*If Mike says it, it’s so.

I spent Friday at Head Office, ostensibly for a meeting with the Director, but he works shorter hours than me, and spends a lot of time on the phone, so I knew it was just a question of waiting around until he found time for me. Luckily [for me], the branch was short staffed, so I could make myself useful answering phones, putting temp bookings on the computer, and of course making tea.

As an aside, I have cut down in the last few weeks, from four or five cups of tea per day, to two: one when I arrive at work, and one later in the morning. Thereafter I switch to peppermint tea, which is much nicer than it sounds. I cut down because I am having difficulty getting to sleep, which I can’t attribute to anything but excessive caffeine levels, although I will be changing jobs soon, so that will add a certain amount of stress to the list. Everything else in my world is peachy.

Late morning, the director remembers me. I sit in his office hoping that he won’t do that annoying thing where he comes round to my side of the desk and sits beside me to go through something. Technically, this isn’t an invasion of personal space, because he doesn’t get that close, but damn it, he’s supposed to stay over there! The phone rings just as we get started, and of course he answers it. I overhear a long conversation about his mother’s catheter and how much he has on his plate; not two concepts that I would happily include in the same sentence.

The director likes to keep Outstanding Job Lists for all his key personnel. Mine is a list of procedures that need tweaking, training to provide, and reviews of various new systems. He emails me the list every few days, and I usually email it straight back, having done most of the stuff on it. He recompiled my list on Friday, and a few minutes later I received a call from one of the branches, telling me that they had found me a temp job to start next week. I could stay on here until the end of October, but I’m really not doing anything much, and I hate that feeling of waiting around for the working day to end. I would rather move on and spend a month doing something interesting and useful. I’ve been informed that the new company has a Seriously Strict Internet Policy, but it’s only a month’s work, so we’ll cope, won’t we?

The director heads straight into a panic and starts reassigning everything on my list so that I continue to have nothing to do. He also seems slightly put out that I intend to terminate my contract a month early, even though I will now be earning them a decent mark-up.

I’m looking forward to the change. My new role will be entitled Quality Administrator, which sounds to me like a step down, but they’re paying me more, so who cares? I’m currently hoping for an interview for a permanent job in the town where I live, and if I get that, I shan’t be taking the temp job anyway. Working for a recruitment agency has obvious advantages, doesn’t it?