Brown Girl in London

Working impressions

Today at work I cut ribbon for 2 hours. It was very hard. No, not really. I’m joking. Gosh! It was fine and apparently I did a “very good job.” Hmm! Anyway, the ribbons are for gift bags that this company, KF, is handing out over the next few days for the Chelsea Flower Show. It starts today and is a huge fricking deal! I’m not flower-crazy myself, I like them and they’re pretty, that’s as far as my interest goes – so I won’t be attending this year’s show – besides it’s already sold out. However, some of the pictures are pretty cool, here's one...

So, after a few days of working in London I’m getting to know the office environment and how things work here. Previously, I’ve worked in both a large corporation and a very small company. As with most things, they have their similarities, differences, pros and cons. I can’t tell you which one I prefer because they were both fine, or maybe I’m just being indifferent. Anyway, here things aren’t that strange. The employees aren’t always drinking tea or smoking in the office, but they are always busy. Remember what I said about the busy walkers? Well, they’re inside as well. It’s all women in this office, I think there’s one man but that might be a rumour because I haven’t seen him, and they all do the busy walk – you know, the fast clomp-clomp across the floor to the printer, the fax, the photocopier, then plopping in their chairs and clicking away at the keyboard. I haven’t had to do that yet.

And, I think this is specific to the British females – but when they’re on the phone and the conversation is almost done, they suddenly rev up the excitement in their voice and always, always, ALWAYS end it by saying in the most high-pitched squeal imaginable, “okay thank-you, byeeeeeeeeeeee.” As soon as they hang up, they revert to normal until it’s time for the next phone call. It really can get annoying so you have to learn to tune it out. But seriously, one lady even says “oh jolly good!” Now that’s funny!

posted by RC @ 1:42 PM