rARsh!

If we tolerate this, then your children will be next

As I mentioned in passing on Thursday, we’ve had another reorganisation at work. This time they’ve excelled themselves.

As a result of this restructuring I find that I will, from April, be reporting to one of two managers both of whom are, I’m sorry to say, idiots. Yes, they’ve broken up the Lionel:Tall Andy dream ticket.

Now I’m being unfair to whichever of the managers I’ll be reporting (or Tweedledum and Tweedledumber as I’ve christened them (which is probably unfair too)). After all, I have ultimate confidence in the Evil Overlords’ ability to consistently choose the best person for each rôle. Of course I do. Perhaps I’m just bitter because I wasn’t given the option of applying for Voluntary Redundancy but then not all of those who had the option and asked for VR were given it, one of whom was allegedly told they’d not be allowed to leave because they had too much knowledge of something or other. If that’s the criteria, then, I’ll never get VR.

So what should I do? I was sorely tempted to confront the department’s glorious leader on Thursday and demonstrate to him beyond any possibility of misunderstanding my suggested alternative location for my job (although this would need him to remove his trousery garments) but common sense - and Tall Andy - prevailed. I’ve slept on it since and discussed it with young Kirsti. She thinks I should stay at home so that I can be at her beck and call but Woman’s warned me that I’ll not see madam once summer comes and she’s allowed out so I’m treating the cat’s impartiality with a pinch of salt.

The fact remains, though, that we’re going through restructures at an average of one every year at worst. In fact, we’re going through department heads at much the same rate, each one having their own idea of what we should be doing and how. Up until now I’ve been hanging on hoping for VR at each reorganisation but it seems the Overlords are getting wise to this. After all, why pay people thousands of pounds to leave when they’re getting close to walking out anyway? It just doesn’t make economic sense, does it?

My evenings of contemplation have reduced the chance of me telling them to shove it from 100% and taking the Boss with me to a mere 95% or so (+/- 5%) but I’m going to give it until the end of the month before I make a final decision*. After all, the new structure starts from 1st April (a telling choice of date in my opinion) and it’d be very considerate of me to tie in my departure with the new structure, wouldn’t it?

In other news, though, I’ve got a Nokia N800 and it’s bloody brilliant. It’ll pick up a ridiculous number of WiFi hotspots - far more than any laptop I’ve ever had - and will even connect to the Norwhag OpenZone network at my desk when the office’s street isn’t even in the official coverage area. When paired with a neat 3G phone it’ll connect from anywhere I can’t find a free hotspot. An 800 x 480 pixel screen means that I get an almost-normal internet experience (although I do need to use the built-in zoom on some pages). Bloody marvellous, that’s what it is.

It doesn’t seem to like some of the scripts in WordPress, though, but I can install Maemo WordPy to get around that. I think I’ll be returning to the N800 soon as I find more wonderful features.

Overall, then, it’s been a bit of a 50:50 week!

* Of course if someone from the Overlords find this and recognises me that’ll probably make the decision for me anyway