Hired Out

Over the last few months, a fair number of people have asked me what it's like to be a private practitioner. It's a fair question.

I think that I most often feel like a hired gun. When someone needs help, they turn to me because the public services seem inadequate. (Whether they really are or not is moot, since if they were seen to be, I wouldn't be getting paid.)

More specifically, I tend to be hired to handle difficult situations in which the sharks of the education service are swimming around the spreading blood traces in the water. Deadlines are looming, the situation seems intractable; call up the hero-for-hire. Heh. It's a status I never thought I would have.

It's this kind of hazardous service that allows me to charge a higher fee than the usual. It has to be like that because otherwise, it's a thankless task. If the job was easy, I'd do it for free (or leave it to the public services).

Occasionally, I actually do reject assignments. The 'one man saves three people at the very last minute from what they think is certain death' is just not my kind of act. Give me a few months, maybe. But if you have a key examination in two days' time, that's going to cost us (both you and me) way too much.

Today it's 09-09-09. That's what makes me think of emergency services.