Lookalikes

There was talk today about your favourite sitcom that no one else liked or had heard of. My nomination was "Becker", starring Ted Danson, Shawnee Smith and Terry Farrell. No one else knew about it. Both Shawnee Smith and Terry Farrell were super cute.

Someone mentioned "Time Gentlemen Please", a British sitcom that I'd never heard of. As I'd never heard of it, I was quickly on to IMDB.

It starred Julia Sawalha. God, I had a massive crush on her when she was in the teen drama "Press Gang". It was her profile picture that caught the eye, though. There was a strong resemblance to CH... very strong in fact, especially around the smile and the eyes. I'm also seeing a bit of FA2 in Sawalha's more serious moments.

Here's a picture:

Sadness

Facebook kindly reminded me that it was the recent anniversary of a night where three things happened:

1. It was GB's birthday
2. CC first admitted her interest in GM - something that still seems to crop up even now (the night in question was back in 2012)
3. CH asked me to kiss her and, separately, was sneakily grabbing my ass whilst we were chatting to other people. It might have prompted the first post where I realised there may have been something more going on than us being friends.

I kinda still miss CH from time to time. The ambiguous flirting was fun and a bit of an ego boost (albeit incredibly frustrating at the same time) and she was good fun. She was also especially good at getting people to talk. The night in question above saw CH getting CC to talk about blow jobs.

I'd love to just have a good chat with her again - over coffee or beers - with no other distractions.

Sigh

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the secret promotion never happened. There were some secret promotions in the department, just not me.

Knowing the people promoted, I have to wonder what it is they did to deserve it. As far as I know, they come in and do their vanilla job from 9 to 5 every day before going home. They haven't, until recently, been involved in department-wide committees etc.

Ever just get the feeling that your face doesn't fit with managers?

A quick digest

I have the lurgy. A guy in work has been coughing and spluttering for nigh on a week now... and it appears that sitting within ten metres of him has cost me my health.

I hope it doesn't last... I have a work thing on Friday that I wanted to attend (to laugh at Ideas Girl) and GM, S and myself have tentatively booked a night out on the Saturday.

In apropos of nothing, it looks like the secret promotion that I was expecting is not going to happen. I need an email from HR by the end of play tomorrow to let me know it's happening, otherwise I'm shit out of luck. Pessimism has set in.

Just stuff.

Chatting to JB today and she surprised me by telling me that she was engaged. I offered my congratulations. She's been dating her boyfriend for around ten years. I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier.

She showed me her ring. I feigned interest. It was nice enough. Gold, but I'm more of a silver platinum man.

Still, I'm delighted for her.

Sigh.

Yesterday, KfW2 confided in me that her boss had gotten a promotion and she was thinking about applying for his job. An interesting career choice. KfW2 had never struck me as the management type. Then came the kicker.

"I need the pay rise"

Ah. Here we go again. This was her spiel last year when she got her new job. It was less about the job and all about the money. That's fine. If you need the money, you need the money. Don't dress up the desire for more money as career progression though. I went through that recently with another guy who eventually left the company for new opportunities. New opportunities that doubled his salary. Each time I see him, he doesn't talk about work... he talks about money.

Frustratingly, both KfW2 and Money Guy have been well looked after by various managers. And yet they remain unhappy. To be fair, KfW2 was well looked after until she went off on maternity a few years back, but since her return, her crown was given to Stalky Guy. It's annoying that, apart from Money Guy, the other two don't recognise their good fortune.

I admit that there's an element of jealousy and frustration. Stalky Guy, KfW2 and Money Guy have all had opportunities handed to them which, admittedly, they've grabbed with both hands and used to their advantage. I haven't had that break. Salary-wise I could/should be 30% better off. It still wouldn't put me anywhere near what the others are earning, but it would mean a lot to me.

