Ah. There we are!

Yeah yeah, I've been away. Get over it.

But I'm back at the dayjob - this time on full time hours because I'll be going AWOL in December again. Be warned.

So I usurped the incompetent temp who was on a three week assignment in another corner of my department. This is the fun part of being on permanent staff - you can pull rank like no one's business.

I am working for TWO partners while covering someone's position. This is the equivalent of a one-armed juggled being given another 5 knives to work with while suffering from an extremely itchy STD. It's not fun.

Conversation with new partner today:

NP: here are my timesheets
Me: oh, yeah, i meant to ask you about this matter - can you give me more details
NP: it's the big matter that everyone's working on
Me: can you tell me who else might be workign on it
NP: everyone in the firm (i am not kidding)
Me: er
NP: you know, it's the one that's been in the papers
Me: well I've been out of the country for a month but I"ll just ring The Age for the matter number (an attempt at humour)

At this point, he starts to get pissed off. When a partner gets pissed off at me they don't yell as some do to their secretaries (I think with the people I work for they sense that I really don't care and therefore yelling is ineffective). But this guy is smart. He just walks off. With my stupid protestant work ethic, I then feel duty-bound to find this matter number by myself.

And I do. Without recourse to The Age.

Stay tuned for Part II - The hilarity of inputting Diners Club receipts.