Fredericton — We all have that one co-worker who when asked how they’re doing every day cleverly quips “living the dream,” but a new study suggests that they actually aren’t living the dream, and they’re in fact lying straight to your face.
The study, conducted by researchers at UNB, interviewed more than 1,000 employees in different sectors and found that all but one person interviewed admitted they were being sarcastic when telling a co-worker that they were “living the dream.”
“I actually dreamed of being an astronaut,” confessed Fredericton Grade One teacher Laura Sparks. “But here I am, telling kids they’ve done a great job on their spelling test even when they get every single word wrong, including ‘can’ which for some reason they spell with a k and an extra n — but at least the automatic pass means I won’t be stuck with the same moron kids next year.”
Sparks did admit that she didn’t actually pursue her dream job, and that teaching was a fallback.
“Mainly I just did it so I could get my summers off.”
“Am I actually living the dream?” asked Felix Coffey, an investment specialist at TD Bank. “Yeah, I sure am, if my dream consists of convincing people they have more money than they actually do and that it’d be wise for them so sign up for products they can’t really afford so our branch can get more money — then yes, I am living the dream.”
Coffey said his actual dream is to win the lottery, buy a boat and just be lazy his whole life. Or failing all that, to be a Jedi.
Our reporter asked Sylvie Gaudet, one of the researchers working on the study, about the one person who was genuine when saying they were living the dream.
“It’s Premier Gallant,” she replied. “He said he’s been dreaming of being premier ever since he was a little boy when he saw how much everyone loved and respected Frank McKenna. He also told us that he thought it’d be pretty cool to be everybody’s boss and get loads of girls.”