Tuesday

Hmmm. Doesn't feel like I just had a 3-day weekend, that's for sure. I slept a lot, and re-read Robin McKinley's "Sunshine". Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a sequel to it, and I'd love one.

Tuesday after a bank holiday is nearly worse than Monday - tryiong to fit two days' work into one. But the new payroll manager starts tomorrow - yay!!!!

F5: Meet the cow-irkers

This week, Laura asked:

Sharing an office with one or more people can be a bit of a strain sometimes. Humour me, name five annoying habits of co-workers you've had to put up with. Or are YOU the one who chews with his mouth open or types aloud?

Late, late again... well, at least, as far as I know, no one at work reads my LJ, so, this is the unvarnished truth. But first, I guess a little confession is always good for the soul... I am the person in our mostly-openplan office who is regularly scolded for use of language. I contribute a decent amount to the charity swearbox. I am possessed of a tongue that (only) a longshoreman could be proud of, and which is entirely unsuitable for the workplace. The day I started working in the UK, my then-husband tried to warn me that local females didn't use quite as colourful language as I was wont to... However, I can claim one rung up on SS, the associate partner nominally in charge of our floor, in that I never swear in front of clients - well, unless they know me really well. I have heard him have to apologise on the phone more than once.

1. So - SS. Aside from his swearing, which I can't really criticise too thoroughly, he never. ever. has. any. money. Beg, borrow, steal, cajole, whine... when he wants lunch or whatever, someone else has to pay for it. Then he takes umbrage when you deduct what's owed you from the occasional £20 note of his that comes your way. Even more annoying is the fact that he is by far the best-paid person on the floor.

2. Then there's CS. Dear, dear. A nice bloke really. (No, really.) About to be married to the mother of his daughter, always referred to by both names. (Rebecca Amy). Catchphrase: "Awright, maaaate?" No sense of humour - from Wigan, but doesn't get pie jokes. All women in his life (including fiancee and daughter) seem incredibly accident-prone. and he has to accompany them on every hospital appointment. Possibly redefining the term "Pussy-whipped". (PS fiancee has recently returned to work after a number of months off following a car accident. This is the second time this has happened to her. Had another car accident within 3 weeks of return to work. Also suffers "women's problems") Sigh.

3. Magic. Partner. World's busiest man. Sends memos requesting responses to items already dealt with. Responds to meeting requests after critical moment/deadline has passed. Has secretary sort out home bills - WTF does his wife do? She doesn't have an outside-the-home job. *shakes head* I like him, really, but he drives me nuts. Oh, and SS is trying to emulate him - last week, phones secretary from another floor & requests that she bring him a printer toner cartridge - the office they're stored in is nearer us than her. She had the good sense to dump it on his desk to replace himself. He seems to have taken the hint. Maybe.

4. The misfit. A partner. All other partners dislike him intensely. So do most clients, and all staff. Has the social skills of a three-toed sloth. Rude. Cowardly. Two-faced. Snobby. Oh, you guessed it - a consumate bully. Needless to say, has never had a long-term relationship with a member of either sex. Come to think of it, I don't think he's ever had a short term one. Doesn't live on an "estate" he informed me. My response? "Oh I thought the landed gentry did live on estates..." There's more, but even I can't be that cruel.

5. I can't come up with another one - the vitriol has been used up for this session. But we have the fanatic MUFC/BWFC/MCFC rivalry. The typists who will do anything but type. The receptionists who hate answering the phone. And Marie, who is a darling, but who asked two people on an outing to Blackpool why they were sharing a room, and what would their respective spouses think...

The rest of the whistle-blowers can be found here: http://f5.mgivf.com/