Money really doesn't buy happiness?

Edinburgh's local bus company, Lothian Buses, is one of the major frustrations of my life. The british obsession with weather - understandable when you think about how miserable and unpredictable it is - can be matched by the Edinbourgeois need to rant about the buses. Guess why, then? In spite of this, the company keep being awarded titles like Best Bus Company in Britain. Nobody ever understands why, and it makes us wonder just how bad other services must be!

As well as the stream of awards they keep sticking on the side of the buses, there is often a recruitment sign on the back, currently telling us that the average salary for a bus driver is £24,000pa. Since this is, rarely for anything outside London it seems, actually in the region of the UK Average, you'd think these drivers might be quite happy. And of course you would be wrong. Most drivers of Lothian Buses are grumpy, obstructive, and generally elicit the same range of responses as the weather.

How is it, then, that employees of Starbucks, who will be getting half of that wage while dashing about in a hot, confined space while suffering a barrage of Stupid Customers (no, I'm not implying that there is any other kind) and knowing all the time that they are a part of an EVIL giant corporation can be so consistently cheery!? Lothian Buses driver: pots o' cash, sit down all day, miserable barstewards. Starbucks barrista: half the cash, busy and stressed, ALWAYS HAPPY AND HELPFUL. I'm consistently amazed by the Starbuckers, as no other coffee emporium seems able to get their staff to smile more than fleetingly. Are the drugging the coffee? Who knows, but i want some.