It’s mid-morning on Friday, and an office full of people who may only have one-an-a-half working days left is hushed, filled only with the sounds of typing as these people carry on doing their jobs with a professionalism that would make you well-up with pride, and with affection, and with sadness.
I’d love Mark Fielding and the ISME gobshites who called us all malingerers to come in here and see what the employees of this country, of all nationalities, are really like.
Meanwhile, everyone is putting on as brave a face as possible, and gallows humour is creeping in. We’ve discussed a sit-in, a la Waterford Crystal. There is a group of eight of us who are acting as go-betweens between staff and management, forwarding suggestions & concerns to the bosses & vetting communications that they are sending back, and, although the eight have no actual role in the selection process and are as liable to be made redundant as anyone else in the company we are referred to as the Firing Squad. One area of the office, where everyone in it reckons they’re going, now call their section The Departure Lounge.
And this morning BlondieBird sent me this:
Actual Answers Given by “Family Fortunes” Contestants:
Name something a blind person might use… A sword
Name a song with moon in the title…Blue suede moon
Name a bird with a long neck… Naomi Campbell
Name an occupation where you need a torch…A burglar
Name a famous brother & sister…Bonnie & Clyde
Name a dangerous race…The Arabs
Name an item of clothing worn by the 3 musketeers…A horse
Name something that floats in the bath…Water
Name something you wear on the beach…A deckchair
Name something Red…My cardigan
Name a famous cowboy…Buck Rogers
Name a famous royal…Mail
A number you have to memorize…7
Something you do before going to bed…Sleep
Something you put on walls…Roofs
Something in the garden that’s green…Shed
Something that flies that doesn’t have an engine…A bicycle with wings
Something you might be allergic to…Skiing
Name a famous bridge…The bridge over troubled waters
Something a cat does…Goes to the bathroom
Something you do in the bathroom…Decorate
Name an animal you might see at the zoo…A dog
Something associated with the police…Pigs
A sign of the zodiac…April
Something slippery…A conman
A kind of ache…Fillet ‘O’ Fish
A food that can be brown or white…Potato
A jacket potato topping… Jam
A famous Scotsman…Jock
Another famous Scotsman…Vinnie Jones
Something with a hole in it… Window
A non living object with legs…Plant
A domestic animal…Leopard
A part of the body beginning with ‘N’…Knee
A way of cooking fish…Cod
Something you open other than a door…Your Bowels
It’s the first time I’ve really laughed in a week.