Half a Day Off

Boozy the Spy did not schedule a meeting for this morning, so I've done the natural thing. Taken the morning off! Whee.

I slept in as late as the cats would let me, i.e. a whole hour. I slurped coffee while skimming the NY Times on-line, and I shall pop by the "guichet" to pay some bills before heading for the office.

I also washed out the litter boxes so as to feel that I did do some constructive manual labour in my time off.

I'm still not sure what this whole consultancy scheme is going to accomplish, if anything. It has put some zing into our normally routine office life. There is that.

Buzzzzz

I am a Busy Bee.

No time to blog.

This is not fun.

Things get interesting in a good way (for a change)

In the continuing saga of the workplace....turns out that Boozy the Spy used to be the head of the department in Head Office in NYC where I applied twice last year and was rudely rejected. She's been retired for 8 years.

So I sat down with her and asked: what is it you people want? What did I do wrong? What do I have to do?

She was eager to hear me out and gave me a plan of action for getting my foot in the door in the right dept in NYC while avoiding the nasty, nasty people in their HR department. I was very excited by this prospect.

So call me Quisling. I am now consorting with the "enemy". Also, she is a direct path to The Phantom and my opportunity to get my name on his radar. If I impress Boozy, I will impress The Phantom.

Suddenly, I'm a playa. How did that happen?

The Spy Who Loves Me

I had a long talk with my boss, Mrs. David Brent, today. I dunno what to think. Now the story is that her boss, The Phantom, wants to e-x-p-a-n-d our department, add new jobs and promote the existing staff.

As Charo used to say: Do ju think I was born tomorrow?

In her clumsy, unguarded way, she basically told me that in 5 or 6 years, I (Nanuk of the North, the Mastermind behind [blank]) will be the boss of this expanded department.

She also let slip who she thinks will get the short end of the stick, and it's the colleague I am closest to and trust the most. One who is actually a close friend. Nice, eh?

All this to say that our consultant, Boozy the Spy, is here to provide us (or... some of us) with the advance training that will give us an advantage in getting the promotions that are coming in the magical-land-of-Oz-expanded-department of the future. She's here to HELP us.

Tra-la-la. Let us all dream pretty dreams. I want a pony!

Stop me if you've heard this one

My boss (let's call her Mrs. David Brent) has to retire. Now. Before she destroys us all through her incompetence.

Yesterday, she called a "quick" meeting to inform us that her boss, the guy we still have not been introduced to after 3 1/2 months (i.e. the Phantom), hired a "consultant" to do a "review" of our department. Without telling Mrs. Brent.

My colleague said: She's a Spy. The Phantom has sent in a spy.

The spy started yesterday. She was already in the building when we had our little meeting to inform us of her arrival. The Spy is allegedly going to watch us do our jobs, "coach" us and even assign us tests and assignments. Fuck that shit! We've all been in our jobs more than 10 years, and now we're going to be tested? We were all tested when we got these jobs. We will soon be beating a path down to the ombudsman's office.

Mrs. Brent told us: "Don't bother going ballistic. When I was told, I went ballistic for ALL of us!" Knowing how she cowers in the face of all authority, I would imagine her version of going ballistic was to chew her pencil and look nervously around the room.
My other colleague wondered why the Phantom would've brought the Spy in without Mrs. Brent's knowledge. I said: when you know someone's a dud, you work around them.

On the lighter side, after we were introduced to the Spy, who is a retired British lady, my colleague said: "She looks like somebody who enjoys a drink". This was said in an approving way.
The next 5 weeks should be interesting.

Mastermind

Ever since Khaled Sheik Mohammed's trial in NYC was announced, I have lost count of the number of times I have heard "Khaled Sheik Mohammed, the Mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks".

I like that title. I want to be known as the Mastermind behind [blank].

Behind something. I don't know what.

So when people talk about me, I want them to say "you mean, Nanuk of the North? the Mastermind behind [blank]?"

It doesn't have to be diabolical.

Anything at all.

Lou has left the building

Whoo hoo. Lou Dobbs quit CNN. I didn't watch his final appearance but I'm sure he was in a huff of some kind.

I won't miss him. Maybe Lou will retire to Mexico? hardy har har.

Will this make me watch CNN more? No. I turned it on yesterday and that dim bulb Tony Harris was trying to look serious and "interested". I just could not take him. Why does that nitwit still have a job?