G Force

Today was the first day at work since our manager left last Friday and I tell you what: it was a frickin' liberating day to say the least! It has been announced to the rest of the company that all IT related stuff needs to go through me and I am officially the team leader, hence the phrase 'G Force' that Jo has been using in her cheerleading chants of 'Go Team G', etc. If she had pom-poms and a little uniform it would have been just a tad sexier...

There's still no word on whether I will become a permanent IT Manager, but you never know... watch this space.

This whole saga reminded me of a guy, Peter H, who was my team leader at a small company I worked for in Cambridge between 1992 & 1995. There were two Peter H's there in a company of 7 - one was the big boss who was good laugh and bought rounds of beer at lunchtime at the local pub. The other one was the guy in question, a nerdy, spot-ridden, self-important IT geek who also dabbled as a DJ which always surprised me as he had no personality at all. (Like I can talk, eh?)

I was in a kind of trainee role (so they could pay a pittance) and was supposed to learn from his every move. The guy was a wanker to say the least, a poor leader and someone that I learned nothing from. Now anyone who knows me well will know that I do not snap and scream and shout at someone no matter how far they push me. Some call it a quality, I call it a curse. I can count how many times I've snapped at someone on one hand. Towards the end of my time I lost it with him and ranted out loud in the office in front of everyone else - all I remember is saying something along the lines of "how the fuck am I supposed to learn anything from you when you aren't letting me in on anything", but I didn't word it that nicely. I think he was taken back. As was I. It didn't change anything though.

All I remember happening afterwards was a trip to the pub after work with most of the workplace and the boss of the company telling me that "if you ever want to punch him one, it was alright for him. As far as he was concerned, he would have seen NOTHING". That was reassuring to know.

In all of my life that was the one time I've wanted to punch a guy's lights out. It's probably the closest I have come to doing it and part of me still wishes I could go back and do it.

But I'm just too damn nice to have done it.