Wednesday 6 May 2009

Clock-watching



MrsM has been signed up for a Time Management course.
MrsM is aggrieved. She does not think that she needs to attend.
MrsM is informed that it is compulsory.
MrsM provides a credible excuse for the first session:

"Board Meeting"

MrsM provides a credible excuse for the second session:

"Recruitment"

MrsM runs out of excuses.

MrsM checks her diary first thing in the morning. It is The Day.
MrsM shakes her head at the shocking waste of time.
MrsM arrives with a minute to spare.

There is no-one there.
MrsM is a week early.
MrsM turns around to see the course organiser.
MrsM is busted.

Alas! MrsM knows that the course organiser knows that
MrsM really, really needs a Time Management course.
And the course organiser knows that MrsM knows that.

It is a bitter medicine to swallow.

20 comments:

Rhiannon said...

If it was a week earlier, why was the course organiser there..... sounds like a mean set-up to me

Time management - great in principle, but it never works in reality (I speak as the girl who absolutely-had-to-under-every-circumstance finish her dissertation the week before the deadline so she had a whole week to write the other 3000 word essay and instead gave herself a day and half for said essay....)

xxx
ps. Hurrah hurrah for Alice images. One of the best books and nicest accompanying illustrations ever :D

Unknown said...

Nice that the course organiser had the time to play that trick! I once turned up for a job interview at a primary school in Gloucester a whole week early, boy was my face pink - still got the job though - obviously impressed by my keenness. Good luck next week Alice, hopefully you might get a few little useful nuggets and it won't all be a complete waste of productive time

Gina said...

It was a set up! What wonderful illustrations to tell your story... it as though they were drawn just for you.

Anonymous said...

Anyone could have seen that you manage your time so well that you are a whole week ahead of everyone else in the building!

JuliaB said...

FABULOUS post. Good luck next week! Perhaps you should bake jam tarts as a reward for yourself. x

driftwood said...

so much better than being a week late xx

MrsM said...

MrM is obliged to point out that many many years ago he turned up for work and was pleased to get a seat on the train and generally good journey into work. The effect was spoiled when he had to be let into work by the security man as it was a bank holiday.

Nowadays there are much more interesting ways to spend a bank holiday weekend and MrsM can be very diverting.

menopausalmusing said...

I turned up (many years ago) at my children's primary school for the Mother's Day service. I was early, thought I'd make myself useful and started putting chairs out in the hall. The headmaster came, asked me what I was doing and pointed out that I was a week early...... I still cringe thinking about it.x

MrM said...

MrM is obliged to point out that the previous comment was from him and not MrsM.

Sounds as if I might need something more fundamental than a time management course. MrsM is threatening to provide me with a list of all the things I promised to do at the weekend but which somehow slipped my mind ... now, where was I ?

dottycookie said...

I was sent on a similar course once, and was keen to find tips on how to fit the management of a small research team into the 2.5 days per week I was contracted to work. The answer? "There's no such thing as a part time job, dear."

I had my revenge when it came time to fill in the course assessment at the end ...

The Coffee Lady said...

Mr Coffee has been on many time management courses.

Maybe the next one will help.

GMS said...

Time management courses are designed to maximise the useful time you devote to your employer. The are of little benefit to your own well being. As with all such courses to be taken with the best sea salt.
As for being early, I once drove 50 miles home from detached duty to take your mother out for a special meal on our wedding anniversary. She waited until the coffee came before pointing out that I was a month early.

Unknown said...

LOL Busted!

blackbird said...

Blackbird likes it when Mr. M is obliged to point things out.

MrM said...

PS - the only course that we have agreed that MrsM is banned from attending is 'assertiveness' training as I have no wish to be her guinea pig. She does not need any encouragement in this area.

Thomas said...

Your use of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' prompts me to ask whether you have ever read 'The Annotated Alice' edited by Martin Gardner? I just happen to have a copy which I was looking at the other day. I originally bought it for 60p (12/-) in 1970.

Unknown said...

Oh Alice, this made me shriek and recall my own attendance on one of these courses many years ago and my similar thoughts.

I think you are clearly incredibly well organised if you managed to get there a week early...

sea-blue-sky & abstracts said...

Very good!

Will be interested to hear what you learn when you attend the course or maybe I agree with peppermintpatcher. BFN. Lesley

silverpebble said...

This really made me smile Alice, although, as ever, I was called away from the tots when I first saw it. Hmm, what do I remember about time management in my consultancy days? Not a great deal. I feel I've beaten the time space continuum though if I get both tots out of the house and turn up in time for playgroup to start. I sometimes hear the 'A Team' music playing in my head. I am a one woman crack commando unit, coordinating monkeys, ducks, shoes, reading books, toothbrushes, very tiny pairs of tights, and two small girls all for an assault on the front door. Thank God playgroup's only across the village green.

SF Mom of One said...

I would prefer that someone else manage my time and just leave me alone. Sometimes, I actually pull that off.


I am imagining a new annotated Alice (in response to comment above) on the web, which would include your blog entry under clever uses of Tenniel drawings.