Mental note to self: don't order an Americano next time. Bloody awful. But then you don't come to Starbucks for the coffee. Or rather, you come for the coffee, but you stay for the ambiance.
I'm here in Starbucks Redhill, jiving away on my laptop, surfing the net with the free wi-fi they've got here. Jazz music is playing. Couldn't name the artist. I feel a bit like I'm in the TV series "Friends". Except I'm alone. Maybe I could be in the background while Joey and Ross exchange gentle insults.
Thought: I could have worked in the TV biz. But I didn't. The IT world is certainly a safer bet, cash wise. More secure. Not that it isn't competitive - far from it. I had to fight it out with Brian to get that promotion, yes siree. No surprises who won that particular scuffle. Brian languished in sales for a little while longer before leaving the company, while I smoothly moved up into the consultancy department.
It gets me thinking: what next for the career trajectory of Casual Dad? I shouldn't write about it on the blog, but I can't help suspecting that if my boss Clive moved on to greener pastures, he'd give the nod to head office that I'd be a sensible replacement. The managerial baton would be passed on to a safe pair of hands. My hands.
Some say that you should give up on angling for a promotion in your 40s, but "giving up" just isn't in my vocab, I'm afraid. I'm an ambitious man. And it's my belief that ambition plus diligence and determination equals success. I'll just put that into a little equation for you:
AMBITION + DILIGENCE = SUCCESS
Clive's a shade younger than me (as he isn't afraid to remind me!), but I have to hand it to him: he's a great boss. If I had to describe him in four words, I'd say he was a task-oriented team player. Given more words, I'd probably say something about his efficiency and natural leadership characteristics.
I don't know if you're reading this Clive (do some work, lazybones!), but if you are, I'd sure like to nominate you for this year's Better Business awards. Not that I'm brown-nosing, of course - just saying what I genuinely think. Maybe I can get the others in the office to rally round and give a good man his due.
Well, it's about time I got home to Margaret and the kids. They'll be wondering where I've been. Maybe I'll pick Andrew up a nice big Starbucks mug at the counter down there. I'm sure he'll let me use it! He doesn't drink coffee anyway.
Till the next time, everybody.
