James O'Brien dedicates his programme to this extremely upbeat caller
29 September 2020, 13:52
Caller surprisingly upbeat despite coronavirus causing huge pay cut
James O'Brien has dedicated his LBC show today to a caller with a surprisingly sunny outlook on having to switch to a less well-paid job due to coronavirus.
The caller's words came as council leaders in Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester today warned of the devastating economic impact on their communities if local coronavirus restrictions are not reviewed.
Meanwhile, apprenticeships and skills minister has Gillian Keegan warned jobs that "don't fit" with coronavirus may "take a long time" to recover or never come back.
Graham, 54, who had worked in the events industry as a designer for 32 years, told James that the coronavirus crisis initially meant that he lost work.
"Work died in March and numerous companies I worked for have gone bust in the last few months," he explained.
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However, he went on to say that he eventually managed to instead secure a deliver job in a supermarket.
Despite undergoing a big pay cut as a result of his job switch, Graham praised the impact of the change on his mental health.
"Even though my pay is massively less, my responsibilities are less, my stress is less and in some ways my home life is actually better now.
"My kids are happier. I spend more time with them. So there are positives to all of this."
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Graham's positive attitude prompted James to reflect on his own attitude towards financial pressures.
James said: "I wonder if this is a personality difference, Graham, because I always worry, even as life unfolds and you get closer to thinking that you're alright now. I'm terrified of oblivion, tramp angst, waking up on a bench after everything has gone wrong.
"You're made of different stuff from me."
Graham responded: "I know it's awful what's happening but at the end of the day there's nothing we can do on it...So we've clearly just got to look at the positives."
