I have some naughty little elves which live in a small nest underneath my desk. They are cheeky little devils: cute, friendly and experts at thieving my time. And however good a job the cleaner does, he never manages to catch them.
Last time I counted I found ten of them there. My colleagues have some too. These are mine:
- “Coffee break” is dark and satisfying. He pops his head round my desk whenever something really tricky needs thinking about.
- “Internet surfer” is cute and clever, and distracts me with a click when I am looking for important information online.
- “Email newsletter” is more serious, but an interesting character who draws me into an article when I am going through my emails.
- “Interruption” – she always arrives with a pretty smile and an unnecessary question.
- “Office chat” usually makes me laugh – sometimes even cry, but she never misses an opportunity to capture my attention.
- “Facebook & Twitter” are the worst. They are twins and I count them as one because they always go around together. One little click and I am theirs for at least 20 minutes.
- “Overrunning meetings” is a clever chap with big ideas who gets the whole team cornered in one go.
- “Internet’s gone down” has a dark side to his character. With one little glitch he can get the whole office chasing around trying to find out what’s happened.
- “Printer’s jammed” is another cheeky monkey who usually captures at least 4 people to fix it.
- And then there’s my guilty secret: “Game on my phone”. We’re real pals, he’s always there just under my hand ready to entertain me at a moment’s notice.
What are yours?
