Swine flu seems to have created two tribes. First there is probably a majority of people outwardly blahsay about the whole business, pointing out that normal flu is just as bad if not worse and we should all keep things in perspective. Second there is another group who are actually quite alarmed, refer to history that viruses can mutate and get worse and think we are not out of the woods yesterday.
If anything I am slightly embarrassed to say I sit in the second group. Not that I feel in mortal danger this minute but I remember cases of normal flu that were quite bad enough for my liking. The last time I got the flu was just after Christmas 2007. We visited Bluewater shopping centre on Boxing Day so perhaps I deserved some divine punishment. I remember my legs starting to ache while waiting with my son in his pram outside Boots. After that it was downhill pretty quickly and I was sent into quarantine in the spare room only emerging to visit the bathroom while covering my nose and mouth in an old sock soaked in tee tree oil. Such precautions worked as despite being in the same house my wife and son (then 6 months old) never caught that flu.
I hadn't felt so ill in a long while and remember time passing both very fast and then very slow. I moved from sweats to cold and couldn't keep any food down for a couple of days. Almost delerious, I watched David Dimbleby driving about in a Landrover talking about the history of Britain and multiple episodes of "Who do you think you are ?" including Bill Oddie and Ian Hislop (almost delerious is probably one of the few reasonable excuses for watching such programmes !!!) Anyway I survived and the recovery once it came was quite fast. Nonetheless I remember that normal flu can be a nasty business and I do not dismiss Swine Flu.
Britain is now number 3 in the swine flu charts (behind the US and Mexico) and London is a hot spot within Britain. Therefore I am really in the wrong place. My office now has its first cases of swine flu, although there also seem to be a growing number of "suspected" or "possible" swine flu cases. The real picture is a bit unclear but with a week of sick leave more or less guaranteed I can see some room for abuse.
The alcohol gel dispensers going up around the place are the only real outward sign of something happening.
Meanwhile many Londoners have to travel in packed public transport full of sneezing and coughing fellow passengers. When you sit on a packed train in London you realise that London is really a rather unhealthy place. I cannot imagine that many people permenantly have coughs and colds in the Alps or by the ocean. In packed cities with not enough fresh air we stuggle to avoid the next bug whatever it may be.
This year it is swine flu and the makers of "hand sanitizers" must be making a fortune.....
Showing posts with label offices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label offices. Show all posts
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Please reboot the servers, a typhoon is coming
No sense of irony from our IT department. In exactly the same format as they announce virus threats, slow email and server downtown they inform us today that our Hong Kong office may be closed tomorrow- due to a typhoon. The "Why is it happening?" box normally reserved for a geeky IT explanation is particularly redundant in this case !
To all Partners and Staff
What is happening? Hong Kong has been issued with a Typhoon weather warning for tomorrow, Thursday 9th August 2007. This may result in closure of the Hong Kong office.
Why is it happening? We will update you as soon as we have any further information. In the meantime, please access http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/tc.htm for more detailed information.
If you have any queries about this please do not hesitate to contact your regional IT Helpdesk, the London IT Helpdesk on +44(0)207 *** **** or email 'Helpdesk'.
Kind regards ________________________________________________
Service Level Management Team
To all Partners and Staff
What is happening? Hong Kong has been issued with a Typhoon weather warning for tomorrow, Thursday 9th August 2007. This may result in closure of the Hong Kong office.
Why is it happening? We will update you as soon as we have any further information. In the meantime, please access http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/tc.htm for more detailed information.
If you have any queries about this please do not hesitate to contact your regional IT Helpdesk, the London IT Helpdesk on +44(0)207 *** **** or email 'Helpdesk'.
Kind regards ________________________________________________
Service Level Management Team
Monday, August 06, 2007
Trust No One
A case of paranoia from the world of the office.
Barry my long established colleague has a position on the "Staff Social Committee" which aims to promote the interests of staff. Standard issues may involve variously:
- the state of the staff cafe- lack of choice and high prices
-the state of the staff restaurant- lack of choice and high prices
- the state of the toilets - "outdated" roller towels (a success of the committee was getting a cleaning register attached to the back of the toilet door to ensure cleaning can be monitored. Barry was not particularly welcome when he went to check in person that this innovation had been "rolled out" in the Ladies !)
- cycling facilities- where those who cycle to work can store their bikes.
On more adventurous days it may even delve into issues such as pensions, sabbatical opitions and beyond.
Barry's chief adversary, in his own mind at least, is our relatively new CEO.
Barry credits him with everything wrong in the Firm and for opposing everything good in the Firm.
