Tuesday 17 January 2012

A Tuesday Tale - party time!

Many, many years ago as a female programmer in my 20's I ended up in the position of maintaining a whole load of computer programs single handed. Apparently I was 'the only one left with the skills' - whilst everyone else retrained in newer programming languages and all new joiners also went on to developing new work. Obviously with things moving on apace I could see myself being left behind and, even more worrying, I became aware that others were galloping up the pay scales whilst I was just plodding on like the proverbial donkey. It really was hard to struggle on alone when others seemed to have time to mess around while I was constantly down in the old computer room twiddling dials and begging the wretched machines to behave for me. I ended up with a diary (that only I knew about) full of all the oddities and how to work round them which, over the period of a whole year's cycle of daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly runs of programs became invaluable. Eventually, I bit the bullet and had a meeting (with one of the most unpleasant managers I've ever known - we'll call him Gordon) to ask if I could be given a mix of work and also to point out the discrepancy in salaries. Ha, talk about a waste of time - he actually sneered and said 'Well, just see if you can find another job then'.

Talk about throwing down the gauntlet - I went off and did exactly that! It took a while to get right through the selection process but how sweet it was to hand that guy my resignation. Talk about a panic! On the day I left, I handed over my precious diary to help them out - only to have Gordon almost throw my leaving gifts at me in front of everyone at the traditional farewell ceremony and say 'Just see if the grass is really greener on the other side of the fence'. He was hateful - and more so because I'd quietly won!

Which brings me to today's little tale - they do say that revenge is a dish best eaten cold. Another friend left that place a little while after me, to have her first baby - and decided to have a big party for everyone at her house. Her leaving hadn't been all smooth either but she wanted to have a party anyhow. We spent most of the Saturday sorting things out and preparing a 'finger buffet'. At about 5pm we'd just buttered a load of halved bread rolls when Sandie said 'Oh, let's have a break then come back and put the toppings on later'.

We were only out of the kitchen for 20 minutes or so - mostly keeping an eye on our husbands who were checking out the beer! Time to return to work and we trolled back to the kitchen - only to find Put-cat (the family moggie) up on the worktop calmly paddling around having a lick at each and every buttered roll. Eeeeek! The men folk came charging in at our shrieks of horror, Put-cat almost whistled through the window and we surveyed the damage. Lots of paw prints in the buttered rolls and an awful lot of licking of butter had been going on! Sandie's husband pointed out that all shops would be closed (remember those days when shops closed at about 5pm?!) - so she and I just looked at one another and like a little chorus said 'I won't tell if you don't'.

Yup, we scraped each and every roll to even out what was left of the butter (thankfully there were no cat hairs!) and proceeded to assemble the toppings.

Everyone turned up for the party, including my old adversary Gordon. Needless to say, we four who were 'in the know' didn't touch any of the open rolls - but it gave me mahoooosive pleasure to see Gordon tucking into them and smacking his lips whilst Sandie and I exchanged knowing smiles! Yes, revenge certainly IS a dish best eaten cold - preferably when a cat hasn't been paddling round in it :)))

Di
x

15 comments:

  1. Hello Di

    Love, love your little tale. Good on you and Sandie.
    luv
    irene
    xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have tears running down my face here now Di. :-) :-) :-) :-) You monkeys.......just remind me to keep on the right side of you if ever you serve me food :-) :-)
    Hugs,
    A x

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love it! Good for you, both of you. xx Maggie

    ReplyDelete
  4. So funny, Di! Just love it. Elizabeth x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh Di, I'm not so sure I'd admit it so publicly, but you have put a huge grin on my face - cats and butter huh - they love it! Thanks for the smile!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh Di They say revenge is sweet, I would loved to have been a fly on the wall at that party. Great tale.

    ReplyDelete
  7. LMAO....only a story you could tell so well!!! Love it Di. My morning chuckle...thank you! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. OMG.... that is SO funny, Gordon truly is a moron!!!!!! Hilarious Tuesday tale!!! xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. love it specially as the long time owner of a cat!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Di, l'm in floods of tears not because l'm upset but because of the cat!! no finger buffet at your party for me.........lol So funny it's a pleasure reading your stories talk about snippets you could write a book!! great you got another job and how funny seeing Gordon tucking into the food....lol would of liked to have known you personally you sound a great person and with a brilliant sense of humour:) Sandra H

    ReplyDelete
  11. You know, what's a little cat spit in your diet anyway. Great story!

    My hubby left a greasy skillet on the counter and the next day the cat got up there and licked it clean. I left it and later found hubby cooking with it, "Thanks for cleaning my skillet, honey." I didn't tell him either.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Well don't invite me for lunch, you may not have a cat but there seems to be an abundance of hedgehogs in your area who may just wander into your kitchen.
    You little imp you.
    Another great tale, but payback time is naughty but very nice.

    Kath x

    ReplyDelete
  13. OMG this is to funny but I must admit I'd have done the same thing. Thanks for the laugh.
    Hugs
    Bernie

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey! Where'd my comment go?????? Huh, huh?????

    I was ROFLMAO on this one. Bloody hate cats! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ohh you wicked, wicked ladies! I'm chuckling so loud my hubby wandered over to read your post, now he's chuckling, too! Go, go, go you and Sandie!!!

    love Mags B xx

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much if you take the time to comment!

This is a public blog. Those leaving a comment on any post on this blog or entering a piece of artwork into a linky do so in the knowledge that their name and blog link are visible to all who visit this blog and in so doing have published their own personal details and consented to my use of that personal information should they be selected as a winner or to accredit work.