General

My son has been given the name of his Secret Santa person at work. If anyone is unfamiliar with this ritual, it means he must buy a Christmas present for that colleague. He is not unhappy and said that at least this year it was someone he knew.  The office has kindly stipulated a limit […]

I continue to have conversations after my post on Lost Words about using expressions from another era to bamboozle younger colleagues. Some contributors said they had been openly mocked for using phrases such as pyrrhic victory, litmus test and wanting to ‘send something across the ether’. Others drew quizzical looks for using the terms; Straw

I have been spring cleaning, and may I say that it is hard to thin down old work papers using the Marie Kondo Method because I don’t have a lot of files that spark joy. Take, for example, the fat file on the increase in violence from customers, once gathered in the name of research.

When I recently asked some colleagues about what they missed from office life, the subject of food, communal kitchens and eating at work reared its ugly head. What we eat at work and how we eat it, are highly charged subjects and there is a divide between the long-suffering sensory defensive and the not-so-silent munchers

I’m losing track of articles flying in my direction about the legalities of forcing people to go back to work. From ‘Bosses Face Tough Job Convincing Office Staff To Return To Work’ to ‘Families Dread Return to Life As They Knew It’ it seems that the media, at least, believe that the transition back to

It became clear to me that I sometimes use outdated phrases or words at work when a younger employee asked me to explain the expression ‘looking a gift horse in the mouth’. This involved a discussion about why the teeth of livestock were related to their value, and to further explain that a buyer might

At the end of every Proust Survey is the question, how would you like to die? We are supposed to say something like, ‘in my sleep, after a perfect meal.’ A typical wag will answer, ‘not much.’   In looking at the question, how would you like to be fired, you could similarly focus on

A recent suggestion from Lifeline Australia suggested keeping a TA DA list. Why? Because when we keep long TO DO lists, they can contribute to a feeling of being overwhelmed. The practice of noting the things you have done and taking a moment to reflect on completion, may be a simple remedy for better mental

One of the smaller joys of a working life is the ritual of ripping away the desk calendar each morning. Bill Bryson would probably describe this as ‘low level ecstasy’ – taking great joy in something very small and cheap, like a Digestive biscuit. And what is wrong with a cheap and harmless laugh if