Barry has long suspected a personal campaign by the CEO to eliminate him.
Today an electrician was fitting a new light.
Clive, our Finance Director, was passing through.
Barry exclaimed "Jason (the CEO) is getting new camera's to spy on us again".
Clive looked bemused.
I explained "Barry thinks his desk is bugged".
Clive rose to the occassion with "Oh yes, Jason has got pictures of all social committee members on the wall in his office".
Barry without missing a beat replied "Yes, he's trying to find a way of eliminating me".
Barry enjoys this work fantasy where he is the top of the CEO's agenda. Barry has done roughly the same job for over 20 years. This is somehow overlooked when he imagines his elimination by the dastardly Jason.
Barry enjoys the subject so much that it is easy to entertain him with ever more elaborate plots in the battle. Casting Jason as a global villain and Barry as James Bond is his favourite.
Recently Barry was speaking ill of Jason and I warned that Jason had bugs in place and would release a leaver emptying Barry's chair into a hidden shark tank below our office.
Barry then went off on a mental undersea adventure as he battled Jason for control of the world.
In the world of offices, sometimes it's a case of "whatever gets you through the day" !
As Barry would say "Trust no one".
Barry my long established colleague has a position on the "Staff Social Committee" which aims to promote the interests of staff. Standard issues may involve variously:
- the state of the staff cafe- lack of choice and high prices
-the state of the staff restaurant- lack of choice and high prices
- the state of the toilets - "outdated" roller towels (a success of the committee was getting a cleaning register attached to the back of the toilet door to ensure cleaning can be monitored. Barry was not particularly welcome when he went to check in person that this innovation had been "rolled out" in the Ladies !)
- cycling facilities- where those who cycle to work can store their bikes.
On more adventurous days it may even delve into issues such as pensions, sabbatical opitions and beyond.
Barry's chief adversary, in his own mind at least, is our relatively new CEO.
Barry credits him with everything wrong in the Firm and for opposing everything good in the Firm.
Barry has long suspected a personal campaign by the CEO to eliminate him.
Today an electrician was fitting a new light.
Clive, our Finance Director, was passing through.
Barry exclaimed "Jason (the CEO) is getting new camera's to spy on us again".
Clive looked bemused.
I explained "Barry thinks his desk is bugged".
Clive rose to the occassion with "Oh yes, Jason has got pictures of all social committee members on the wall in his office".
Barry without missing a beat replied "Yes, he's trying to find a way of eliminating me".
Barry enjoys this work fantasy where he is the top of the CEO's agenda. Barry has done roughly the same job for over 20 years. This is somehow overlooked when he imagines his elimination by the dastardly Jason.
Barry enjoys the subject so much that it is easy to entertain him with ever more elaborate plots in the battle. Casting Jason as a global villain and Barry as James Bond is his favourite.
Recently Barry was speaking ill of Jason and I warned that Jason had bugs in place and would release a leaver emptying Barry's chair into a hidden shark tank below our office.
Barry then went off on a mental undersea adventure as he battled Jason for control of the world.
In the world of offices, sometimes it's a case of "whatever gets you through the day" !
As Barry would say "Trust no one".
Thursday, March 22, 2007
"GET IN THERE MY SON!"
No, it wasn't a football match, but 9.15am in the Finance Department of the Firm where I work in London. "Barry" my 46 year old colleague had just arrived and wanted to celebrate the result of the office quiz the night before.
Yes, Barry and I were on the team that marginally won the quiz. I had decided to keep things under my hat "the morning after" as the "night before" had ended with emotions running high. The quiz was basically a general knowledge quiz between 9 different teams drawn from the Finance Department in order to raise money for Comic Relief Day.
The team I was on had the advantage of a relatively high age, giving a boost where general knowledge was concerned. Barry even came within 3 of guessing how many countries in Africa there were- his 56 to the actual 53. We barely put a foot wrong in terms of silly mistakes although some questions were beyond our "senior" age profile. Despite being the "baby" of the team even I was stumped on the name of the newest "Sugarbabe". Slightly creepily but uselessly Barry said "I can picture her right now".
Despite these minor failings we scraped into a half point victory over our nearest rivals. At that point, under the influence of alcohol, rolled up balls of paper and accusations of cheating began flying.
I had to leave quite promptly for the journey home but not before "a good looking but knows it" female colleague had demanded my chocolate egg prize on the basis "that I'm 22 today". That seemed a flimsy excuse so much to her disappointment I declined. She ran out and angrily smoked a cigarette. Angry, because she had drunk a little too much of the Firm's alcohol and because she couldn't get her way simply by being 22 and pretty. Besides I had to take the chocolate egg to Mrs. Donatella !
