The Wharf is the leading newspaper in Canary Wharf, bringing you a wide selection of stories and features covering all aspects of life in this exciting area.
Each week Tabitha will be sharing her life in her blog Working Mum, juggling kids, the other half and the 9-5.
Working Mum: Unleash the yapping puppy of war….
The first of my two pregnant work colleagues has now gone off on maternity leave.
I was sad to see her go not least because it has now unleashed Young Colleague onto the team.
I walked into the office on Monday to find her reorganising the desks, with her own now placed directly outside our boss’s suite.
She had obviously been busy because taking pride of place in our meeting room now was a white board complete with a cornucopia of rainbow-coloured pens and board rubbers.
I tried to ignore her. In theory, we are now work equals but, as George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, “some are more equal than others”.
Ping! Ping! Ping! There was no respite as a gazillion meeting requests from the eager puppy popped up in my inbox.
It was like some little girl, putting on her mummy’s high heels and lipstick for the first time, pretending to be a grown-up.
Meanwhile, the hours passed with The Boomtown Rats’ I Don’t Like Mondays playing on a loop in my head.
Before Young Colleague’s maternity-cover promotion, my boss had asked for my thoughts.
I was fair (honestly) and outlined her strengths (delivered sincerely) and her weaknesses (I may have weighted it a bit). Ultimately, I questioned why she had never been promoted in all her previous places of employment.
My misgivings were ignored and my boss decided to give her a shot.
I watched as each of my other normally mild-mannered team members reacted to the whirlwind. Rolling eyeballs, huge sighs, mutters and harrumphs, it made for some interesting viewing.
Young Colleague then bounced up and announced we were all going to have a “meet and greet” with her “because that’s what you do for a new colleague” in the meeting room at 10am.
Fortunately, my own expletives were drowned out as my boss marched out of her suite. “Who the f*** has put a f****** flip chart in my office!”
Working Mum, seriously wanting to whisper: “I told you so.”
Tabitha Ronson appears courtesy of The Wharf. Go to www.wharf.co.uk
