More Merry Manglement!

Yes, I'm Working Through More Bookmarked Favourites

'Twas either that or polish my brass hand collection.  As proof that my tastes are eclectic, we now focus on a tale of manglement from the shores of South Canada, pitting the forces of Malicious Middle Management against the humble peons in their employ.  

     This one has a happy ending.  

     For some.  Art!

     Because opening with a picture of an office isn't going to generate any traffic, is it now?  Bear the above in mind, we'll be coming back to it later.

     So, Original Poster was coy about going into details of her employer, bar the fact that their job entailed Regulatory Compliance, which makes it smack of South Canadian Federal Government.  Her team consisted of 32 staff, with the Malicious Middle Manager above them all.  No, strike that, we'll call her the Bottomhole Middle Manager, since MMM sounds far too mellifluous.  

     The tale began with BMM calling a meeting and informing her staff that all the child-free ones (13) were going to be working 08:00 - 20:00 for the foreseeable future, because of a backlog of work.  The child-plus staff (19) were going to stick to the old 09:00 - 17:00 work model.

     Oooops.  OP did not take this well.  Nor did her CF team-mates.  BMM wouldn't be on the new schedule because she had a child.  Actually 'child' as he was 18 and thus legally an adult.  Art!

     None of the CF staff were happy at this and all back OP when she protested.  BMM ignored their objections and ended the meeting.

     Foolish woman!  For the CF staff consulted HR and Legal and next day saw the whole team in a meeting room, with two lawyers, the HR rep, and the department head.  Plus BMM.

     The CF staff played to their strengths, using e-mails to confirm BMM's whim about discriminating against staff.  One chap went all-in and brought in statistical breakdowns of the 13 CF staff doing 60% of the work, proving that any backlog was caused by the CP staff.  OP pointed out to BMM, who had 'forgotten' that her plan was violating company policy, that not three weeks earlier they'd had a department-wide consultation on that very same policy.  The HR Rep promptly backed this up by saying they'd worked with BMM on this very subject.

     The Head Of Department - let's capitalise him and make him more important! - hadn't the faintest inkling of what BMM was planning, and was intensely angry at potentially lining the business up for 13 lawsuits or a class-action.  HR and Legal both agreed BMM's plan was illegal and unenforceable.  HOD ripped her a new one six feet wide.  Art!

BMM afterwards

     BMM was demoted and transferred far away, rather than fired, meaning - if you read between the lines - that the vengeful HOD was going to make her so miserable that she'd resign, and thus wouldn't be eligible for unemployment relief.

     What I haven't mentioned so far is that BMM's plan would have added an extra 40 hours per week on each of the CF staff, without paying overtime.  From this alone you can deduce the sorry tale was set in South Canada.

Back To The Bang

As you may be aware, Peter The Average went to the Norks and schmoozed a bit with The Only Fat Man In North Korea, thus enabling him to purchase maybe two million artillery shells and rockets and missiles.

     Possibly one reason Donald Buck got on so well with both of them is that they all three have one thing in common: they enjoy swindling others.  Art!

     The orcs on the battlefield are unhappy at the deficient Nork ammunition, which proves to have been made in the Eighties and even the Seventies, which had obviously never heard the words 'Quality Control', half of which do not work properly.  They are supposed to explode on target, which is proving to be a big ask.  Art!

     Some ammunition is so out of true or so badly machined and finished that it won't load properly.  Art!

     Yes, they are using a wooden crate to hammer rockets into a Grad launch tube.  It's quite likely to jam in place and detonate when they try to fire it.

     Beware of Greeks bearing gifts, goes the saying, to which we might well add watch out for Norks flogging bombs.

An Architectural Oddity

For Lo! these many months the Library and Council Offices building in Lesser Sodom has been covered with a shroud of scaffolding and plastic sheeting.  Conrad noticed a new attachment at the weekend when he took a constitutional stroll into the town.  Art!

     Are these to be a new fitment?  Are they a framework for other things to be attached to?  How much did they cost?  Can you eat them? and other queries.  Given how long they've had that screen up I expect nothing less than an incredible, transformative result when it comes down.

The Hair-Splitting Pedant Rides Out

Who?  Me, of course!  <rolls eyes> did you think we have the budget to bring in a guest artist?

     Yes, we are back to "Mackenna's Gold", in case that title didn't clue you in.  Allow me to bring to life what I noted - "Cloudy!  Blue skies!  Clouds!  Blue skies!"  Art!

     Dog Buns!  Once you've seen the flaw you can't unsee it.  Your Continuity people were sloppy there, film studio.

     We have only just begun to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest <checks script> my notes.  Not "The Outer Limits".

"City In The Sky"

Ace is trying to brainstorm ways of locating the hidden alien squatters who infest a portion of the Australian outback.

     ‘How soon till we orbit over them again?’

     Christos checked his watch.

     ‘About three hours.’  For this next passage he would have the astronomy staff using ultra-violet scanning and checking the plain with their telescopes.  If they could – those millions of tons of water blasted into the local weather system would be falling from the skies under a cloud blanket.

     Whilst Christos’ mind ran through possible detection methods, Ace perched on the edge of the control console and swung a leg back and forth.  She caught Istvan glancing at her and felt grateful that she’d ditched her usual togs for the moment, or he’d probably be outright staring at her legs.

     Hang on – she wrinkled her brow.  What had that idea been?  What she wasn’t wearing.  What wasn’t present.

     ‘Perhaps,’ she began, articulating her idea aloud.  ‘We need to look for what’s not there.’

     Christos looked at her with interest.  Istvan cocked his head like an attentive dog.  She carried on.

     ‘These alien Lithoi are centuries more advanced than we are, right?  So they have all sorts of electronic gadgets that stop you detecting them, and they can generate holograms to prevent people seeing them.’

     Istvan and Christos exchanged glances.

     ‘Speculation, but reasonable.  That robot contraption in New Eucla is beyond even the Japskis,’ said the scion.

          ‘Okay.  We therefore have no way to detect them directly.  Can’t be done.  Not possible.’

     Istvan laughed briefly before choking it off out of respect for his superior.

     ‘However.  The Prof is always at me, trying to get me to think outside the box.  I say we look for evidence of what these aliens cause to not be present.’

     ‘Rather vague.  Can you be more specific?’

     Ace ran over a series of ideas.

     Clever gel, that Dorothy.

Flabby Fraudulent Flapper Fluffs Up - Again

DJ Tango is at it again, defaming E Jean Carroll again, in public, again, because he cannot control his flapping pie-hole for more than five minutes.  Apparently he is suffering from short-term memory loss, a possible indication of being a bottomhole, because only four days ago he had to post a bond for $91 million after being found guilty of a second defamation case, after losing the first.  Art!

Finally -

I'm still here after eating my Sunday Stew at lunchtime, made with week-old uncooked chicken drumsticks, so they were fine after all.  Just to keep you gainfully informed.  Now for tea!

     Mai Tarziu, as they say in Dacia.