Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The Dark Hearted Soul Of the Average Office Drone

Our line manager got made redundant. We celebrated. It was wrong on too many levels to count, but somehow none of us could help it. Like spiteful school children, we quietly sneered, jeered and mocked amongst each other. I am not proud. That said, I won't miss his foul breath, arrogant offhand manner, contradictory bullshit and creepy wee shell-games. So, first day of summer or what? Today had that 'feel', that scent that says summer is just around the corner, with it's mandatory six days of nice weather and endless days of humid, damp misery. I feel better already! Unlike my old Grandpa. He's 94 you know!! He's also in hospital with a sore foot. They want to get antibiotics into him via a drip, then see how he does. Mum mentioned something about MRSA, which obviously raised an eyebrow on my part. If 'Iron Baws' Jimmy Morrison can contract that sort of thing, then nobody is safe.............. Tonight's visit was fairly entertaining though, just as long as you kept him off his usual conversational trajectory. He does a fairly good Private Fraser impersonation, and it's a constant battle to keep him from getting too bloody morose. Gentle mockery and a hearty dismissal of his ruminations seems to get the best out in him, as he realises you aren't going to wear an hour of his "The world is about to end!" chuntering. We also got his story about how the humble tomato saved him from the draft during the war. He grew them you see, and the government regarded them as an important part of the British diet. So important that the Jimster spent '39 to '45 fighting the jolly hun by providing ripe, juicy toms to the populace. I did point out that had he been conscripted and survived the war, it would have constituted a different reality and different circumstances. It was possible that neither myself or my brother would have been born and we wouldn't be having this particular conversation. My brothers girlfriend asked if Jimmy would still be in hospital with a sore foot on this alternate timeline. I concluded that yes, he would still be in hospital with a sore foot, but nobody would be there to visit him.................... New York Dolls - Trash Beautiful archive footage.............

4 comments:

Clairwil said...

Why feel bad about it? The man is a wank and let's face it he'd have tossed you on to the dole without a pang of conscience. In a just world you'd all be waving twenty pound notes at him and cackling.

iLL Man said...

I don't think I feel bad about it, so much as it's the first time I've been in this situation since school. Yr right though, he's the sort of guy who should have a job that involves no contact with other human beings whatsoever, except for phonecalls. He's good at phonecalls.

Cocktails said...

One of my colleagues was sacked late last year. He was crap, incompetent and a liar - but still, it was rotten seeing his life destroyed in front of our eyes. I don't think he thought it would ever happen and he's not likely to get a new job anytime soon I suspect.

On a lighter note, it's nice to think that you owe your existence to tomatoes.

iLL Man said...

He'll find something. Might be for his own good, as he was definitely an example of the 'Peter Principle' in action.

As for tomatoes, I can't stand the fuckers, though I can't live without things like Tomato Soup or Passatta.

Ah, so many contradictions.............