I ended up moving out to California with them, but I went to be in the music and entertainment industry. They relocated to Southern California to join the ranks at a major accounting firm and work their way up the corporate ladder. When they were studying for accounting, they often pictured themselves obtaining accounting manager jobs or accounting finance jobs, instead of these drab, auditing jobs. They'd come home at late hours, exhausted and upset. They'd just spent all day going through paperwork while those working at the company hated them for auditing their corporation. Nobody wants to be audited and everyone is always a little worried that he/she didn't file something correctly and will be fined for it.
My roommate's accounting job didn't quite start out the way he'd hoped, but he decided to stick it out anyway so he could achieve what he originally set out for. The longer he did it, the more he hated it and wanted to give up. But I kept reminding him that, ‘if you gave up, all the misery would be wasted; you are putting yourself through this so you can reach the other side: a real accounting career; if you gave up now, you would never achieve the goal you made when you were in college.' So he went back to work, only to return in a bad mood. We seemed to go through this routine on a daily basis. He wanted to quit, and I convinced him to stick it out. He'd come up with every kind of excuse as to why he shouldn't be wasting these years of his life doing something he hated. But I reminded him that everybody starts at the bottom, doing the jobs that the people on the top don't want to do. You can't get to the top without starting at the bottom.
So the years went by, and we were both fed up with his job by the time his promotion came around. By then he had gotten the hang of his job and was starting to tolerate it a little more. But he was definitely looking forward to the new transition. In just a couple of months, he'd be done with auditing forever and would be an accountant for one of Ernst and Young's major clients. This is what he wanted, and he had paid the price for it. I guess you could say I paid the price for it, too! Although I wasn't really getting much of a benefit out of it, as far as I could see.
When time came around, he got the new job. They were transferring him to Boston, so he wouldn't be my roommate anymore. So it was a bum deal for me. I wouldn't get to see him come home from his dream job, and the next time I'd see him, he'd probably be married with kids.
Well, he was excited and wanted to go out and celebrate, so I figured that'd be a good enough reward for both of us. He was buying, which was nice of him, and we went out to the town. That night, we hit 5 different clubs, checking out some of the local music and night scene. There were some really crappy bands and some pretty good ones. There was one in particular that I enjoyed more than the rest. He was a jazz/rock artist who played the piano and sang. He reminded me a little of Billy Joel and his tunes were pretty good. I ended up buying his CD and throwing in an extra tip. I don't remember his name at the moment, but I remember people there were calling him, “Hammer Hands”. Most of the people in the audience were women. Hot women, too! There were 7 hot girls to every guy in the room, which was one of the main reasons it was the best club we hit that night. Not only was the music great there, but the ladies were hot as well and we were both in the mood to work it. We were surrounded with hot ladies all night long, working out magic. I won't go into details, but it ended well. That was a night to remember!
So in the end, it all paid off. My friend got the accounting job he wanted and we both had a night to remember when we celebrated the promotion. It was great to see him excited and happy that he'd reached his goal and was through with the terrible auditing job. It was inspiring for me to see what happens when you stick it out during the rough years. Everybody has to start by doing something they don't want to do, but if they stick with it and make the most of it, they'll come out on top and right where they want to be.
I still keep in touch with my buddy and he comes visiting from time to time. I'll go visit him in Boston some time soon, as well. He is married now, just like I predicted. But we still go out when we're together and I hit on the ladies while he sits there and enjoys the music. It's not quite the same, but its still good times!
