N~space

OH MY GOD. Connell just emailed me to tell me of someone at work who's racked up a whole year's worth of long service leave. In Australia you get 3 months long service leave after 15 years, another 3 months after 20 etc, so I am assuming he's been with the bank, what, 30 years? (And I remember when we were mere babes working together on that project 10 years ago, oh my god we're old.)

Anyway, the point is you can now opt to take your long service leave at half pay, which means this guy is about to take two whole years off work.

For the record, I've been with the Evil Empire for a bit over 13 years. Believe me, I'm counting down those last 24 months, and already weighing up when I want my 6 months at half pay. (Spring/summer? Winter/spring? Maybe I can take it at quarter pay?) But two years, that's just... wow.

I think I need a lie down.

So work's on this big Clean Desk Policy kick. They've been on it for a while but never done anything about it. Now my boss, Denethor, has taken up the cause and is clearing out his desk, saying he's going to lead by example.

"Maybe you can tell us about the policy at our team meeting," I said. This would be the weekly meeting that is always scheduled for thursday morning, gets moved around our calendars randomly and then without fail is cancelled at the last minute. It's become a bit of a team joke.

"No, it's real this time," Denethor tells me. "It's because of Sarbanes-Oxley, or something, [Denethor's good at the details], and if people keep leaving sensitive information out then they'll have to have a glass screen put around their desks."

"You are kidding me, right?" I scoffed. "Okay, fine, I'll take the screen."

Physical challenge! Denethor wasn't keen though, so I spent a couple of hours this morning going through my desk, throwing out old notebooks, out of date files, the piles of work and printouts. It was really cathartic, especially the last one: all the work I hadn't yet got around to doing and now never would, gathered into huge piles and pushed into the recycling bin. I can start afresh now, and gather new piles of crap.

At the end of it all my desk was relatively clean. I stood back and admired the neat piles of manuals, the empty space in the drawer for my notebook. I like it and it might even stay like this for a few days. But really, wouldn't a glass screen around my desk be a lot more fun?