There was a sign above the toilet roll dispenser in the library of my university that said: “Social Sciences degree. Please take one”. This turned out to be less of a joke and more like brutal reality for thousands of shelf stackers, shop assistants and supermarket checkout people who are qualified to have letters after their names. In one industry in particular, degree qualifications are practically as common amongst its proponents as pole rash, and that is in the gentlemen’s entertainment business. Your next lap dance will be from a lady called Candii who specialises in chemistry, molecular science and making her tassels revolve in opposite directions.
It is enough to give to give a fellow stress. But not as much as flying with children, and if the thought of that causes parents to shudder, imagine what it is like for the rest of the passengers. This is thought to be such a turn off that a proposal has been made to place those with kids into a separate section of the plane. The hold would be a good idea but apparently some countries do not allow you to check your children as baggage. This notion has its detractors, however, most vocal among whom are parents themselves, who have intimate knowledge of the ear piercing and destructive nature of their precious little darlings. It is not that they don’t want to feel corralled and isolated, it is rather that, like the rest of us, they don’t want to be near other people’s children either.
Stress comes in many guises and dealing with it is an entire industry in itself. You could probably take a degree in it. The coping mechanisms seem to fall into two camps: filling the mind with distractions and emptying the mind of all thoughts. Bingo was one caller’s method of relaxing. Which category this falls into I couldn’t say. There was also rock climbing, meditating, swimming, walking, playing the electric guitar really loud and listening to Mozart. This last one didn’t do much for Salieri.