My boss at Raffles came in yesterday and asked me to play Saturdays again. I declined as I always have, stating that I don't want the commitment of working all Saturdays. To the shock and horror of my colleagues, I was brave enough to tell him I REFUSE to play all Saturdays, as I know that taking a pre-committed Saturday off would leave him with no pianist, and that he would probably get pissed off and blame everyone. (Maybe I am way too brave..)

He carried on being very professional (in his own way) and business-like, and said

"Saturday is our most important night. I don't want Tim Jefferson* to play. He is very boring and morbid, and useless to me in my opinion."

It suddenly dawned on me that just like when I joined Raffles to begin with, someone was about to lose his job for not being good enough (for the boss). I carried on refusing, and at the end came to a compromise of me saying I agree to work 2 Saturdays a month or less, but no more.

Boss is willing to find someone else to play the other 2, but not all 4. I don't see why he can't find someone better than me - I know so many others who are better pianists, and would suit the mood a lot better.

Oh well, this will help me to reach my target pay for the year and make the decision to quit at Christmas a whole lot easier - this is what snapped into my head when I agreed to play 2 Saturdays a month. Kind of works for me then, in a bizarre yet convenient way.

Less than 4 days to go. Oh have mercy.

*name has been changed to protect privacy