Required to produce five editorial cartoons a week, I commenced work at 9am and after a leisurely cup of tea accompanied by one or two of the in-house canteen's hideous pink buns, I would swiftly draw the daily cartoon and be on my way home by 10 on the dot each morning.
A total of five hours work a week for 49 weeks, plus 3 weeks paid holiday a year to compensate for such exhausting labour, suggests I was roping in an average hourly rate of $265.
Work out what that was worth in the 70s and eat your heart out Andrew Ferrier, having to make do with a mere $5,000,000 last year.
Doubtless, cynics might suggest this explains why the Auckland Star no longer exists and that I was obviously highly overpaid.
But that's just another burden of misguided envy that I cheerfully carry - like Mr Ferrier, perceived by those less fortunate as just another "tall poppy", rather than being judged as part of an elite band of decision-makers who make significant contributions to the nation's wellbeing.
Over the years, my ratio of working hours to salary earned has changed slightly.
I now appear to work close to 80 hours a week in exchange for pocket money of approximately $25.
However, with the latest 65 per cent increase graciously granted by the CEO, who is in charge of my empire's purse strings, I now have a weekly allowance of $41.25 - a giddying amount of cash to handle, even for an astute company director such as myself.
