My colleagues are not always the most literary of women but they have their moments of genius.

Boss Lady, in between a fug of brainless management-speak, has inspirational ideas - such as when she delegated to me the builder-liaison role when we had to get the emergency fire exit installed in a hurry and then proceeded to work from home for a week to avoid the noise and dust. Linda followed her lead this month by booking off a week of leave and disappearing to somewhere in Spain with her sisters-in-law for a cocktail-soaked break by the pool - leaving me to liaise again, this time with the maintenance team who have come to fix the broken parts of our library and to spruce up the children’s section.

How do I know Linda is on the cocktails while I am battling headaches causes by paint fu...

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