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Cherry Posted on - Friday 2nd of May 2008 at 11:43:57 AM
Sorry for not blogging this week. I've been sickly. Although it appears no one else has been blogging either!
Cherry Posted on - Friday 25th of April 2008 at 12:44:50 PM
Isn't it funny the things people get uptight about in the office? Mobile phones ringing bother people. Desk phones ringing don’t. I’m assuming that there is social life jealousy at the route of that one.
Eating at your desk. That really annoys some people. Why? Why are people so intolerant? However the behaviour that irritates me seems to be the very behaviour that is encouraged. For example:
1) Putting passive aggressive notes up in the kitchen area
2) Using the words “myself” and “yourself” instead of “me” or “you”
3) Spending hours in meetings talking utter b*llocks
4) Muppets.
It really is a wonder that more people don’t go mental at work and stab everyone up. I’ve had so many violent fantasies. I should probably stop before I go to far…
Cherry Posted on - Thursday 24th of April 2008 at 03:38:12 PM
Have you ever noticed how the phrase "Quick Huddle" sounds if you say it fast. I have just accidentl suggested to my work colleagues that we have a quick cuddle before our morning meetings.
doh.
Cherry Posted on - Tuesday 22nd of April 2008 at 10:23:12 AM
I hate meetings. And not just because they distract from valuable emailing time. But they are so utterly pointless. The only thing that ever seems to come out of the meetings that I am in, is the agreement to have another meeting to discuss the points raised in the original one.
I could have spent a more productive hour in topshop!
Cherry Posted on - Friday 18th of April 2008 at 03:48:03 PM
Friday again, and thank flip. The fridge Nazis have been out in force this week, sending emails telling us not to leave items in the fridge to go manky and putting up laminated signs in the kitchen area.
You have to love the civil service. I bet Jack Bauer never has this problem in CTU…
Cherry Posted on - Thursday 17th of April 2008 at 04:36:47 PM
Hello world. Today I have writer’s block. I’ve ranted about lots of things about work but the one thing I haven’t mentioned yet is the thing that dominates my work day. I am at present being rather mercilessly bullied by two colleagues. Now I am freelance and move work places earlier. My day job is also very much a day job and I usually find it easy to avoid office politics and get along with everyone I work with. However this has got ugly.
I suppose I ought to keep you all informed. I’m speaking to a work place mediator tomorrow and shall report back.
RetroRobo Posted on - Thursday 17th of April 2008 at 03:12:30 PM
Very excited now, since now have a decent paying job working in a Customer Service/Sales for an Office Supplies Co: which basically means money, and lots of hours and able to save and get out of Sydney and start back on the road again which pleases me -
Cherry Posted on - Wednesday 16th of April 2008 at 11:34:16 AM
I’ve been away for a couple of days, so I’m going to do an extra long rant blog today.
Today I will be dealing with the subject of recruitment consultants. My day job is freelance and thus I rely heavily on consultants to get my contracts. Until recently I thought they were perhaps the most lamentable human beings around, but that was until I started trying to buy a house and met estate agents.
I can tolerate most recruitment people these days. They are essentially sales people and you have to accept that a certain amount of cheap suits and shiny shoes are going to go with that territory. And ultimately they seem to need me far more than I need them (which makes me wonder if I need them at all). However it is the time wasters that really get my goat.
They’ll ring me up, all swagger and sales banter and try to convince me to go for a job that is wildly out of my skill set. Why? What is the point? I wont get the job, they will look ridiculous and I will have had a few hours of my exceptionally valuable time wasted. I cannot see how anyone wins here. Am I missing something? I briefly wonder if you get some kind of points for sending over CVs so it doesn’t really matter whose CV it is. I also think that in order to retain the will to live, they have office competitions to see who can match a candidate with the most inappropriate role; “Cherry, we have a position you might be interested in. As a deep sea fisherman off the Atlantic coast.”
RetroRobo Posted on - Tuesday 15th of April 2008 at 01:17:00 PM
Fruit Seller it is then: Went to the Japanese Butchery - and asked about the job in the window - they asked me how I managed to read the Job Notice in the window as it was in Japanese - I said it was also written in English and could I leave my number - they then reply
''We need a Japanese Face'
- oh dear -
RetroRobo Posted on - Monday 14th of April 2008 at 02:10:39 PM
Fruit Seller my be a happy blend of the two.
