Mice Playing

I have paid more visits to the Town Hall this week, than I have in the previous month! This is partly due to the fact that I have to keep going over there to deal with issues pertaining to a particular project; but mainly because Certain People are gloriously absent...

Line Manager is still convalescing from his op; while Spiteful Manager and New Boss are both on holiday. This leaves the rest of us under the command of Deputy Boss - an extremely nice person who is adored by the discerning members of the department, and yet whose gentle manner means he is paid little heed by The Others. (When I once mentioned Deputy Boss in conversation with New Boss, he was instantly dismissive, telling me Deputy Boss was "very introverted". Implying that introversion was a Bad Thing, and it was so much better to be clownish, loud and brash. Oh - just like New Boss!)

But this week the cats are away, so the mice can play...

Not in a destructive, malicious way - because the mice are represented by the Decent People. So the playing simply involves people reconnecting with each other, smiling, chatting, quietly enjoying each others' company, and being very supportive when anyone needs help.

The atmosphere has been transformed - and so, after months of chronic anxiety triggered by the workplace, necessitating me locking myself in the downstairs loo for ten minutes while I muster up the courage to enter the fray; suddenly I am able to walk through the door without any difficulty whatsoever ! And when I do so, my co-workers are greeting me with friendliness and warmth.

Life Coach Colleague immediately jumps up and gives me a hug. Maternal Colleague offers to let me use her computer to access a particular programme. Continental Colleague gives me a wink and Stylish Female Colleague asks my advice about something. I sit down next to Private Colleague and we exchange pleasantries, while our eyes communicate a myriad of shared understandings (our relationship is on a new footing, following our clandestine lunch earlier in the week....)

The mood is light-hearted but productive, so we all sit there working but in a relaxed and cheerful manner. It is fab! It is like a healthy workplace should feel !!

But of course, it is not complete nirvana.
Because one element of discord remains.

Remora is mysteriously absent, but sadly Ex-Army Man is still in situ; unable to make a phone call or address anyone else in the office without raising his voice until the very window panes rattle and his colleagues are forced to desperately stuff tissue in their ears.

Suddenly an email from Deputy Boss - who has an office at one slight remove - pings up. Colleagues from the outer office (we are only temporarily housed on the second floor) have complained about the noise we are making. Ex-Army Man leaps to his feet, and officiously announces that he will go and find out what is going on.

He returns, minutes later, strangely chastened. This is unusual for Ex-Army Man, someone who exemplifies Schadenfreude. The entire purpose of his route march into the outer office has been to Get Names (presumably so that he can relay the information to New Boss on his return from hols). Yet here he sits, strangely silent. What can have been said?

"Did you find out?" I ask. Ex-Army Man affects not to know what I am asking. "Did you find out who the complaint was about?" I clarify. "Because obviously that's what you were trying to discover".

Ex-Army Man shuffles some papers on his desk, harrumphing that the whole thing is a storm in a teacup. "It wasn't about you, was it?" I ask sweetly. "Because you are always VERY loud. They didn't complain about you, did they?"

"Storm in a teacup" repeats Ex-Army Man.
Loudly.