Day 1 - My first day back

Wednesday 11th Oct - Tea

I arrive and it is hammering down with rain and lightning in an almost Biblical sign of the end of the world. I make a dash, holding my laptop bag over my head as a makeshift umbrella and burst into the building's reception like a SWAT team of one.

As I have put my swipe card in a place so safe I can't find it I have confront the receptionist Maureen. I tell her I need a card and she is surprised that I work in the building. After I explain where I sit, the penny drops with her - she was confusing me with someone else. I feel relieved as I thought something odd was going on.

As I walk upstairs a few people give me a warm welcome and before I can unpack I am whisked off for a cup of tea by Paul, who makes Gulliver's giant look small.

He confirms that a Project Manager, Hamble, is no longer allowed to work with my team owing to his persisent bullying.

I get back and I manage to read 2 emails before another mate, Nick, drops by for a tea-break so I return to the "Servery" aka the kitchen, where more idle banter ensues.

When I get back upstairs I don't get to my seat before Paul grabs me....for a tea-break. Thank god they are unsatisfyingly small paper cups...

I return I find my laptop screen has blanked out. I wiggle the mouse and press keys to no avail so I cycle the power and soon see a black-screen headed by the phrase "Disk read error. Reboot". I reboot a few times to the same result. Great - my laptop has died and I've not even read my email.

By this time it's time for lunch anyway, so Paul takes me to the new bistro and continues to fill me in about work before we switch to small talk.


After lunch Paul gives me a laptop he has spare. Unfortunately it seems slow as a two-legged dog and to make matters worse the corporate SMS system starts to install every thing missing and keeps wanting to reboot. Thankfully I bought a magazine at lunchtime so I read that whilst SMS gets on with it.

Then it's time to go home.