We shall see. :)
RetroRobo Posted on - Monday 14th of April 2008 at 02:10:25 PM
You never know, the Japanese Butchers might come through - talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place - Fruitpicking or Japanese Butchery - (SPARE ME: They'd probably have me carving up Whale Steaks!)
RetroRobo Posted on - Saturday 12th of April 2008 at 12:44:59 PM
am looking a bit closer to home - either that or Fruitpicking, which, until now, fate has allowed me to stear clear of fruitpicking, but alas, I feel that it is what a British man must do to survive.
RetroRobo Posted on - Friday 11th of April 2008 at 05:22:09 PM
...Seek desperate measures: Am now having to resort to applying to a Japanese Butcher's in the Apartment complex where Im currently living in Sydney - there are not too many jobs in Sydney - well none that actually get back to you,
Cherry Posted on - Friday 11th of April 2008 at 04:08:03 PM
Thank goodness it is Friday. What a hellish week this has been. It is weeks like this that make me really hate living in London. Millions upon millions of people who simply have no idea how to behave, whether it be rude commuters or surly colleagues. I’m pining for the fields I am. Pining for the fields.
Cherry Posted on - Thursday 10th of April 2008 at 03:36:38 PM
Just a quick message to all the tourists in London. I’m glad you are here building our knackered economy, but could you either walk at a sensible pace, or get out of the way please? I’m trying to get to work.
Cherry Posted on - Wednesday 9th of April 2008 at 02:02:57 PM
There is nothing more deeply suspicioous than taking the morning off work and then turning up in the afternoon in a suit. The only reason that happens is because you have been interviewing. No excuse will work. Apart from maybe “the washing machine flooded my kitchen maknig me 3 hours late for work. Unfortunately I keep all my clothes in the kitchen and the only thing that was dry was my interview suit. You might remember it from when I joined this sorry hole.” Well maybe not the sorry hole thing, but you get my drift.
http://www.cherrygreen.co.uk
RetroRobo Posted on - Wednesday 9th of April 2008 at 01:38:13 PM
Sat in the very retro video shop down the road and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is on in the background so I am more than happy on this Bright sunny Bank Holiday monday.
Happy to say that I went shopping today, and had half the bags as I did last time (see previous blog)....Elsa don't cross the seal!....sorry, Film is at the good bit...anyway...not much happened since yesterday, so not much to report really. Cooking Thai Green Curry for the gang one night this week, so that will be fun!
RetroRobo Posted on - Wednesday 9th of April 2008 at 01:37:40 PM
At least the sun is shining today so all cannot be bad, and I now have been paid for some freelance writing work so things are (starting to at least) looking up.
I am pleased to say that 5Cent-Noodles are strictly off the menu. They have been very popular this week, so Chef has run out thank god - they dont make me feel too good. Cheap you see.
pinkchihuahuagirl Posted on - Wednesday 9th of April 2008 at 09:53:30 AM
Wednesday, April 9
I’ve just made a drink for a few colleagues. I don’t take sugar myself but, on opening the sugar canister, I was faced with old bits of coffee, congealed clumps of sugar made by wet spoons and other items I cared not to identify.
I tried as best I could to avoid feeding my work mates other people’s left overs but why is it no one cares about the next person to use things? I believe it is on a level with leaving toast crumbs in the butter-an unwritten rule which should not be broken.
If I did take sugar and was faced with that every day, I’d seriously consider giving it up or bringing in my own secret supply.
RetroRobo Posted on - Tuesday 8th of April 2008 at 09:08:13 AM
At least the sun is shining today so all cannot be bad, and I now have been paid for some freelance writing work so things are (starting to at least) looking up.
RetroRobo Posted on - Tuesday 8th of April 2008 at 09:07:40 AM
Just had news from the job - and didnt get it. they employed internally - know how that feels! ive worked for North Somerset District Council!! which im gutted about, (the job, not working for North Somerset District Council) but heave-ho! back on the hopefully pleasant ride that is the freelance writing gravy-train!
Cherry Posted on - Monday 7th of April 2008 at 01:06:46 PM
Monday mornings are the worst. I have not only lost the will to live but am losing the will to blog today.
Main issues with Monday mornings:
1) Body clock reset by weekend lie ins
2) Having to go to work knowing there are 5 full days of unpleasantness before the next weekend
3) This particular one is very cold
4) Knowing you have loads to do because you arsed around all day on Friday
I’ll try to be more upbeat tomorrow :(
RetroRobo Posted on - Sunday 6th of April 2008 at 07:50:14 AM
Just had news from the job - and didnt get it. they employed internally - know how that feels! ive worked for North Somerset District Council!! which im gutted about, (the job, not working for North Somerset District Council) but heave-ho! back on the hopefully pleasant ride that is the freelance writing gravy-train!
