivalence about this trade off - security at the cost of freedom. On this day I felt a certain kind of appreciation for my corner office that looked out onto the UN HQ. (It helped that it was a Friday and that I'd soon be free). Behind my desk I was like an actor playing a familiar role on a long-running TV show with a costume and scripted lines. I knew my part backwards and forwards, which freed my mind in a way to focus on other things. On days I was satisfied to be in this job I could dive deeply into a novel on the 7:50am express, scribble my thoughts into a notebook at lunchtime, or walk under the skyscraper-dappled sunshine listening to the perfect song as I watched a parade of faces and wondered what I'd spend my money on for lunch. In the morass of freelancing and underemployment I remember that the search for work could become all-encompassing. Still, there is a particular kind of emptiness that comes over me when I shut off the lights at the end of a week and look out at the darkening sky I've largely ignored all day. 

There is a John Updike story in which he's visiting a museum and one of the displays he looks at it is of a typical American schoolroom from the early 20th Century. When he  realizes that it looks just like the schoolroom he was in as a child, it gives him a start. A world has passed him by.

On the upside, Friday afternoons and weekend are surrounded by a golden halo for me and all my colleagues. "Have a good weekend!" rings out like Hallelujahs all over on phone screens, through office telephone lines and across closing elevator doors. This is a 3-day weekend and feels like I've hit the jackpot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnqxbdnzlhw