Dangerous Phrase

We’ve had a ‘new’ guy start in the team today – by which I mean he used to work for the company, moved away, but has now come back. Fair enough, that’s his choice. However, the introduction of him to the team contained a phrase that has left me thinking a lot about the attitude of the company…

This is xxx, who’s seen the error of his ways and come back to us.

I think it’s that complacent condescending attitude of “we knew he’d be back” that really rankles with me…


Out

Another quiet day today, mainly due to being away from the computer, sorting out nasty – in some cases very nasty – technical tests and the like.

Not fun, but all part of life at the moment. *sigh*


Quiet

We’ve got guests here this weekend, so The Hound is in kennels from today. I’ve just come home and wow, is it quiet without barking, door scratching, and all the noises you come to get used to with a dog in the house.

Definitely going to take some getting used to. Still, it’s only ’til Sunday afternoon…


M&S

Interesting today to see that M&S have chosen to withdraw all their advertising from Associated Newspapers. (AKA Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, and London Evening Standard) It’s all to do with how the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday (in particular) have apparently taken it upon themselves to slag off M&S at any opportunity. Considering that the Mail services the very same market that M&S aim for, it’s seen as possibly a bit of a self-inflicted wound, but it’ll be interesting to see what message gets conveyed to Associated Newspapers.

This advertising is worth at least £1m , with M&S paying (apparently) about £32,000 for a full-page ad in the Daily Mail. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what the response will be.


TV stuff

No, TV as in Television, not as in Transvestism. Honest.

I’ve found Jamie’s School Dinners on Channel 4 really quite interesting so far. I like seeing someone with a passion for what they believe in trying to pass on that passion to others, and much as I loathe the lithping mockney twat, it’s obvious that he’s been shocked by what schoolchildren are being fed. It’s hard to imagine feeding kids on a budget of 37p per head for their entire lunch, and you can see why the lowest common denominator is what’s preferred. But Oliver’s attempts to improve the school diet make for interesting viewing, and it’s certainly thought-provoking. Particularly when you start thinking “Is that what I want to happen to my kids?”.

As for “Desperate Housewives, what can I say, I love it. OK, it’s not perfect, but there’s a decent slice of very black humour going through it – something that American dramas suddenly seem to be understanding far better. Six Feet Under, Sopranos, and several others have certainly raised the bar on this, and they’re getting better at it all the time. Housewives manages to combine funny bits with the dark side, and is acutely observed. I just find myself wondering whether they’ll sort it all out over the next six weeks, or whether everything will bleed over into Season 2. I suspect it will…


Googlism

Bizarrely – and I’ve no idea why it’s suddenly being searched for so regularly – I come up as #2 on Google for “cuntflaps on countdown“. It’s a ‘lucky’ coincidence, as I’ve never seen that word mentioned on countdown. But obviously someone has…


Turd-Polishing

I don’t know why it is (well, I do, but for now we’ll labour under the illusion that I don’t) but I get really annoyed sometimes with work, and with other people at work. So much so that I’m even considering (another) new category, as it’s just occurred to me that I don’t have one specifically for work-based irritation. And I really should. So I’ll sort that out next.

Anyway. Two-and-a-bit weeks ago we got this super-super-urgent and important piece of work to do, with a fixed deadline date because it was when the clients were coming in to the office for a visit, and to sign off this piece of work, and spend a fair amount more money. That day is tomorrow. And the work got done. Minimal information, minimal everything really, but it got done, and we were told that the operations side would be testing it so we could fix any problems.

That report came in yesterday. The fuckers in Ops hadn’t even looked at it ’til yesterday. Not because they were snowed under, but because “they just didn’t get round to it”. So it’s been mad panic yesterday and today, because the turd-polishing frignuggets couldn’t be arsed. And why should they? It’s not them who’ll get their arses kicked if the stuff isn’t right. Although it should be, as they’re the ones who can’t be keffed to check it.

But instead we get all the hassle, because they couldn’t be arsed. It’s bollocks, and that opinion has perhaps been made rather clearer than it should’ve been. Ah well.

Yes, the honeymoon period with this job is definitely over. The rest of the union may not last much longer. We’ll see.