The Person

She dawned on us on October 4th 2010 with 17 boxes from her previous division and the attitude of a president.  Petite, middle aged (around her 55) with a pair of geeky glasses and a leopard suit that fit a circus trainer. Her facial features totally misleading for someone mild, her voice high and shrieking bringing you back from the dead.  

Her work background rather limited to a good knowledge of loans for corporate clients (our division deals with corporate clients but for everything else except loans).  

Her first observations were about the condition of her office: Too dirty, too old (the division is  housed at a 150 year old neoclassical building), too small, limited storage space, the bathroom needs plumbing, the walls need painting, I need a fridge in my office, why is the pc placed here, the chair's too tall (petite remember?),  I don't like the trash can, the paper shredder has papers in it, the safe must be moved to another room, take those plants out of here, tell the cleaning lady I want a word with her, why are there fingertip traces on the desk glass, where do you make coffee, bring me hot water, why is the building old (why is the damn sky blue?) e.t.c.  

Second shock came when she opened the drawers and bookcases and realized they contained files that the previous manager had purposely left there for her to study or use as a guidance.  She needed space for her files and personal belongings, so we had to start moving the ones already existing right away,  before she even had time to evaluate them.

We did try to explain that what she brought with her would probably have no use for our division but that didn't change her decision.  Thankfully, we never threw the old files away, knowing that one day, she might decide to take a look at them.   

So we were there, with her secretary to be, taking notes of her observations and the future alterations we'd need to organize for her. 

The entire day went like this, no word about what the division does, or about meeting the rest of the division's crew.  Her voice floated in the air penetrating the walls, travelled to the other offices where the rest of the division's employees were gathered giggling, permeated the windows and vanished into the late fall air of October!  

More later!