Blog Week 111: Coughing and ventilating around a spinning office.
Sunday 6 January 22.28
A quiet weekend in Brussels. My boyfriend has the flu so I played nurse. (In other circumstances that would be more interesting than it actually sounds.)
Monday 7 January 23.02
It was announced this morning that Neanderthal will be the new (and only) managing partner. Not quite sure what is going on as I thought Johan wanted to be co-managing partner again. Old Timer returns tomorrow so I guess everything will be explained then.
There was a lot of coughing echoing around the office today. Pierre, my workaholic boss, is not coming in for a couple of days as he has the flu. Brussels spat most of the office out before Christmas and now it is sucking everyone back, coughing and spluttering from all corners. I could hear the bloody air-conditioning chugging away in my office and I just know the damn thing is going to make me ill sometime soon. I'll have to get Mockney once more to temporarily disable (or as he would say "hack") it.
There was supposed to be a meeting tomorrow about various outstanding issues (IT upgrade, cost-cutting etc) but that'll wait till Pierre gets back.
Tuesday 8 January 22.53
Saw Old Timer only briefly this afternoon. He didn't talk for long (as there are some interviews going on this week). When I asked about yesterday's news he mentioned something about Neanderthal hiding behind an administrative role. He raised his eyebrows as he said it - indicating there will be a problem on the horizon. He left saying we'll talk about it more when Pierre returns. Not a good sign.
Wednesday 9 January 22.17
I have not mentioned Too Kool (a referendar) in a while now. As time has gone on she has appeared less and less on my radar screen. Not for any particular reason - just that our paths have not really crossed. She was supposed to be leaving at the end of this month but for whatever reason she decided to bring her departure forward to the end of last month. It hasn't exactly left us in the lurch on any particular matter, but it has left a temporary gap. So to plug the whole a German-speaking trainee from the London office is arriving on Friday.
For once I don't have to come up with a nickname. (What a relief!). According to Mockney's mates in London this trainee comes pre-labelled as: Calamity James. Talk about someone's reputation preceding them.
Mockney made his "hack" to the airconditioning in my office this afternoon. It gives me some comfort as I have avoided my boyfriend's flu so far. But all the coughing around the office makes me a touch paranoid. I have a creeping feel I should be wearing a mask or something to avoid the germs circulating in the air. But the office cannot be any worse than travelling to work - can it?
Thursday 10 January 22.19
Pierre remains ill and is back on Monday. So the meeting from earlier this week is postponed until sometime next week.
This afternoon I had to organise the temporary accommodation for Calamity James. Brussels is full of appartment-flat-hotels. Unfortunately for me I ended up speaking with a couple of ones run by Basil Fawlty wannabes. Just my luck. The flat-hotel ultimately selected seemed a lot of money for what it is. Maybe it'll get mentioned as an example of prolificacy at next week's cost-cutting meeting.
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