RetroRobo Posted on - Saturday 5th of April 2008 at 09:05:00 AM
Wanna see the real Australia - currently at the moment, sitting at home applying for various writing jobs and trying to scrape enough Freelance Work together to pay the next rent lol...
RetroRobo Posted on - Saturday 5th of April 2008 at 09:03:44 AM
Am thinking of heading to West to Adelaide to chase a copywriting job, (emmm, feelings of de ja vu) and then heading north to Alice Springs and Ulurua and then to Darwin and Cairns and then down the East Coast (when all is dry) and heading back to Sydney.
Cherry Posted on - Friday 4th of April 2008 at 11:01:40 AM
Possibly one of the most fun things you can do in an office is write overly long and emotional messages in the birthday card that is being passed around for someone who don’t know.
I’ve done this in pretty much every job I have ever had. Even more satisfying is adding a message from a random celebrity (usually Val Kilmer) and seeing if they notice.
So next time a card comes past your desk, why not write in it “Have a Saintly Day, Love Val Kilmer xx”
The day I receive a card with this written in I will know my work on this planet is done.
http://www.cherrygreen.co.uk
Cherry Posted on - Thursday 3rd of April 2008 at 03:12:57 PM
OK yesterday I discussed the email faux pas, but today I have no email at all! I am utterly helpless. Not only am I unable to work, I am also unable to organise my social life or to gossip with my friends. I can't tell you how isolated that makes me feel. Worse, I have even had to SPEAK to colleagues because I can’t email them. Nightmare!
http://www.cherrygreen.co.uk/
mad_mike_19 Posted on - Wednesday 2nd of April 2008 at 11:23:55 PM
finally finishe work :)
Cherry Posted on - Wednesday 2nd of April 2008 at 11:09:55 AM
02/04/08
You gotta love email!
I suspect everyone out there has at some point committed a really classic email faux pas. There really is no other feeling in the world quite like that stomach dropping away, nauseous awfulness of realising that you’ve just hit “reply all”.
Today I sent an email to a friend at work about my obnoxious bearded colleague, claiming that one of the key resources I needed to perform my job was a “Ground to beard missile”. Unfortunately for me I didn’t send it to my friend. I sent it to the beard. Rather more fortunately for me, he was too deeply mired in his own personality disorder to understand the reference and as a result didn’t react other than with confusion.
I got a few minutes of adrenaline rush out of it though.
As I delightedly told this story to friends in the pub later, I was even more pleased to note that almost everyone had their own email faux pas story to tell. My favourite being the friend who wrote an saucy message to her boyfriend and set it to the whole department!
Clearly as well as being a very effective communication tool, email is also a recipe for disaster. We never seem to learn to think twice before clicking send despite the potential for instant dismissal. The temptation to reel off an email venting your spleen whilst at work is frequently to great to resist.
We all know work email can be monitored, but I have to wonder if anyone actually bothers. Are there actually techies in the IT department reading our emails? If so, the ones that read mine must be enjoying my life vicariously as I leave nothing to the e-imagination when gossiping with my friends! Not only will they be kept up to date with my tempestuous love life, but they will also know how my house sale is progressing and which of my colleagues has wound me up most each week.
So the moral of this story is that email is a political mine field. I really need to listen to my own advice!
www.cherrygreen.co.uk
RetroRobo Posted on - Wednesday 2nd of April 2008 at 10:31:26 AM
NOT missing the routine of Office work in the UK one little but but EXPRESSING my deep dissapointment in myself that I am steadily slipping into a routine - renting in Sydney is bloody great fun. Beach on my doorstep and lots of cool shops and cafes/restaurants and friends in Coogee, great housemates - Sydney is SOOO expensive, and just cant get away from the fact that although it is an amazing city, there are so many places (some of which I have seen already) that are more amazing!
pinkchihuahuagirl Posted on - Wednesday 2nd of April 2008 at 09:52:51 AM
Wednesday April 2.
Why is it you can be in a perfectly good mood in a morning and then colleagues manage to wreck it? One colleague in particular is the moodiest person I have ever worked with. I say good morning and I just get a grunt in return. She continues in surly silence for most of the morning and comes round occasionally in the afternoon.