I felt a little deflated. Such a fuss and all over a quiz that was to raise money for charity- Red Nose Day.
So Barry's loud victory chant the next morning was not too welcome as far as I was concerned. Everything's been forgotten now and all are friends again. Even my feisty young colleague is being more friendly- obviously trying hard now that she knows I don't give chocolate eggs away to people just for being pretty and 22 !
The last word had to go to Barry. The next day the result was still leading to controversy with the team, half a point behind. Barry's final retort to the Captain of the "We woz robbed" team was "I've got a chocolate egg, what have you got to show for it ?".
When it comes to office quizzes, winning a chocolate egg is all the proof you need !
Yes, Barry and I were on the team that marginally won the quiz. I had decided to keep things under my hat "the morning after" as the "night before" had ended with emotions running high. The quiz was basically a general knowledge quiz between 9 different teams drawn from the Finance Department in order to raise money for Comic Relief Day.
The team I was on had the advantage of a relatively high age, giving a boost where general knowledge was concerned. Barry even came within 3 of guessing how many countries in Africa there were- his 56 to the actual 53. We barely put a foot wrong in terms of silly mistakes although some questions were beyond our "senior" age profile. Despite being the "baby" of the team even I was stumped on the name of the newest "Sugarbabe". Slightly creepily but uselessly Barry said "I can picture her right now".
Despite these minor failings we scraped into a half point victory over our nearest rivals. At that point, under the influence of alcohol, rolled up balls of paper and accusations of cheating began flying.
I had to leave quite promptly for the journey home but not before "a good looking but knows it" female colleague had demanded my chocolate egg prize on the basis "that I'm 22 today". That seemed a flimsy excuse so much to her disappointment I declined. She ran out and angrily smoked a cigarette. Angry, because she had drunk a little too much of the Firm's alcohol and because she couldn't get her way simply by being 22 and pretty. Besides I had to take the chocolate egg to Mrs. Donatella !
I felt a little deflated. Such a fuss and all over a quiz that was to raise money for charity- Red Nose Day.
So Barry's loud victory chant the next morning was not too welcome as far as I was concerned. Everything's been forgotten now and all are friends again. Even my feisty young colleague is being more friendly- obviously trying hard now that she knows I don't give chocolate eggs away to people just for being pretty and 22 !
The last word had to go to Barry. The next day the result was still leading to controversy with the team, half a point behind. Barry's final retort to the Captain of the "We woz robbed" team was "I've got a chocolate egg, what have you got to show for it ?".
When it comes to office quizzes, winning a chocolate egg is all the proof you need !
Monday, December 11, 2006
Jobs for the boys
I went to work in Hong Kong today.
The firm I work for has nice offices in featureless skyscraper.After being introduced to the staff and sitting down to work, I went in seach of the loo. I found a male, female and "executive" toilet but all three were locked.
I then returned to reception where they directed me to alternative "facilities". However I was told that in future I could gain access to the nearer toilets by asking "the boy" for the key.
Confused by this I enquired with other colleagues. Apparently the office has 12 boys, one of whom is female but gets upset if not also referred to as a boy.
"Boys" in Hong Kong are doing a variety of messenger and practical jobs in Hong Kong. They are mainly young hence the description.Later on I saw the female boy who had suitably short hair combined with severe glasses. I can see why she might be offended to be called a girl !
Then later I saw another female looking "boy" so I am confused as there is only supposed to be one female boy !
Towards the end of the day the boys all sit in the stationary office playing cards on the computers. It is a sign that the end of the day is coming when there are no longer any jobs for the boys..........
The firm I work for has nice offices in featureless skyscraper.After being introduced to the staff and sitting down to work, I went in seach of the loo. I found a male, female and "executive" toilet but all three were locked.
I then returned to reception where they directed me to alternative "facilities". However I was told that in future I could gain access to the nearer toilets by asking "the boy" for the key.
Confused by this I enquired with other colleagues. Apparently the office has 12 boys, one of whom is female but gets upset if not also referred to as a boy.
"Boys" in Hong Kong are doing a variety of messenger and practical jobs in Hong Kong. They are mainly young hence the description.Later on I saw the female boy who had suitably short hair combined with severe glasses. I can see why she might be offended to be called a girl !
Then later I saw another female looking "boy" so I am confused as there is only supposed to be one female boy !
Towards the end of the day the boys all sit in the stationary office playing cards on the computers. It is a sign that the end of the day is coming when there are no longer any jobs for the boys..........
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