Edel sent an email around. Des will make a bit of a speech in the morning.

Let us know what he intends to do, and what changes he intends to make, at 9 am. Sharp. Made a mental note to make it in for that one.

Wednesday 6 September At 8.57 this morning I was still on the Luas, having dozed through my stop at Harcourt Street. At 9.15am I was on the front steps when I saw Des across the street.

So I had to take the stairs, to avoid any elevator embarrassment. No time this morning for the envelope, paperclip, pen and highlighter trick, I had just enough time to hang my coat over the back of my chair (must remember to leave it there overnight) and start stuffing envelopes Today is a big day in the office. Ronan is gone. Gone a fortnight ago in fact, and we've been gloriously rudderless ever since. A new supremo, Des, is taking the reins.

We'd been rumbling about Des all week last week. Edel, Ronan's old PA and Des's new one, has worked in the same office as him before, knows him inside out, so she claims, figuratively. So I made a point of getting in first today, because she tells me he's a punctuality man.

And you know what they say, get a reputation for rising early and you can stay in bed all day if you like.

I made the mistake of getting off on the wrong foot with Ronan, that's why the most satisfying part of my job is Tetris-related. If I lay the groundwork properly with Des this week, it could make life a whole lot easier.

In the end, Des, it seems, had a meeting at head office and never materialised.

Charming.

before he walked by, placing a rather disturbing hand on my shoulder as he did so.

Not even ever having heard this man speak, I had no idea what I thought of him as yet.

His speech was at ten and was inspired bullshit. All 30 of us gathered in a semicircle around him in the canteen, arms folded and fidgeting. He spoke of envelopes, which is my department, but in terms of pushing them. He spoke of thinking and the outsides of boxes. He spoke of the customer in more ways than I thought possible. Des is going to be difficult. He appears to require ambition.

I left at 4.30 to avoid the rush home. As I stepped out of the lift downstairs, Des was getting in from his umpteenth fag break of the day. This was not good.

"No point being late twice in one day, " I said in an icebreaking attempt. He looked down at his watch. This could be Ronan all over again.

Thursday 7 September 95,640 in Tetris.

Friday 8 September Patrick is here on work experience but I have found him invaluable and never late. He is a young man, barely 20, with a knowledge of the world which belies his acne and poor shaving technique. This morning as I arrived at 9.20, he had half a cup of tea waiting for me as I deposited all my gear behind reception again. A halfdrunk cup of tea, it bought me at least half an hour. The boy will go far. I made a mental note to keep him away from Des, which wasn't difficult, seeing as I hadn't got near the man myself as yet.

I opened an email from Edel (Patrick has my password and my PC was already up and running).

Des is speaking to all of us individually and has me down for a 4.45pm chat. This needed serious thought:

4.45pm is the middle of the night for me.

I thought of sending Patrick in my place, but thought again. At 4.30 I was eyeing Des's office. He hadn't been in since lunch and the door was still locked.

The appointed hour of 4.45 arrived and departed. I was in Kehoe's by five o'clock.

Wage Slave 'works' in a soulless office in an office park.

Some details have been changed to protect the criminally apathetic. Send your comments to wg_slave@yahoo. com, if you can be arsed.