I’ve stopped asking if everything’s ok. I’m determined not to let someone else’s somber mood to affect my day.
Following the despair of yesterday, the inspiration is back! I am writing a way now! Yey!
pinkchihuahuagirl Posted on - Tuesday 1st of April 2008 at 10:51:41 AM
Tuesday, April 1.
Anyone who works in a creative environment will identify with what I am about to say. I have lost all inspiration!
It happens a couple of times a year. I just sit at my desk and can’t think of any ideas ☹
It probably won’t last long (I hope) but for a creative creature it can be quite worrying. I might just go a make a coffee and see if anything arrives. It may just be my brain playing an April fool on myself. Wish me luck!
RetroRobo Posted on - Tuesday 1st of April 2008 at 10:22:21 AM
Living & Working in Oz
I find it amusing to move nimbly through the rat-race of the 5pm finish in the CBD (Business District) to the sounds of 'I need a hero' by Bonnie Tyler which gives me a sense of enormous well-being.
The only consolation of a stressful afternoon at work was coming home to a lovely family and my loyal mascots! He-Man (who I brought with me from home) and Killer Whale, bought for me by my Campervan shotgun Smithy as we have a rather obsessive relationship with Killer Whales since noting one day that the Aquarium in Sydney, didnt actually have a Killer Whale in it, which was most dissapointing, and wasnt really worth calling an Aquarium at all! dont wanna see bloody Gold Fish when you come to Australia! - but hoping to go and see whales at some point up in the Tropical North.
RetroRobo Posted on - Monday 31st of March 2008 at 10:04:21 PM
An Englishman working in Australia
Macie, my Apple Mac at work is giving me a little jip! - she really is a titan (well she was when I first got there) but she turned out to be the Titanic of Macs (a few loose rivets so to speak) and the so called 'unbreakable, uncrashable Mac' soon met with her veritable Iceberg and decided to sink on me.....nothing would work, all systems out! lol...none of the graphics would work, word documents wouldnt even open...so that was a bit of a pain in the Apple - and they are the biggest bunch of stressheads I have ever met!! i dont bode well with stress heads! there were nearly fisticuffs.
pinkchihuahuagirl Posted on - Monday 31st of March 2008 at 11:23:56 AM
Monday March 31.
I know I’m going to sound tight here, but I am sick of people coming around the office asking for money.
Whether it be a half-marathon for flea bitten squirrels to Doris’s daughter’s new baby, is it just me being totally fleeced?!
If that is not bad enough, people in my office have started writing everyone’s name on the envelope and ticking, not only whether they have donated, but how much they’ve given! If you have the guts to resist donation, you’re then not allowed to sign the card.
I have to bring my lunch to work now becase I have to give so much money for people’s birthdays, anniversaries and births.
I am just going to dive under the desk as Florence in HR’s budgerigar has died and they’re coming round with an envelope!
pinkchihuahuagirl Posted on - Friday 28th of March 2008 at 10:27:17 AM
Friday, March 28
Well it’s Friday at last!
Is it just me or do we spend our whole lives wishing for this day? From the Tuesday blues to pivot day on Wednesday, Friday is the golden day when everyone is happy.
I can hear people already discussing what they’re doing tonight-which pub, what to wear, where to meet.
It’s a liberating feeling like being let out of a cage!
Roll on 5 o’clock and let’s wish that the weekend goes slowly!
pinkchihuahuagirl Posted on - Thursday 27th of March 2008 at 08:01:27 AM
Thursday, March 27
What is it with the week after a Bank Holiday? Why do they feel so much longer than a normal week?
I mean, technically, today should be Wednesday but it’s Thursday and I still couldn’t get out of bed ☹ Is there some cruel Bank Holiday week slowing gremlin that I don't know about?
I wonder if I’d away having a cat nap under my desk…….
zzzzzzzzz
pinkchihuahuagirl Posted on - Wednesday 26th of March 2008 at 07:49:54 AM
Have you ever found egg shell in your cup of coffee? No? Come and spend a day at my office. The braniacs in advertising thought it would be a good idea to have an Easter egg painting competition in the office last Thursday before the Easter weekend. Quite innocent you might think...well, apart from the fact they should have been selling adverts, the bright sparks decided to boil said eggs in the kettle.
I am not usually lost for words but this beggars belief.
I've been looking round the office and I can still see people checking their brews for egg shell before they take a sip. I think I am scarred for life ;)
What a truly eggcellent idea he he.