KfW2 was talking about the new job all day to day and implying that the job advert is being written with her in mind. The thing is, I don't see her as management material. She doesn't have the personality for it, I don't think. She feels she can't lead right now and that having the title of "manager" will give her the gravitas to make decisions. Her time keeping is flaky, she can be unreliable and she can be all over the place. I'm not sure I'd want her to be my boss. Saying that, my boss is reliable, always in the office etc. and he plays favourites, so maybe KfW2 will work out fine?

My gut says "no", but I've pledged my support.

But I kinda feel that I need something to go my way either personally or professionally. I feel really worn down, exhausted, sick of hard work being ignored. I've not really felt this way in a while, but recent things have brought this back to the surface.

FFS.

For well over a year... nearly two years, I've been angling for a new job. Same boss, just a sideways move. He's told me it's happening. His boss told me it's happening. It just has to be worked out. Two years sounds like a long time, but I'm happy in my current role. It's just that this new one would be a new challenge and get me away from the current set up (including Stalky Guy). It'd mean working with a guy that I used to work with, who I get along with really well.

In fact, the new team have said they'd love to have me on-board. We presented a proposal to the senior boss a few weeks ago around training etc.  and... nothing. Apparently they've put it all on hold until next year.

Until Monday, when I saw a job advert. For the sister team. That would require an interview.

If the interview would be carried out by someone on the team, I'd go for it. They know me. I'd be nervous, sure, but they know my background etc. It's not though. It's to be carried out by a random fella, and the interview is more of an assessment and, quite frankly, it's poor. It's meant to test soft skills (communication to be accurate), but it doesn't.

So, over the past two years, the team has given Stalky Guy a free promotion (and pay rise), and two other guys have been given sideways moves. When it comes to me? No, that door's closed. Do an interview.

That's surely not coincidence. I'm not just being paranoid, am I?

Just stuff.

Another post from QC3 on Facebook. She's gone off the deep end. She was always bonkers. She's leaving the country at short notice, has apparently spent the last few months living with a guy half her age in some foreign country and has lost custody of her daughter. There are also hints that there may be alcohol abuse as well.

Oh dear.

Remember?

As Stalky Guy and I were leaving work this evening, who did I see outside, on the phone? CH. There's only one reason she would be outside - waiting on one of her friends, OK. She had a huge smile on her face and waved. I waved back.

Another guy was with us.

"Who was that?"

I gave CH's real name.

"Oh, is that who it was?"

Stalky Guy chipped in.

"She's nuts! I know a story about her"

Stalky Guy proceeded to explain to the other guy about a night out with work - one of our monthly work things - where she effectively got a friend of mine to show her his junk.

I can't remember the details - I guess it was something to do with whether or not he shaved... or something like that. So he called her bluff and proved her wrong. As it happens, that was also the night of this post, a night I still can't really understand bearing in mind she stopped talking to me after some criticism a few months later.

Chat

G was in touch at the start of the week. Was I free at the weekend to meet for a drink?

I nearly always am. G usually gives me enough notice that I am never double booked.

While we were only out for a couple of hours, we usually cover a load of topics.

For the first time, I admitted to G about one of my body issues. It's not a secret, my family, FP and KfW2 know about it, it's just never come up in conversation before. So while we were talking about fitness and weight loss, the subject came up.

Still... I always enjoy nights out with G, especially those when it's just the two of us. The conversation is more personal than if FP or M also show up.

Reminiscing

Surprisingly, the night out with D, FBS, Opinionated Guy and Friction Guy went well. It's been a while since we were all out together (nearly two years).

We ended up in one of my favourite bars, sat on stools. I was sat beside FBS, who was being very tactile. This, coming from someone who had professed earlier in the evening, wasn't "touchy feely".

If D hadn't been staying at mine last night, I'd have invited her back for a drink (we usually share a taxi anyway). She was looking good.

Of the girls I've slept with, who I'm aware of today, I can't think of anyone that I wouldn't sleep with again. Crushes are another matter though.