I recently made such a decision, albeit in London in the time of the credit crunch (way to go, nice move, no really…), and began the long and arduous task of applying to every recruitment agency that ever existed (I think last count I was at 11). It took a long while and was certainly touch-and-go there for a few months but someone up there must like me, as in our current unstable climate I managed to land a 6 month contract – funnily enough through the very same recruitment agency my Mother did temp work for on her London sojourn over 20 years ago. I’d also like to state that yes, I am very aware of and dually appreciate how lucky I am and am indeed very thankful.
The job is your average run-of-the-mill public sector deal which may sound quite boring, but for someone like me who has only ever worked for events and music based companies with offices of 4 or so people this is a whole new ball game. At my current job we cover 5 floors of a prominent 32 floor inner-city office building - complete with members club on the top floor of which I cannot afford to become a member – and I am perched nicely on the 9th floor overlooking Big Ben, The London Eye and the very top of Nelson’s Column. We have a break room complete with vending machine and FREE hot chocolate (and coffee) machine, meeting rooms (aka eternal supply of uneaten M&S catering food which I happen to sit right next to), cakes when it’s someone’s birthday, ‘away days’ which seem to consist of us talking about ourselves and our directorate for a millisecond after which we then break out the booze and go completely bezerk – it’s great! Everyone’s fun, friendly, working toward a noble cause, plus I work for the Director who in my first 2 weeks was actually physically in the office for a total of 2 days. And I get paid for all this! It’s a wonderful thing.
Apart from the professional side of things there is the office politics, something to which I am not usually privy. When there are only 4 of you in an office the politics consist of you having a no-holds-barred screaming match and finally coming to a decision. Seeing as there’s just over 30 workers on my floor alone (remembering as an organisation we cover 5) this makes for some cracking fireworks: backstabbing, bitching, questionable personal hygiene issues, loud talkers, break room divisions, lunch stealing, the always present inter-directorate shagging and a highly welcomed newcomer, MSN Messaging.
Now here lies a world I never knew existed. I realised just how out of touch I was when I discovered MSN messenger was no longer restricted to your Hotmail account and was used as an everyday tool to chat, flirt and plan paperless mutiny’s in your place of business, how very exciting. I didn’t contact our IT department to set up my account for over a week after starting my new position, now I don’t even know how I ever lived without it. I’ve discovered new interests with new friends that would have taken hours to discover were we actually speaking to each other, uncovered relationships and juicy gossip that could never have been discussed in the open air, I’ve even started up various flirtatious liaison’s with numerous suitors and have often spent the best part of my day posting endless witty remarks followed by the appropriate ‘emoticon’ – who am I kidding, I spend almost 8 hours on the thing every time my boss is away, and when my chosen chat buddies are away or in meetings my chat withdrawals verge on suicidal! I’ve got the lingo down pat – not unlike texting, another favourite past time of mine – and I’m sure it’s upped my WPM’s to at least 50!
But beware the complications of MSNing, as your chosen chat buddy doesn’t know who else talks to you, nor do you know who they’re talking to. And heaven forbid you get your conversation boxes mixed up! When that little bar at the bottom of your screen starts flashing bright orange like a beacon that banishes boredom and you have more than one conversation on the go how are you to know who’s answered you back? Keep a cool head, don’t let the excitement take over, always look and check before you chat, as the chat can often bite back.
I must say all this has got me thinking – it’s OK to have more than one MSN chat partner right? It’s not like you’re cheating or anything (depending on the conversations content), and for all you know they could have another MSNer on the side too! ‘No. No. Never!’ I hear you say. You think its all fine and dandy until one day the replies get further and further apart. What was once a fast and flippant exchange of ideas and witty banter now becomes laboured and boring one-liner’s delivered at a pace akin to snail mail. Then you find yourselves simply filling in the spaces, idly responding in kind until you realise you have nothing to say. And then… they stop. It’s happened, it’s over, they’ve found another messenger to while away their working days with and there’s nothing you can do about it.
So do beware the trials and tribulations of office MSN Messenger, as what starts as harmless chit chat can often end in
