I guess it's not fair playing mind games with AJ, as he's at such a disadvantage. If only it wasn't so much fun!
Monday: It's going to be a busy time for me. LeeAnn's on vacation for the next two weeks so Andy's going to have to do all his own production planning - and that means he'll be asking me to help with the PC work. James is out for the next two weeks as well, and Fiona and Donna are supposed to be covering for him. Neither of them are OK with accounts work though, so they'll be saving the most of it for him and he'll be extra busy when he gets back. He's already arranged with me to help out by doing the database imputs for him when he gets back.
AJ called us together for the morning meeting and said he'd decided over the weekend to implement a "waste paper" policy. We are all to separate out our white paper, shred it all (for confidentiality), and put the shredded paper in the recycling bin by the photocopier.
Amy said how about if it's got colored headings - can we put them in too, because they're not white. AJ said no, we can't. If something's got colored print on it (like a letter, for example) we're all to rip the colored part off and put it in the standard waste bin, then shred and recycle the rest. Only white paper is to be shredded and recycled. Donna said that'll take too long, why do we have to start doing that anyway? Fiona said well, it's only right, and we should do our bit to respect the nurturing earth and the Great Goddess, Mother Nature. AJ said yes, and the corporation has to be seen to be ecologically-friendly, and the quickest and cheapest way to show we are is to recycle all our waste paper.
Tuesday: AJ came around this morning and said some of us may have heard of plans to change the corporate colors, and he can confirm this is now being seriously looked at. We all know, and we all know which one's been chosen already - it's exactly the same as our current blue and white one only in red and white. Donna took a call about it from Carly last night to say it was all decided.
AJ has a selection of ideas and wants us all to assist him in gaining meaningful feedback about these ideas that he can take to the meeting on Friday, so he's going to consult us all this week on our preferences. He means he's going to show us all the logos they've come up with so far and expect us all to say we all like the red and white one Head Office have already chosen, so he can tell the other CEOs all his people like it at the next meeting. We all nodded and said yes we'd all be glad to, so he went away happy.
Wednesday: Andy came to my office with the printout files from LeeAnn's desk, and asked me if I knew where LeeAnn kept the shop floor program for this last week. I said yes, in the file you've got hold of there - but it turned out he meant would I show him the template for the master copy on the server, open it up for him, change the dates for him, fill it out for this week for him, and print it all out for him as well.
I took most of the morning but eventually got it all sorted out with all the items to be made between tomorrow and next Wednesday, and all the part lists from stores sorted out too. I spent a good half hour and skinned a couple knuckles before I finally managed to get the paper lined up so I could print it all out on the big printer, and set it off to print through during the lunchbreak - so I was real mad when it stopped working.
I marched over, pulled Mike's mobile charger, told him I couldn't wait for LeeAnn to come back so I could tell her just why the big printer stopped every Wednesday, and plugged the printer back in.
Started the printout off again, and worked at LeeAnn's desk for the rest of the afternoon so I could watch it print through, shred the incomplete print run, and make sure Mike knew I was watching him and he'd best not even think about going anywheres near it.
Thursday: Fiona told us all this morning the printing service the corporation uses has already started the first print runs of headed paper with the new red and white logo. It'll be the new corporate standard from 28th August, right after the Bank Holiday vacation.
The main shredder died this morning. It jammed up a couple times while Mike was feeding three large sets of reports through it first thing, as it didn't much like all the staples he'd not bothered to take out. Mike should have realized it was having difficulties when it chewed on the first metal filing clip he gave it and spat it out, then choked on the second. It was probably a mistake to give it the third one - it was a particularly big one after all, and almost certainly the one that killed it.
Donna called in the maintenance engineer to come fix it and told him it had been fed metal filing clips - she said he'd laughed hysterically when she asked him if that was covered by the maintenance agreement. We're all having to use the little desktop one from AJ's office until the main one gets fixed next week, but this one's not used to large volumes. It stinks of hot plastic and makes noises, and it's taking forever to shred everything.
Amy's the only one still cutting off the colored parts of documents before shredding them - all the rest of us have given up. Even Fiona's putting colored pictures and all through.
I haven't shredded anything since yesterday's marathon where I sat feeding all the incomplete shop floor program printout through - I'm just stacking it up and waiting. I'll either shred it all Friday (if I have time) or wait it out until Monday when AJ'll have forgotten the whole thing anyways and I can just put it in the standard waste bin like before.
Friday: AJ showed us all the choices for the new logo at the morning meeting and said he wanted our contribution on this new and exciting corporate initiative. He said the budget for the changeover was set now, and it would be a worthwhile investment for future customer recognition. I guess that means 'money well spent', so Amy wins the side bet on how soon he'd say it.
Donna and Amy both hung back and waited for someone else to go first, so Fiona jumped right in and said now I like that one - and pointed to the green and white version. Mike said why not the orange one, it's like sunshine. I looked them over. There are ten different versions - seven red, one green, one orange and one yellow. I think I'd be able to guess the Head Office team have already chosen to go with red if I didn't already know they have.
AJ must have begun to realize he'd made a big mistake in asking us all, because he told me I didn't have to choose if I didn't feel comfortable. I said no, on the contrary - I want to contribute. I said I think we all should go for the green one, because it's the color of grass and trees and things, and we all need to show the corporation has respect for the world and recyling and nature. Amy and Donna both nodded and said yes, they thought so too.
AJ held up the red and white one we all know Head Office have already chosen and said how about this one? We all did the drawn-in breath thing and said no - the customers'll hate it, surely not. AJ said it's vibrant. We all said no, it's too bright, much too bright. He said it's modern, and we need modernity. I said but surely we all need stability - to show the corporation is a stable entity with solid, traditional roots. AJ said well, yes … I said not like our rivals, with cheap gimmicks like price-cuts and aggressive sales. Donna said I like the green too, our customers shouldn't feel threatened by us. I said yes, friendly and approachable. AJ said well, now you mention it … Mike said yes, orange is wrong, so wrong, I see that now - it should be green, earth tones. I said like oceans too - deep and meaningful. We all nodded solemnly, and AJ nodded along.
He went to the meeting at Head Office thoroughly converted to the merits of the green and white version - we all know it's already been decided to go with the red and white one, but AJ's all fired up and ready to tell Head Office why they should go with the green and white one instead.
read 01/08/06-10 or read 01/08/20-24 